photo by Alex Lear

Essence of New Orleans Haiku Sequence

French Quarter Intimacies

through weathered wood dark

on shadowed streets ancient voices

whisper history

New Orleans Rainbow

from buttered gold to

purpled black, the sundry shades

of my people shine

Our Natures Rise

hard core nights are so

erotic, a whiff of the

breeze is narcotic

Sunrise On The River

shy dawn tenderly

gold tongue kisses the rippling

river’s flowing face

Til Death Do Us Part

rain or shine each day

we celebrate a sacred

love affair with life

Secondline Send Off

here we raise the dead

hoist them heavenward on winged

music hades hot

Quarter Moon Rise

soft moon shimmers out

of cloudy dress, stirred by night’s

suggestive caress

All Nite Long

amid dancing &

drinking til dewed dawn, nights stretch

24 hours long

The Spice Of Life

cayenne in our blood

we dance, eat, laugh, cry & love

with peppered passion

St. Louis Cemetery Crypt

bones float in raised stone,

white, altared graves, blood transformed,

become black souled thrones

Makes You Go Oohhh!

sing of lusty foods

so savory they buck jump

cross your tongue’s dance floor

—kalamu ya salaam