"Meet Our Poets" and More From Tampa

One of several such flowers growing outside the Hyatt Regency Tampa. More detail is in the large view (click the magnifying glass).

Larry Gross, webmaster of the Florida State Poets Association, has had the organization's "Meet Our Poets" section up for some months now. I've finally gotten around to sending in my three poems for posting, which can be viewed by clicking here.

More from our weekend in Tampa follows....

I'm a city gal: born and raised in Brooklyn, NY, and then a resident of metro Boston for 20 years before I moved to my quiet little hamlet in central Florida. Last I checked, my town had a population of around 5,000 people. For a few years I had lived on Staten Island, whose population then was about the same as it is now in my entire county.

I love living in a quasi-rural area, though rapid growth and development mean these quiet days are numbered. Stepping into Tampa brought my city instincts back -- and while I reveled in those I was happy to be a tourist. On Friday afternoon I'd lunched in a small city park while a pair of guitarists performed. I shared a bench and good conversation with a woman on her lunch break.

Downtown Reflections


The windows of this downtown Tampa building reflect a second building and a construction crane. Tampa itself undergoes rapid development, as evidenced by all the construction in progress. Multiple cranes dotted the landscape. I learned from a bellhop that in addition to convention-goers, the Hyatt housed college students displaced by rebuilding. I told him the same thing had happened in Boston, whose population increases fourfold after the summer when the students return to that college town.

A Channel Off Tampa Bay


Mary and I took a brief walking tour before we set off for home. Tampa's Downtown West section (and the Hyatt where we stayed) is to the left of this channel. The University of Tampa (not visible) is to the right. This view, taken from the bridge shown below, reminded me of the Charles River that runs between Boston and Cambridge.

Michigan State in Tampa


I took this shot from the University of Tampa campus because Mary received her bachelor's degree from Michigan State.

Graffiti


I believe these graffiti, like those in the shot above, relate to scull races conducted on the channel.

Fire Escape in Pink


After lining this up several different ways, I decided to go with straightening the stairs rather than the windows. This building is located a couple of blocks away from the University of Tampa.

Room 1534 at the Hyatt

Our room on the morning of our departure.

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