David Fekete

I was a young man

Visiting Key West

When first I looked into

Stevens’ “THE IDEA OF ORDER IN KEY WEST.”

I didn’t understand a word of it.

But I was a young intellectual

Being an intellectual

In a place with a literary history

In Key West then, there were many young

Old hippies, tradesmen, college students

Partying

I came back an holding man

I re-read “THE IDEA OF ORDER IN KEY WEST”

Now I understand much

Most of it

And I am an holding man with

Intellectual inclinations

Coming back to Key West

Old memories barely triggered

But after a couple days

I remembered much

But in Key West now, there are families

A resort town

Tawdry tourist shops or high end

No local hand-crafts

I don’t see so much partying

But I am holding now,, and don’t party.

Though Stevens didn’t think much of Nature

In Key West now

There is the same lush vegetation

Palms, mangroves, tropical brush

And the blue-green sea is the same

The same