Harrowing to Harmonizing: Alligator Encounters & Imaginings Through Poetry, Prose, & Photography

“From trauma and tragedy to serenity and bliss, days by the lake are made of this.”

Swimming in a warm, dark-water lake is a relaxing way to pass a summer afternoon in Florida – until sighting an alligator approaching: a heart-pumping circumstance that throws the brain in a panic and the body in motion toward the dock.

Brave or Crazed?

Dripping, trembling, yet thankful, the author employs these experiences to spark poetry that takes the reader to the water’s edge and into the consciousness of the swimmer and alligators from many angles: in the water with them, observation from shore, and from their own perspective.

Diana Kanoy tells her tales of true adventure swimming in a rural Florida lake through prose, poetry, and photography—a book like no other—entertaining and educational, beautiful and terrifying.  Learn how to be safe around Florida waters while enjoying many points of view, including the alligators’ own!

Semi-autobiographical reveries expose the crocodilian’s life in a way uniquely entertaining and edifying. Laugh at the shenanigans, absorb safety precautions, be amazed by wanton mating behavior, and appalled by the occasional stupidity of humans. Side by side with shock and horror, serene moments induce contemplation, admiration, or illumination.

Complemented by over 100 large color photos by brave Florida nature photographers, the tantalizing pages are sumptuous and astonishing, drawing the reader forward vicariously through a wide range of emotions.

“I haven’t laughed so hard in so long! Absolutely DELIGHTFUL.”

–Shivani Lash

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