Sunrise 3/6/24

NOLA

Photos by Jonathan Potter ⓒ 2024

From the end of Canal Street, 
     looking across
The river to Algiers and McDonogh 
     and Whitney,
I ponder the sun's gain and loss,

And whether the weather will suddenly 
     hit me
With sheets of rain and fists of wind
Like Monday evening when we rode 
     in a jitney

Through flash-flooded streets where we 
     grimaced and grinned
At the faces of folks who were fleeing 
     for cover
Or wading through puddles, clothes soaked 
     or bare-skinned,

As thunder and lightning made good 
     to deliver
More buckets and barrels and tubs 
     of rains
From voodoo tricksters in the sky where 
     they hover

Invisibly, risibly, dancing the pains
Away with the torrents flowing in streams
And spouting like fountains up from 
     the drains

Until the night came down with its 
     dreams,
A blanket of gray hiding the stars,
And a new moon with clouds shrouding 
     its beams

Until Canal Street woke up and streetcars
Began to travel their ancient tracks
And workers began to clean the bars

Of Bourbon street, the trash in sacks,
The sun not seen. But now, a day later,
The dawn is getting through these cracks

To smile like a grinning alligator
Or like a gold-toothed voodoo boss
Or a crazy sunrise poem creator.

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