SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY JOURNAL
  • Poetry #37 May '25
  • Flash #37 May '25
  • Poetry #36 Feb '25
  • Flash #36 Feb '25
  • Latinx Poetry Month
  • The Maureen Seaton Prize
    • Maureen Seaton's Poetry
  • JUST SAY GAY
  • ABOUT
    • Archives >
      • Poetry #35 Nov '24
      • Flash #35 Nov '24
      • Poetry #34 Aug '24
      • Flash #34 Aug '24
      • POETRY #33 May '24
      • FLASH #33 May '24
      • POETRY #32 Feb '24
      • FLASH #32 Feb '24
      • POETRY #31 NOV '23
      • FLASH #31 NOV '23
      • Poetry #30 AUG '23
      • FLASH #30 AUG '23
      • Poetry #29 MAY '23
      • FLASH #29 May '23
      • Poetry #28 Feb '23
      • Flash #28 Feb '23
      • Poetry #27 - NOV 22
      • FLASH #27 - Nov 22
      • POETRY #26 - AUG 22
      • FLASH #26 - AUG 22
      • POETRY #25 - May 22
      • FLASH #25 - May 22
      • POETRY #24 - Feb 22
      • FLASH #24 - FEB 22
      • POETRY #23 - NOV 21
      • FLASH #23 - NOV 21
      • ISSUE 22 POETRY AUG 21 >
        • ISSUE 22 POETRY PG 2 AUG 21
      • ISSUE 22 FLASH AUG 21
      • ISSUE 21 POETRY MAY 2021
      • ISSUE 21 FLASH May 2021
      • ISSUE 20 FEB 2021
      • ISSUE 19 NOV 2020
      • ISSUE 18 AUG 2020
      • Issue 18 Pt. 2 of AUG 2020
      • ISSUE 17 MAY 2020
      • ISSUE 16 FEB 2020
      • ISSUE 15 NOV 2019
      • ISSUE 14 AUG 2019
      • ISSUE 13 MAY 2019
      • ISSUE 12 FEB 2019
      • ISSUE 11 NOV 2018
      • ISSUE 10 AUG 2018
      • ISSUE 9 MAY 2018
      • ISSUE 8 FEB 2018
      • ISSUE 7 NOV 2017
      • ISSUE 6 AUG 2017
      • ISSUE 5 MAY 2017
      • ISSUE 4 FEB 2017 >
        • Kostelanetz Visual Poem
      • ISSUE 3 NOV 2016
      • ISSUE 2 AUG 2016
      • ISSUE 1 MAY 2016
    • Calendar
    • Contributors >
      • Contributors 2016-19
    • MASTHEAD
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Tip Jar
  • Essays 2024-25
    • Essays 2022-23
    • Essays 2020-21
  • Interviews 2024-25
    • Interviews 2022-23
    • Interviews 2020-21
    • Interviews 2016-19
  • Reviews 2024-25
    • Reviews 2022-23
    • Reviews 2020-21
    • Reviews 2016-19
  • Special Section
    • A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY
    • Adam Day
    • Album of Fences
    • Broadsides
    • Favorite Poems
    • Follow the Dancer
    • In Memoriam, John Arndt
    • Hargitai Humanism and
    • Kiss & Tell
    • Lennon McCartney
    • Neighborhood of Make-Believe
    • PBPF Ekphrastic Contest
    • Paradise
    • Patricia Whiting Memorial
    • Rystar
    • Surfside
    • Visit to the Rio Grande
    • WHAT FICTION ARE YOU READING?
    • SNAPS
    • SoFloPoJo Nominations >
      • Best of the Net Nominations
  • Video
    • Florida Center for the Book
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR Interviews >
      • MBF2023 >
        • MBF2022
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR POEMS
    • Palm Beach Poetry Festival
    • SFPJ Video 2024-25
    • SFPJ Video 2022-23
    • SFPJ Video 2016-21
  • Visual Arts 2024-25
    • Visual Arts 2022-23
    • Visual Arts 2020-21
    • Visual Arts 2016-19
  • WITCHERY
  • Chameleon Chimera Contributors
  • CHAMELEON CHIMERA
  • Poetry #37 May '25
  • Flash #37 May '25
  • Poetry #36 Feb '25
  • Flash #36 Feb '25
  • Latinx Poetry Month
  • The Maureen Seaton Prize
    • Maureen Seaton's Poetry
  • JUST SAY GAY
  • ABOUT
    • Archives >
      • Poetry #35 Nov '24
      • Flash #35 Nov '24
      • Poetry #34 Aug '24
      • Flash #34 Aug '24
      • POETRY #33 May '24
      • FLASH #33 May '24
      • POETRY #32 Feb '24
      • FLASH #32 Feb '24
      • POETRY #31 NOV '23
      • FLASH #31 NOV '23
      • Poetry #30 AUG '23
      • FLASH #30 AUG '23
      • Poetry #29 MAY '23
      • FLASH #29 May '23
      • Poetry #28 Feb '23
      • Flash #28 Feb '23
      • Poetry #27 - NOV 22
      • FLASH #27 - Nov 22
      • POETRY #26 - AUG 22
      • FLASH #26 - AUG 22
      • POETRY #25 - May 22
      • FLASH #25 - May 22
      • POETRY #24 - Feb 22
      • FLASH #24 - FEB 22
      • POETRY #23 - NOV 21
      • FLASH #23 - NOV 21
      • ISSUE 22 POETRY AUG 21 >
        • ISSUE 22 POETRY PG 2 AUG 21
      • ISSUE 22 FLASH AUG 21
      • ISSUE 21 POETRY MAY 2021
      • ISSUE 21 FLASH May 2021
      • ISSUE 20 FEB 2021
      • ISSUE 19 NOV 2020
      • ISSUE 18 AUG 2020
      • Issue 18 Pt. 2 of AUG 2020
      • ISSUE 17 MAY 2020
      • ISSUE 16 FEB 2020
      • ISSUE 15 NOV 2019
      • ISSUE 14 AUG 2019
      • ISSUE 13 MAY 2019
      • ISSUE 12 FEB 2019
      • ISSUE 11 NOV 2018
      • ISSUE 10 AUG 2018
      • ISSUE 9 MAY 2018
      • ISSUE 8 FEB 2018
      • ISSUE 7 NOV 2017
      • ISSUE 6 AUG 2017
      • ISSUE 5 MAY 2017
      • ISSUE 4 FEB 2017 >
        • Kostelanetz Visual Poem
      • ISSUE 3 NOV 2016
      • ISSUE 2 AUG 2016
      • ISSUE 1 MAY 2016
    • Calendar
    • Contributors >
      • Contributors 2016-19
    • MASTHEAD
    • Submission Guidelines
    • Tip Jar
  • Essays 2024-25
    • Essays 2022-23
    • Essays 2020-21
  • Interviews 2024-25
    • Interviews 2022-23
    • Interviews 2020-21
    • Interviews 2016-19
  • Reviews 2024-25
    • Reviews 2022-23
    • Reviews 2020-21
    • Reviews 2016-19
  • Special Section
    • A BRIEF HISTORY OF SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY
    • Adam Day
    • Album of Fences
    • Broadsides
    • Favorite Poems
    • Follow the Dancer
    • In Memoriam, John Arndt
    • Hargitai Humanism and
    • Kiss & Tell
    • Lennon McCartney
    • Neighborhood of Make-Believe
    • PBPF Ekphrastic Contest
    • Paradise
    • Patricia Whiting Memorial
    • Rystar
    • Surfside
    • Visit to the Rio Grande
    • WHAT FICTION ARE YOU READING?
    • SNAPS
    • SoFloPoJo Nominations >
      • Best of the Net Nominations
  • Video
    • Florida Center for the Book
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR Interviews >
      • MBF2023 >
        • MBF2022
    • MIAMI BOOK FAIR POEMS
    • Palm Beach Poetry Festival
    • SFPJ Video 2024-25
    • SFPJ Video 2022-23
    • SFPJ Video 2016-21
  • Visual Arts 2024-25
    • Visual Arts 2022-23
    • Visual Arts 2020-21
    • Visual Arts 2016-19
  • WITCHERY
  • Chameleon Chimera Contributors
  • CHAMELEON CHIMERA
SOUTH FLORIDA POETRY JOURNAL
Holly Iglesias             (Maureen Seaton)
KANNAPOLIS, 1941, REEL 2

                             —after Movies of Local People by H. Lee Waters
​

                   So beautiful the men in hats, the straw boaters, and fedoras, and caps.
                   So beautiful the ladies in ladies’ dresses, summer cottons, dotted Swiss, gingham
checks, rowdy plaids.

                   So beautiful the string bag of onions and the basket of canned goods and the
boxes tied with twine.

                   So beautiful the children holding hands, bashful in front of the camera, two of
them toothless.

                    So beautiful the youth leaving the mill, overalls flecked with thread, sleeves rolled
up to show off his muscles, machine oil on his chin.

                    So beautiful the girl, whippet-thin and haughty, rushing to move past the camera
until someone shouts her name and she breaks into a smile.

                    So beautiful the men smoking on the curb outside the courthouse, the lawyer
strolling behind them in a seersucker suit and two-tone shoes.

                    So beautiful the mule pulling a wagon heaped with cartons of peaches and berries,
so beautiful the driver of the wagon and the mule.

                    So beautiful the grocer in a pristine apron, unrolling the awnings to protect the
lettuce from the noonday sun.

                    So beautiful the grandma in her housedress and lace-up shoes, a boy on one hand,
a girl on the other, each licking a lollipop.

                    So beautiful the bodies passing by, so beautiful the haircuts and cloth jackets, so
beautiful the dungarees spiffed up with a Sunday shirt.

                    So beautiful the plate of navy beans with ham and red-eye gravy and two yeast
rolls to sop up the gravy.

                     So beautiful the girls who scowl, the girls who grin, so beautiful the boy who
looks away.

                     So beautiful the mothers outside the shoe store, gazing at the new pumps and
oxfords behind the glass.

                    So beautiful the running board where the men rest, chewing the fat, bone-tired
and laughing.

                    So beautiful the tongues licking ice cream cones, so beautiful the bare arms and
sun-suits, so beautiful the hats set at flirtatious angles.

                    So beautiful the man behind the lens, the man who loves their flowing by, so
​beautiful the river of their days.
SoFloPoJo - South Florida Poetry Journal   &  Witchery, the place for Epoems            Copyright © 2016-2025