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Open Poetry #48
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Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans, Too?
| Open Poetry #48 |
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Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans, Too? |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana 
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Pulled and old one out of the stack. Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans, Crawfish pie, jambalaya, you know, that scene? Drinking on Bourbon Street until you puke, Stomach erupting like it houses a nuke. Oak-lined streets hung with wafting Spanish Moss, And sacred encounters with Creole Sauce. The odor of fresh seafood in the air, Lingers among the art of Jackson Square. Duplex houses are dotting the Ninth Ward, Families living there with a common chord. Beleaguered because of modern day strife, Still, to some it's the elixir of life. Majestic Mississippi River flows, Twisting and turning so nice and so slow. Ships horns join the cacophony of sound, They reverberate like an old hoarse hound. Visions of pirates, hoop skirts and grand balls, Fais do do, Congo Square, til all enthralled. Gris-gris and charms to embellish the night, As you boogie down to watch for Voodoo bites. Chicory-spiked coffee somewhere unseen, Come from the drip pot of a Creole Queen. You've made love in a sultry afternoon, To the strains of a Satchmo trumpet tune. The past is sweeter when the future's bleak, Katrina has made it much more unique. She came to a city without much hope Of surviving a storm of that much scope. It has been months now since she has been gone, People are awaking to a new dawn. "Come back home," is the oft said, sad refrain, "To what?" is the answer they all exclaim. Ghosts of the past are walking in a daze, What is not flooded has been set ablaze. I hear a trumpet screaming for relief, All the way from Flushing, NY, screams grief. All the history of the Crescent City, Big Easy, if you like, is a pity, Buried under water, mud and despair, The spirit of Jean Lafitte says a prayer. Louis Armstrong sung about his hometown, But in the end he had to put it down. What a life Satchmo must have had to lead, That has always bothered and confused me. Still, he is grieving about the Lady, I think he is up there singing off key. Smiling, handkerchief waving, wailing mean, Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? ©December 10, 2005 / Jerry Pat Bolton |
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| © Copyright 2012 Jerry Pat Bolton - All Rights Reserved | |||
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tracie66 Member Elite
since 2000-01-18
Posts 4713Australia |
Oh WOW! thanks for reposting Jerry, great write, very vivid indeed.  Love is the life of the soul... |
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Amaryllis Senior Member
since 2010-05-20
Posts 1306Mi now |
This completely encapsulates the subject...I could hear it as a song  Amaryllis |
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Nicole Senior Member
since 1999-06-23
Posts 1835Florida |
I have never been, but I do feel like I miss it, now, Jerry. I feel as if I've been there through your poem. |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Thank you so much, tracie66, for reading and commenting in my poem. <><> I was sorta thinking son when I wrote it, Amaryllis, but a songster I am not. Thank you. <><> Nicole, I'm happy that the poem put you in the grand old city. ~*~ I gave up feeling guilty just to survive a long time ago ~*~ |
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Lori Grosser Rhoden Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202Fair to middlin' of nowhere |
Jerry, you have a great way of capturing the essence of things as you did here. Lori |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Thank you, Lori. ~*~ I gave up feeling guilty just to survive a long time ago ~*~ |
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JL Member Ascendant
since 2004-04-01
Posts 6128Texas, USA |
"All the history of the Crescent City, Big Easy, if you like, is a pity, Buried under water, mud and despair, The spirit of Jean Lafitte says a prayer. Louis Armstrong sung about his hometown, But in the end he had to put it down. What a life Satchmo must have had to lead, That has always bothered and confused me." I'm with ya, Mr. Enjoyed the read. JL Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul,and with all your mind. Love your neighbor as yourself. |
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jwesley Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563Spring, Texas |
Yeah, do, my friend --- at least the New Orleans of the '50's, '60's --- and don't miss the 'Big Easy' version of it at all. Born and raised there (New Orleans, Kenner, Metairie mostly) so well aware of the changes in the last 50 years or so. Almost all my family still lives in the area - mostly north of the lake now. Go back fairly often. Was kinda funny a year or so ago, was jawing with a guy in the office I worked for (about 15 years my junior) and he grew up in a house right next door to one I lived in for a while. We went to the same schools, he even knew one of my old teachers, used the same bowling alley, skating rink, and so forth. Was really a catch-up conversation for us both. Of course there was a lot of things that were different too, --- a lot had become concrete and blacktop since my time. cool write, my friend. j. |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Thank you, JL, I appreciate your continued support of my poetry. <><>Didn't know that you were born in Sin City. It has never been The Big Easy for me. I wound up there on my senior trip and was so smitten by the crazy place that, during all of my rambling for the next few decades I always managed to come back to her regularly. The sights and sounds of The Crescent City forever changed this old country boy from Arkansas. Some might say the change was for the worse, and they;d probably be right, but it did change me. Appreciate the information about yourself. ~*~ I gave up feeling guilty just to survive a long time ago ~*~ |
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suthern
since 1999-07-29
Posts 20723Louisiana |
Yes... I do. Her gown is often tattered and sometimes not quite clean but she welcomes you with the smell of beignets frying as you escape the drunks on Bourbon St and the sounds of a sax moan through alleys far from the crowds and the Mississippi rolls at your feet and dreams and dreamers find each other... and for better or worse, there's no place like it. And you definitely did right by her in this poem. |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
That was absolutely poetic, suthern. Thank you for adding your wonderful comments to my poem, it just thrilled me to read it, and I read them twice. ~*~ Yes, size matters, but sighs matters more ~*~ |
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Michael
Moderator
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-08-13
Posts 7666California |
While I can't relate to this poem on a personal level, JP, I certainly can on a visual one. I've driven through New Orleans 5 different times in my life... The last 2 approximately 6 months and 2 years after Katrina. What I saw on the 6 month afte trip horrified me. What I saw on the 2 years after trip was like a haunting... A lost echo of greatness. There was so much I expected to see in the way of people... Of life in general by that time but the city seemed empty except for what I could recall fro my pre-Katrina trips. I cannot image what it must be like to live there, or somewhere close by where you visit it often... this poem gives me a pretty good idea though. On a side note... I very much am missing New Orleans in the Superbowl... Giants/Patriots... Bah I demand a redo of the playoffs... This was rigged! Michael |
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JerryPat2 Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975South Louisiana |
Haha! You think it was rigged, eh? Wouldn't be the first time. I expected San Francisco to beat the Saints. I just felt it was their time. And the they head east and play like girls. New Orleans will never be the city it was before Katrina. I live sixty miles from there and over the decades I have partied hard in Sin City. You can still party hard there, but the soul of the city has been lost, Michael and I don;t think it will ever return. Thanks for your comments, my friend. ~*~ Yes, size matters, but sighs matters more ~*~ |
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