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Open Poetry #48
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JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana

0 posted 2012-09-26 06:49 PM


Well, it is getting close to Halloween . . .


the bogey man can seize the night
he owns the swamp
but I have fortitude
and in my hand the gris-gris*
made from a shard of the last man
hung in Lafourche Parish for stealing a goat
a rooster's head
fingernail clippings from one disgraced society lady
from New Orleans
there are other odds and ends which make up
the gris-gris
the less said about those the better
ahead of me
stretching across the canal
a trestle where an ill-fated train
hauling sugar cane went off the tracks
plunging into the black water below
been setting on the bottom of that canal
nearly a hundred years
the goading taunt
when I was growing up
dive to the bottom of the canal
bring something up from the train
didn't matter what
my brother brought up a rib bone skeleton
he kept it all these years
brother died last week
bogey-man put a hex on him
I added a piece of his ankle to the gris-gris

©August 31, 2012 / Jerry Pat Bolton

*gris-gris: a voodoo amulet originating in Africa which is believed to protect the wearer from evil



~*~ If they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

© Copyright 2012 Jerry Pat Bolton - All Rights Reserved
jwesley
Member Rara Avis
since 2000-04-30
Posts 7563
Spring, Texas
1 posted 2012-09-26 08:33 PM


Very sorry about your brother (if truth?) but loved this, know the stories well...couldn't help but laugh in the end though...

Good write..
j.

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
2 posted 2012-09-26 08:36 PM


Hah! Naw, J, my brother (all three of them) have barely made it out of the state of Arkansas, except Steve when he bought a rig and flatbed to get rich over the Interstate system of America. Five years later he filed for bankruptcy. Thanks for stopping by, man.

~*~ If they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

[This message has been edited by JerryPat2 (09-27-2012 04:46 PM).]

Lori Grosser Rhoden
Member Patricius
since 2009-10-10
Posts 10202
Fair to middlin' of nowhere
3 posted 2012-09-27 08:48 AM


Love your Bayou seasoning to your stories... Your "Gumbo" makes for a great read.

Lori

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
4 posted 2012-09-27 08:52 AM


Thank you, Lori.

~*~ If they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

Startime1955
Senior Member
since 2012-04-22
Posts 1072
Alberta, Canada
5 posted 2012-09-27 04:35 PM


Okay...I admit that I was just a little afraid to read this, knowing how good you are at writing dark...but I couldn't resist and have to admit to liking the vision very much...*BIG HUGS*

*may our dreams ever be magical*

JerryPat2
Member Laureate
since 2011-02-06
Posts 16975
South Louisiana
6 posted 2012-09-27 04:43 PM


Great! You are learning to live on the wild side every so often, Karen, good for you and I am happy to know that you enjoyed some south Louisiana folklore. Thank you.

~*~ If they give you ruled paper write sideways. ~*~

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