Got a Match? – v2

Oh, how to tell this tale,
to spin the yarn, to pull you in,
to bring you along, down memory lane
to that night in April 1993, in New Orleans.
 
I was a small-town Yankee,
on a once-in-a-lifetime trip,
eating my fill, drinking in The Big Easy,
day and, especially, this night.
 
We had an early flight back north, 6am,
It was too much for me, too soon to leave,
I needed to run back from our hotel,
I wanted to Experience More…
 
Paranoid of what might happen, I left,
a money clip, my ID, and a pack of hotel matches
(marked with the room number),
my only companions, out into the night,
after a promise to my wife, the others, to be safe.
 
I was a cameraman in a foreign land,
out into the night without my camera.
Can you see me out there in the wild,
like Marlin Perkins’ assistant Jim.
What would I find out there on the street,
in the jazz-dipped urban jungle.
 
Oh yes, the wild creatures of the night,
were out in force, alive, wild,
nocturnal denizens of the street
and the game rangers of the NOPD too,
walked, strutted, sauntered, or stumbled by,
What was I to do, what would come next…
 
I was propositioned, male and female (or was she?)
it made me laugh, under the officer’s stare.
Sound and noise and smell and taste
marched on through the night, before last call.
 
I was seeing it all, prowling the Quarter,
from Jackson Square to Rampart and back
Light and shadow stalked the thinning crowd
until Beignets and chicory coffee
called me to the Café du Monde.
 
Finally, it was 4am, and I had to go,
With our bag of beignets and
a tray of six coffees in the other hand;
I began my trek through the darkened streets.
 
Off in the distance, I saw another figure,
in the dark, the shadows
bridging the space between us;
Where oh where do I turn?
 
“Hey, buddy, got a match?”
Perfect.
And so, this story to tell…
 
-------
Edited December 23, 2023
Got a Match – v2
 
8/7/04 18:36
Got a Match?
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/got-match.html
https://twitter.com/N_O_CafeDuMonde
&
Edited December 7, 2023
Pascal’s Manale – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2023/12/pascals-manale-v2.html
December 3, 2023
Pascal’s Manale
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2023/12/pascals-manale.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/07/19/423605844/hacking-iconic-new-orleans-barbecue-shrimp-far-from-the-gulf
https://www.yummly.com/recipe/Pascale_s-Manale-Barbeque-Shrimp-1228578
https://twitter.com/Commanders_NOLA
 
&
edited February 21, 2022
Night in New Orleans - v5
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2022/02/night-in-new-orleans-new-awlins-v5.html
Edited December 6, 2013
Night in New Orleans – v4
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/12/nightin-new-orleans-new-awlins-v4.html
(editing original version)
Edited December 5, 2013
Night in New Orleans – v3
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2013/12/night-in-new-orleans-new-awlins-v3.html
Edited September 20, 2012
“Night in New Orleans – v2”
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2012/09/night-in-new-orleans-nuhawluns-v2.html
Sunday, July 15, 2001 at 6:22:58 PM EST
edited December 6, 2001
“Night in New Orleans
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/02/night-in-new-orleans-nuhawluns.html
mostly about trip to New Orleans for Jazz and Heritage Festival, 1993
and again for job interview at Tulane University 1996
&
edited November 18, 2018
Mood Indigo – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/mood-indigo-v2.html
https://twitter.com/raymondafoss/status/1064114948794695680
November 16, 2018
Mood Indigo
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/mood-indigo.html
May 1993
Mood Indigo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HLayv8rPlts
by Willie Humphrey
(93 years old in 1993)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Willie_Humphrey
https://songmeanings.com/songs/view/3530822107858981063/
Preservation Hall Jazz Band
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Preservation_Hall_Jazz_Band
Preservation Hall
&
edited November 16, 2018
Nice Tie – v2
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/nice-tie-v2.html
8/7/04 18:05
Nice Tie
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/08/nice-tie.html
partially non-verbal conversation with Richard Payne
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0668413/
of Preservation Hall Jazz Band
https://www.facebook.com/preservationhalljazzband/
https://www.preservationhalljazzband.com/
at Preservation Hall Jazz Band club
https://www.facebook.com/Preservation.Hall/
http://www.preservationhall.com/?fbclid=IwAR3erKerKs-nD2hpMDNl6QDuCcgpyZkyGrGzPrGM06c-k8WFGmeyqXdRhvg 
726 St. Peters Street
New Orleans, LA
He was the bass player for the band and
he was the bass player in
“Toots Sweet’s Band” in the movie
Angel Heart (1987).
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0092563/
I gave him my tie, right off my neck
(a tie I had bought from a pushcart at
Downtown Crossing in Boston).
&
edited April 27, 2015
Congo Square – v3
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/04/congo-square-v2_27.html
(editing version 2)
edited November 4, 2018
Amazing Grace – v3
https://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2018/11/amazing-grace-v3.html
(editing original again)
edited April 16, 2015
Amazing Grace – v2
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/04/amazing-grace-v2.html
July 12, 2004 18:56 –
Amazing Grace
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/07/amazing-grace.html
Amazing Grace solo of Aaron Neville
at the 1993 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
http://www.nojazzfest.com/
https://www.facebook.com/JazzFest
https://www.facebook.com/jazznheritage 
https://twitter.com/Jazznheritage
http://www.art4now.com/cpost93.htm
during a real wedding.
The members of Los Lobos were near me, watching as I was.
I saw the wedding couple riding in a carriage
in the French Quarter that night.
&
edited April 13, 2015
Congo Square – v2
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2015/04/congo-square-v2.html
July 12, 2004 19:15.
Congo Square
http://raymondafoss.blogspot.com/2004/07/congo-square.html
Congo Square, special area at the
1993 Jazz and Heritage Festival, New Orleans
&
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.
 
creator, God, music, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, jazz, New Orleans, Jazz and Heritage Festival, Aaron Neville, Mt. Zion Gospel Choir, Amazing Grace, forgiven, Christ, sacrifice,
 
#creator #God #July #music #poetry #jazz #NewOrleans #AaronNeville #heritage @Jazznheritage #AmazingGrace
 
==================
Africa, Congo, Congo Square, creator, God, jazz, July, music, New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss,
 
#Africa #Congo #creator #God #July #music #poetry #jazz #NewOrleans #heritage @Jazznheritage
================
creator, God, jazz, July, music, New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, poetry, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Richard Payne,
 
#creator #God #jazz #July #music #NewOrleans #NewOrleansJazzandHeritageFestival #poetry #PreservationHallJazzBand #RichardPayne #joy #gift
================
poetry, creator, God, jazz, July, music, New Orleans, New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, Poetry Where You Live, Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Willie Humphrey, Mood Indigo,
 
#poetry #creator #God #jazz #July #music #NewOrleans #NewOrleansJazzandHeritageFestival #PreservationHallJazzBand #WillieHumphrey #MoodIndigo
 
---------------
poetry, America, body, Faith, Family, fire, home, hope, Nature, Poetry Where You Live, Raymond A. Foss, red, senses, sing, soul, taste, jazz, crawfish, music, jambalaya,
 
#poetry #America #body #Faith #Family #fire #home #hope #Nature #red #jazz #jambalaya #senses #sing #soul #taste
 
------------------
Poetry, shrimp, New Orleans, memory, food, Pascal Manale,
 
#poetry #shrimp #neworleans #memory #food #PascalsManale
 
-------------
 
poetry, poem, senses, taste, sound, sight, smells, New Orleans, night, Raymond A. Foss, light, coffee, Poetry Where You Live, memories, beignets, fear, imagination,
 
#poetry #poem #senses #taste #sound #sight #smells #NewOrleans #night #light #coffee #PoetryWhereYouLive #memories #beignets #fear #imagination