Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Hawai'i

    

    Delaware

    The First State, if you will

    I have spent at least two Thanksgivings there

    Back in the 1990s I drove through some of it just to say I did

    We went to a very ghetto gas station

    What a trip, with kids in tow

    Finding restrooms in the recesses of Wilmington

    

    The beaches have been nice, overall

    But the bugs can be too much at times

    Florida

    Been there many a time, went back last Christmas season

    A new part of the state I had not known before

    Met some Spanish speakers, Haitian Creole

    Saw a gator, saw some birds, and an armadillo

    Times past, we did some cruises

    Stayed at some hotels and condos

    My aunt and uncle's winter home

    The trailer of my mom's friend's parents

    Ahh, the glories of Florida

    Stayed in an RV trailer, too

    Georgia

    Drove through, flew through, studied there, vacation

    The gamut, as it were

    I was there with the military when Mr. Bin Laden died

    An honor and lucky coincidence, it seems

    

    The South is rising again

    In a different form from what some short-term rebels 

    Had hoped

    Industry and commerce

    Technical savvy and technological know how

    Past the pecans and the peaches

    One New Year's in Sparta

    Camping outside an old government center

    

    Old can be one hundred years in the New World

    We went by Cartersville, town of an old college roomie

    Saw the vape store and the new drugs

    Questionable smokes in a fallen land of the poor

    Where I see it

    

    Hawai'i

    Fall 2002 was a good time for me and my wife

    Who planned and prompted the trip

    Five days, listen to a spiel, 

    Some leis and maybe a table with poi

    We saw some beaches, went snorkeling a little

    Saw the North Shore, our temple

    The Cultural Center of the Islands

    I saw the mountains 

    Lush and green

    Muscular and remote

    We did the luau and did not drink

    The bus ride had its host making jokes

    Roll Tide fans were there for their early 

    Cancelled bowl dreams dashed

    Alabama in the ocean 

    But grass skirts and bare chests

    Rule the day over those college football zealots

    The island of Oahu is a jewel