Most of the Time I Miss Nothing

I left Alabama on purpose

I love my Florida life

of the past forty years

But sometimes I’ll see a painting

or an old photograph

or I am walking through

Some stranger’s backyard

(that is part of my job)

collecting dew and hitchhikers

On my shoes

and pants cuffs

and it will take me back

To a Pike Road

rummage sale

or some such place

Crawling with Alabama strangers

and bits and pieces

of a summer morning

and, for at least

a split moment

I miss THAT Alabama.