Salt Creek, St. Petersburg

Salt Creek, St. Petersburg

by Robin Shwedo

©: Robin Shwedo, 2011



Historical, varied, over-looked Salt Creek.

Saltwater waterway,

used for littering, garbage-dumping for too long.

Once pristine, now muck-filled,

wanting to become once-again – vibrant,

Vital

estuary

life-giving

ebb-and-flow

peaceful waterway.

“Watch out for sharks!”

Crabs, fish, pelicans

displaced by cans, ring-tops, litter,

to be (hopefully) replaced (again) by nature.

Wonder if Native Americans used this

as their water-highway?

The wind and currents steer us.



This was written on 2-10-11 for a Nature Writing class at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, taught by Tom Hallock. It was a fun class, including a kayaking trip on Salt Creek, as well as writing.

When I took the class, a man standing on a bridge above the creek watched us paddling along, and hollared, "Watch out for the sharks!" Got a good laugh from all of us.

How good was the writing? There was even a book (Salt Creak Journal) published with some of the writing and photography, along with a release part.

Professor Hallock's Nature Writing class has moved on to other local waterways to write about.

This poem is part of a growing collection tentatively titled Painted Words.