I was walking the trail along the Mississippi River just below the Hastings Bridge where I watched the locals cavorting in the river, inspiring this picture and poem. I mentioned safety here, because the couple in the speed boat is not wearing life-jackets. That is legal in Minnesota, as long as the jackets of flotation devices are present in the boat and readily accessible. Not even counting rivers and streams, Minnesota is famous for its 10,000 Lakes (actually 11,842). With 183,326 Miles of shoreline between its rivers and lakes, Minnesota boosts more shoreline than California, Hawaii, and Florida combined. So, the love of water is in our DNA. Here's the chart:

California, Hawaii, and Florida Shoreline vs. Minnesota Shoreline, including Rivers
OCEAN LAKES RIVERS TOTAL
California 3,427 32,050 59,328 94,805
Hawaii 1,052 229 20,160 21,441
Florida 8,436 22,236 22,000 52,672
CA + HI + FL 12,915 54,515 101,488 168,918
Minnesota 0 44,926 138,400 183,326
(Note: I couldn't make the columns line up prpperly in the editor, but each line has 4 numbers. The first is ocean shoreline, then lake shore, then river, and finally the total. For example, Minnesota has 0 oceanfront, and Hawaii has only 229 lakeshore.)

"Minnesota" is from the Dakota Indian language meaning "The Land of the Lakes", thus my capitalization in the first line.

Troll, refers to the practice of pulling bait or inflatables behind a boat.
Recruits means boat guests and children.
Creek - for purpose of the poem, I merely intend any body of water, rather than a literal creek.
Mores (pronouncesd Mor-rays) are customs or conventions that embody the fundamental values of a group. In this case, water Lovers.

See contest rules for format. I did use feminine iambic meter on line 1 and 3 of the poem.

This photograph was taken by the author himself on June 24, 2016.

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