I am writing these thoughts while sitting at my little desk in a lovely house on Icicle Hill Road, looking out at the still, calm beauty of Lake Jackson. For me, a woman visiting from Sheboygan, Wisconsin, a city of 49,000 situated on the western shore of Lake Michigan, it is a real treat to have left the cold for this warm, wet, green place to work on my poetry and make new friends.

In five short days, I have come to feel a genuine connection to the lake. I canoed through its lily pads, sped across its open waters on a motor boat, watched the sun rise over it, and acquainted myself with some of its more notable avian inhabitants: herons, anhingas, limpkins, and a bald eagle or two.

Departing from Lake Jackson, I got to visit Wakulla Springs and saw three alligators, a tree full of vultures, and no manatees. (That’s OK, though. I just need to come back when it is a bit colder!) I have eaten great barbecue ribs at Mindify Smoke on Highway 27, munched on boiled peanuts, sampled the smoked mullet at Ouzts’ Too Oyster Bar and Grill in Newport, and checked out the scene at Shuckers on Lake Jackson.

All in all, being in Tallahassee and its environs has been a feast for the senses in every way.

I came here as the fourth and final resident for 2017 in the Lake Jackson 100 Thousand Poets for Change Residency Program. I was invited by Michael Rothenberg and Terri Carrion, the founders of the global arts and activist movement. It has been an honor, pleasure, and education for me to be here.

I got to speak to a high school ecology class at the Maclay School, sharing with them my current project to build a children’s reading garden in Malawi, Africa. The next day, three local writers — Susan Cerulean, Alex Quinlan, Juan Carlos Galeano — and I read our work at Black Dog on Railroad Square to a receptive and welcoming crowd.

I attended the ribbon cutting of a new boat launch on Lake Jackson because Terri is active in the Friends of Lake Jackson, a group that works to preserve this unique, closed basin lake.

I am especially interested in watershed protection because back home —when I am not being a poet or a builder of gardens on the other side of the world — I am the development and communications coordinator for the Lakeshore Natural Resource Partnership, a nonprofit umbrella group that builds capacity for seven watershed partners and three regional networks, all devoted to protecting water.

As we say back home, “We All Live on the Water,” and here in Tallahassee, that seems to be equally true. The way I see it, since we are 70 percent water ourselves, we have good reason to join forces through advocacy, restoration, poetry, local food, music, gardens, or any other means that connect people to one another. This is how we work together to become better citizen stewards.

While here, I even wrote a few new poems about Lake Jackson and made notes for many more yet to come. My experience has made me feel connected to the natural landscape of northern Florida and to this welcoming community in productive and inspiring ways. I look forward to a return visit very soon.

About the writer

Lisa Vihos is the Poetry and Arts Editor of Stoneboat Literary Journal, an occasional guest blogger for Best American Poetry, and the Sheboygan, Wisconsin organizer for 100 Thousand Poets for Change. She was awarded the 2016-2017 Time-Out Grant from her undergraduate alma mater, Vassar College, to coordinate efforts to plan and build a children’s reading garden to support literacy in Malawi, Africa. Visit her blog at Frying the Onion.

The Friends of Lake Jackson is a civic organization devoted to the environmental protection and sustainable use of the lake. Visit FriendsofLakeJackson.org to learn more and become a Friend today!