I have departed in body only.
Like the gnarled tendrils of ancient Swamp Cypress
the mystery of the French Quarter holds me captive prey.
Yet I reject rescue, mesmerized by the spell of ancestral
drumbeats pulsing through my veins, synchronized to the flow
of the city's heartbeat ignoring my own. Again she lives,
no longer on post-Katrina life support.
I discern sidewalk covering flattened cardboard patches as
makeshift mattresses of the underbelly dwellers.
"Where'd you get them grits?" to one eating on a door stoop
in the early morning clatter of the produce market waking for the day;
friend or foe two sidewalk squares beyond, passed out or sleeping, who
knows or cares?
Skulls in fashion here long before Johnny Depp sailed an ocean
spawned of digital celluloid. Like moss creeping across centurion oaks
the pestilence of dark magic permeates the Bougainvillea laden balconies,
ever present, lurking; a voyeur to the debauchery splashed like cheap icing
on a WalMart sheet cake or too red lipstick smeared on old lips.
"That's it you blowsy harlot, FIGHT! Reclaim your throne you regal bitch;
DAMN them all to Hell! Gather your children again to your ample bosom
and tell them the stories of your glorious past when you and they were
young. Let them not forget the noble blood from whence they came, centuries
past yet still alive, reconstructed again.
Author notes
As the third anniversary of Katrina approaches I have finally reached the 'anger' stage of grief and celebrate
the return, in a manner of speaking, of a place that is home to my spirit and that of so many others.
Contest: My favorite color is love
A contest entry
- A Moment in Forever by Nephlim.
600 points, ended June 16, 2008, 22 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest - Cityscape - New Orleans by cirque du soleil.
375 points, ended December 4, 2008, 10 entries
• next poem in this contest, remove from contest
Comments
1 - 8 of 8
-
I could feel a hirricanes effect in your words
I am blown away!
-
there is power and emotion behind the swells of the sea in here
-
This is beautiful. You have captured the essence of New Orleans, or at least the image I have in my head from books and music and film. It holds such magic.
-
-
thank you so much for you comments
-
-
Thank you for following the rules!
I absolutely love the last stanza, speaking of the city as a queen, and giving her such colorful names, amusing but beautiful at the same time. You definitely had the details that I was asking for here. Good luck!
-
Very Good!
-
-
thanks for stopping by...
-
-
This is very good Patsy, I see your pen is well oiled again. The last time you used this background I thought you did a fantastic job of producing a particularly feisty write and you did it again.
Paul
Adding your comment:
1 - 8 of 8
