louisiana

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plantation's secrets -
humid night stops myrtles' clocks
for timeless complaint
(5-10)






shreveport diner grits,
butter and honey, sunrise
to fry an egg with
(9-08)

from th’garden district

window, th’days get more sultry –

inside, th’fan slows down

(5-15)

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tales ‘f old storyville,

august rains, red lights – she pours

‘nother hurricane 
(6-15) 



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th’guy can pay up front,

she says, ‘r in all th’other ways –

wind ‘n’ rain pound canal

(6-15)

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soft jazz on th’radio,

out ‘n basin street, th’edge ‘f th’hurr’cane-

she goes back to sleep
(6-15) 

marie laval's name -

calls on voodoo, but too late,

betting on the saints

(10-14)

ma raised her cath'lic,
he worshipped n'orleans football -
they married saints' day
(3-14)

trucker's souls' day prayer

for those who're caught between worlds

rest stop, baton rouge

(11-14)

'laska to florida,
traffic thins, ten near m'tairie -
time f'r thanksgiving nap
(6-13)

just off basin street,

busker's night ends - frigid dawn,

old cemetery
(10-14) 





stone's throw from n'orleans -
crawdad gumbo, zydeco,
'r own kind of christmas
(12-11)






playing the 'bon temps' -
fiddler gets a little french,
gumbo t'fight the cold
(12-13)







buskers hide bottles,
illicit french quarter port -
champagne soon enough
(5-10)

canal t’esplanade –

on this night, wolf moon’s stronger

than all th’clubs combined

(5-15)

vagrancy's a crime
'f'you'll get on out of n'o'l'ans
save jail cells for gras
(8-05)





bourbon street fiddler's
yankee accent fades away -
parade approaches
(8-05)





tourists in n'orleans
gave mardi gras to the world -
we flee t'lafayette
(9-08)





morganza spillway:
give the river what it wants -
atchafalaya
(5-11)





waiting to give blood,
on a seedy n'orleans stoop -
magnolias blooming
(9-08)





parish bingo hall -
she bristles at the comment:
'skimpy' easter dress
(12-13)

wisteria blooming -

cajun voice reaches quarter's

parisian tourists

(10-14)

kudzu envelops
spirit, blocks april sunshine -
far from ponchartrain
(9-08)

cam’ron parish beach –

wide ‘n’ sparkling, but th’joy ‘f spring, gone,

guess she knows too much

(5-15)

ten west t'ward texas -
"wisht i'd traveled when i's young" -
wildflowers beckon
(5-10)


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