Poet Gregory Byrd, who is a professor at St. Petersburg College, grew up in the Florida Keys. The state serves as muse for many of the poems in his most recent collection, The Name for the God Who Speaks. Here is one of those poems.
Dark Lesson
I have had to relearn darkness.
As a kid, the dark was Skunk Ape
or capture the flag
on a night campground.
In high school, dark was girls
and drinking and up late
divining all the old mysteries.
Light was pyrrophyta
off a sailboat’s stern,
the whitish dusting of the Milky Way
from our dock. But in the city
there is no darkness
because everyone is afraid.
The sky is a peachy dome
covering stars,
a night watcher
for everyone afraid of trees.
Some time back, God said
let there be light
and we’ve been afraid
ever since.
The Name for the God Who Speaks
By Gregory Byrd
Texas Review Press, 27 pages, $15.95
Times Festival of Reading
Gregory Byrd will be a featured author at the Tampa Bay Times Festival of Reading on Nov. 9 at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg. He will appear on a panel with poet Gianna Russo (One House Down) at 12:15 p.m. in Davis Hall Room 130. Free. festivalofreading.com.