Keith M. Kelley | Poet

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An, “abject lesson”–

in what, “how to be an ass?”

Commander an’ deez…

☆

I traveled to New Orleans for the first time this spring. Thanks to the hospitality of my friend Maurice Cade and his roommate John, I was blessed with lodging and a couch that was walking distance from many of this iconic city’s cultural meccas. I truly fell in love with that town! The following haiku are some of my initial musings on the experience.

21.

Birds sang in the trees

as the band started playing-

it was 8 a.m.

22.

I love this night life

with 24-hour bars

that have laundromats.

23.

A simple greeting,

“How you doin’?” prompted a

real conversation!

24.

Music in the streets

Creole, Cajun comfort food

and all night taverns.

25.

As the trip winds down

a voice inside my head whines,

“Aw, do we have to?!”

26.

27.

There’s no welcome like
a blistering solo from

Brotha Fred’s trombone!

28.

It began to rain

as my train left New Orleans

heading back up north.

29.

New Orleans native’s

memories of Katrina

were shared over drinks.

30.

Railways and highways

slice through the bayous and swamps

but nature still wins.

31.

Why was this possum

walking out in the daylight

across Congo Square?

☆

More to come…

The “wind chill factor”

Is an estimation of

How the cold’s perceived.

---

During segregation

Separate rarely was equal.

Black people were considered second-class citizens.

Jim Crow was de facto and de jure

Denial of African-American citizen’s human rights.

White folks’ inferiority complex

Is lethal!

“Whitestown”
Proudly painted

On the water tower-
On the all-white… water tower.

Must be a “sundown town.”
Black folks still need

Green Books!