Wednesday, August 25, 2004

Got a Match?

Oh how to tell the tale
to spin the yarn, to pull you in
Bring you along, down memory road
to that night in April 1993.
 
Small town Yankee
Eating my fill, drinking in
The Big Easy,
Day and this night.
 
Early flight back north, 6am
Too soon to leave, need to run back
Experience More
 
Paranoid of what might happen
Money clip, ID, and a pack of hotel matches
(marked with the room number), my only
companions, out into the night,
after a promise to be safe.
 
A cameraman in a foreign land,
without his camera.
Can you see me out there in the wild
Like Marlin Perkins’ assistant Jim.
What will he find out in the
jazz-dipped urban jungle.
 
Oh yes, the wild creatures of the night
Nocturnal denizens of the street
and the game rangers of the NOPD too
Walked, strutted, sauntered, or stumbled by
 
Propositions, male and female (or was she?)
made me laugh, under the officer’s gaze
Sound and noise and smell and taste
Marched on through the night toward closing
 
Jackson Square to Rampart and back
Light and shadow stalked
the thinning crowd
Until Beignets and chickory
called me to Café du Monde
 
4am, bag of beignets
and tray of six coffees in the other hand.
Trek through the dark
streets after last call.
 
Off in the distance, another figure in the
dark, the shadows
Bridging the space
Between us
Where oh where do I turn?
 
“Hey, buddy, got a match?”
Perfect.
 
-------
8/7/04 18:36
Got a Match?
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/got-match.html
 
 
All of my poems, photographs, and videos are copyrighted by Raymond A. Foss, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021, 2022, and 2023. All rights are reserved. Contact me at Ray Foss (raymondafoss@gmail.com)  for usage. See all 53,000+ of my poems at www.raymondafoss.blogspot.com Poetry Where You Live.
 
poetry, poem, senses, taste, sound, sight, smells, New Orleans, night, Raymond A. Foss, light, coffee, Poetry Where You Live, memories, beignets, fear, imagination,
 
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