Dave's New Orleans and New Iberia

[leoauthor1970]

Here's the link to our NI videos/pics. I'm still arranging the pics, they should be available soon.

Disclaimer:

I am by no means a videographer, so, the videos aren't professional standard.

I'm even less of a commentator. Turn the sound down to avoid hearing me drone on.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/jss70/

Enjoy

[AugustBlazing]

Leo, thank you for sharing these! -Tre.

[leoauthor1970]

My girlfriend is an aspiring writer, and is working on her Bachelor's in Creative Writing. One of her assignments was to write a form poem called a sestina. A sestina requires some words to be used repeatedly in specific places, throughout the poem, so, it sounds redundant, but such is the nature of the form.

She wrote her sestina, titled "Acadiana", out of fond rememberance of our trip to New Iberia. She, her daughter and I spent 4 amazing days there, and did not want to leave. You will notice she refers to her blossoming child (who was 14 at the time the poem was written), and makes a singular reference to me, when I (unaware I was saying it loud enough to be heard) remarked on how I felt at home in New Ibeia.

Anyway, Acadiana. Hope you like it.

Acadiana



We wandered South, watching for magnolias

Their blooms shining in the glossy tangle of deep green leaves like caught stars.

We stopped so I could pick one. Skin soft petals, waxy-warm like chapel candles,

Heavy perfume filled the car- sweet, foreign, like some siren lullaby

Drawing us down to the Delta, to a town on the banks of the river.

A place we’d never been, but which somehow, felt familiar as a childhood home.





When we arrived, he said, with some wonderment, “I think I’m home.”

I put the thirsty magnolia

In an empty coke can filled with water from the river

We watched the sleek boats hum past, leaving wakes filled with reflected stars.

The fireflies lit the dark like candles,

As the river and the nightbirds and the frogs wove their peculiar lullaby.



At a misplaced Lourdes, the faithful lit their candles

And prayed for those who’d wandered far from home;

The mothers chant their prayers with the cadence of a lullaby.

The prayers rise with the mingled scent of incense and magnolia-

Prayers for sons grown, who now sleep on sand, under foreign stars,

And dream of this peaceful town that rests in the curve of the river



Which lays along the town’s side like a sleeping lover. The river

Flows past churches, their stained glass ablaze from the light of the pilgrim’s candles,

And city squares where stone saints stand in crowns that radiate in round points of stars.

From every church the river gathers the prayers of mothers, carrying them home

To the heart of God. Prayers mingled with the sweet breath of the magnolias,

Whispered in the gentle Cajun French of mother-love and lullabies.



We hear this language of lullabies

In every town that lays in the embrace of this mother-river.

The sweet women call my daughter “Cher”, and admire the magnolia

She’s pinned in her tawny hair. She lights candles

In St. Martinville for Evangeline, and poses for a picture on the steps of Evangeline’s home

Geraniums litter the stone stairs with blossoms dropped like tears, little crimson stars



For lovely girls to walk upon. My lovely girl imagines walking under the stars

Of another age, and hearing the lullaby

Of water against the side of a ship, bearing her far from home.

She imagines herself Evangeline, as she walks beside the river,

Petite Cher, walking under Evangeline’s Oak, dreaming of love; your life is yet an unlit candle

Oh child! My heart is breaking as I am watching you bloom like the magnolia.





Under other stars, you will someday walk, there you will find love, and home.

While I keep, close to my heart, a picture of a sunlit girl with a magnolia in her hair, a girl who asked her Mama for lullabies

In simpler days. And I will come to little Lourdes, and I will light my candles, and cast my prayers like flower petals on the winding river.

[CaribooRose]

HI Leo
Tell her it's a lovely poem and I enjoyed reading it

Regards!!
Rose

[leoauthor1970]

Thanks, Rose. She's actually entered this poem, and another, in local writing contests. I'm wishing the best for her.

[leoauthor1970]

I should have come back and said this sooner...my g/f WON her writing contest with that poem. First place! She's being published in her university's anthology. It's her first contest and published work.

[pamala]

Great news! Congrats, and thanks for sharing the news with us!

[leoauthor1970]

Thank you, Pamela. Pass another word of thanks on to JLB, please. That poem was inspired by our trip to New Iberia, which would not have happened were it not for the Robicheaux novels.

[Connie Ciampanelli]

We were in NOLA only once, in 2000, for a way-too-brief a visit and my heart aches for a return. We had planned to go back for our 35th anniversary last fall but it did not work out. That's okay, the wait will be worth it

Back then we ate at the Acme Oyster House (po'boys of course, and beer), Commander's Palace (the bread pudding dessert alone is worth it), and Emeril's "casual" restaurant, NOLA, a fine, fine, experience. Like you, we were blown away by the staff, performing a veritable ballet of wait service. So much more to see, so much more to eat.

I can't wait!
Have a blast.

Connie Ciampanelli
Rhode Island

(All of you are making me very hungry).

[pamala]

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/05/26/opini ... .html?_r=1