Florida Haiku and Short Verse

Tuesday nature poetry,  Fragrant water lily, Nymphaea odorata Florida Nature Haiku & Art, Fragrant Water Lily by Kevin Songer … sweeter scent none else shallow blue fishing spot blooms bugs and bass … lazy kayaking lily pads circle round and round floating two eyed log …

Florida Native Plant & Wildflower Poetry, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis Florida Nature Haiku Poetry, Buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis ... slough bush quiet rustle   loud cicadas hush as wood duck leaves her nest, gliding across still pond, below bees busy with sweet buttonbush blooms ... #floridanativeplants #florida #pensacola #pensacolaart #arttherapy #haiku #buttonbush #wildflowers #poetry #natureart #cephalanthus #wetlands #waterbirds  #swamplife #pollinators #bees 

Florida nature senryu for Tuesday, Perdido Key Beach and Life Paths, Perdido Key, Kevin Songer ... sometimes backward path is our path forward, yet wind and waves erase both ...

Florida Nature Senryu for Monday, Sand Gnats and Bunche Beach, Bunche Beach Flats at Sunset, Kevin Songer ... gonna go fishing bunche beach mullet schools sand gnats chase us home ...

Florida Nature Poetry for Sunday, Sandhill Milkweed, Asclepias humistrata Florida Wildflower Haiku, Sandhill Milkweed, Asclepias humistrata by Kevin Songer ... dunes' brilliant hot white blooms adorn blinding sands pollinators feast ...

Inspiration found is always welcomed, and today there are so many sources of insight and revelation. One though outshines all others for insight and illumination.  That source is Nature.  Florida Green Roof and Wildflower Haiku plant, Coral Bean, Erythrina herbacea Drought, salt and heat tolerant.  Hummingbird plant Hands down Nature teaches me more about color, texture, geometry, sustainability, art, music, light, green roofs, haiku, life and the cosmos than any YouTube video, internet site, book or podcast. Florida Green Roof and Wildflower Haiku plant, Prickly Pear Cactus, Opuntia humifusa Very drought tolerant, great coastal green roof plant for habitat and pollinators For millennia, haiku poets have used the term 'Ginkgo Walks' for inspiration found when walking with Nature. Florida Green Roof and Wildflower Haiku plant, Fleabane, Erigeron app. Tolerates wet and dry soils, wind and heat tolerant, excellent pollinator plant A Ginkgo Walk is ...

Gallberry-Inkberry, Ilex glabra Gallberry (aka Inkberry) Ilex glabra by Kevin Songer … munch inkberry drupes old turkey, possum and deer sport smeared purple lips … Gallberry is also known as inkberry, and its dark black juice filled berries have been used by peoples over generations as ink. Birds and wildlife relish the berries for forage. Early settlers and indigenous peoples have made a tea similar to yaupon tea from gallberry’s leaves (see Appalachian tea). Interestingly, gallbladder is a holly like yaupon however gallberry’s leaves do not contain the significant amount of caffeine that yaupon leaves possess. Gallberry’s flowers attract bees from afar. Gallberry honey is highly prized by many.

Wildflower Haiku, Rayless sunflower, Helianthus radula Floria Wildflower Haiku Art, Rayless Sunflower, Helianthus radula by Kevin Songer … wet ditch oddity deep maroon pyres reach high swallowtails alight ... Rayless sunflower is a bit of an oddity standing erect like black eyed Susans and echinacea but lacking petals. Rayless sunflower’s head is composed of a collection of small brown florets and the plant is a member of the Helianthus (sunflower) genus. I usually see rayless sunflower growing alongside of wet drainage ditches and along the margins of shallow sloping ponds. Despite a lack of petals, rayless sunflower attracts many different pollinators. I find the plant’s stark structural appearance to be an interesting addition to a wet area landscape and an inspiration for nature art.

Always too much of a hurry I'm in.  The rush towards finish line and next project contributed largely in part to my aortic dissection (along with genetic tendencies). Haiku and Wildflowers, both are forever evolving, Kevin Songer Being present in the moment and Zen are practices I am still learning of, wanting to tap into their health benefits.  Health practitioners speak of cardiovascular, mental and life quality gains to be had through focusing on breathing and the here and now. And so writing short verse opens doors leading to an understanding of life's meaning.  Being still and knowing the cosmos are magically penultimate.  I use the word 'magically' to mean 'ever changing, not-constant and unknowable. Life is refined daily through natural selection processes.  Nature does this.  Humans do this too with hybrid crops and domestic animals. Perfection doesn't exist.  There is always an unfolding. My haiku, or short verse also teaches me abo...

Florida wildflower haiku for Thursday; Butterflyweed, Asclepias tuberosa Florida wildflower haiku, Butterfly Weed, Asclepias tuberosa by Kevin Songer … milkweeds toxin sap eaten by Monarch larvae hungry birds disdain … Butterfly weed (also known as 'milkweed') provides nectar for many pollinators, including butterflies and hummingbirds. Butterfly weed likes to grow in sandy soils and is a larval host plant for the Queen and Monarch butterflies. Interestingly, milkweed contains sap substances that are sometimes toxic to birds. Some butterflies have taken advantage of this toxicity by laying eggs on milkweed in order for the hungry larvae to ingest leaves full of these toxins, which fill their body with a taste predator birds disdain ultimately providing the larvae and young butterflies with much needed protection.

Sea beans ... prickly liana spiny pods nest lustrous beans, wait for sea pearls' fall ... Gray Nickerbean, Caesalpina bonduc, Kevin Songer Florida Nature Artist Rare Miami Blue and Nickerbean Blue butterfly larvae feed heavily of the foliage of Gray Nickerbean whose seed pods are as outrageously beautiful as the lustrous seeds nested inside.  The maritime loving Gray Nickerbean liana aggressively grows into a rambling, impenetrable hedge before flowering and dropping its gray beans onto the seashore.  With the seasons, tides and sargassum flotsam, Gray Nickerbeans travel around the world, carried hence by La Mar.  Sea Beans, also know as Sea Pearls have been used by peoples for jewelry, medicine and artisan wood inlays for millennia. 

Florida Wildflower Poetry and Art, Elderberry ... elderberry jam jar lips' purple goo absurd not to lick ... Elderberry has been revered as an important plant for centuries.  Hippocrates as well as many others throughout history spoke of elder's ability to feed and heal.  The purple berries and flowers have been found to be effective in combating influenza and in also making delicious jams and pies.  Elder grows well in a variety of soils and provides communal and foraging to pollinators and small mammals alike.

Ticktrefoil ... another yard weed impossible to get rid of important to keep ... Stick tights, Desmodium spp.