Поэтесса Ариэль Эберт представила стихотворение о грозах из новой книги «Bottom Feeders»

As detailed in a new interview with Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, Arielle Hebert’s “Bottom Feeders,” published in June by Black Lawrence Press, summons a kind of wild Florida girlhood poem by poem, each one popping like the pills that flowed so freely through the state in the late-2000s. In advance of an appearance at St. Petersburg’s Tombolo Books next month, Herbert has shared “Lightning Capital of the World” from bottom feeders. See her explainer for the work, and the poem itself, below. The poem “Lightning Capital of the World” is one of the quintessentially Florida pieces in my poetry collection, Bottom Feeders. Lightning is such a part of the experience of living in Florida, especially near Tampa, which is nicknamed the lightning capital of the world. Growing up on the Gulf Coast, lightning storms were a wonder, a phenomenon that captivated me. Lightning is part of our culture; we even have sports teams named for it. It’s dangerous and deadly, but it’s also strikingly (forgive the pun!) beautiful and haunting. The poem is an ode to lightning, reverential in its depictions of lightning’s strength and beauty, of which I am in awe. The poem’s shape, with its jagged lines, mimics the form of lightning as well.—Arielle Hebert Arielle Hebert, “Lightning Capital of the World” from Bottom Feeders. Copyright © 2026 by Arielle Hebert. Reprinted with the permission of Black Lawrence Press. Pitch in to help make the Tampa Bay Journalism Project a success. Subscribe to Creative Loafing newsletters. Follow us: Google News | NewsBreak | Reddit | Instagram | Facebook | BlueSky This article appears in August 20 – 26, 2026.