This book investigates the intersection of Florida’s unique ecological landscape and the aesthetic development of twentieth-century American poets. Ange Mlinko, a poet and critic, examines how the state’s environment—often viewed as a site of artifice and excess—shaped the formal innovations of writers like Wallace Stevens, Marianne Moore, and Elizabeth Bishop. By analyzing the concept of the "ornament" in both biological and literary contexts, Mlinko argues that Florida served as a crucial laboratory for poets to test the boundaries of their craft. The text utilizes close readings and historical context to map the influence of the region on modern poetic sensibilities.

Critics and scholars identify this work as a sophisticated contribution to the study of American modernism and environmental poetics. Readers frequently note the intellectual density of the prose and the author's ability to synthesize biological observation with literary theory.