The Crescent City (New Orleans)
my favorite city..full of dark and light mystery and marvel...If you have been there and read this ..please let me know how it holds up in description...
Down to the city of never-ending laughter
Down to the city of sweat and tears
rich with nights before and mornings after
ceaseless smiles others endless fears
what else to say of the crescent city
tis a moon on its river never to wax nor wane
tis an adventure and a great pity
water blights its roots yet the bloom holds constant flame
standing tombs of the dead loom in ageless vigil and name
a quarter that for only a single blink will sleep
within its native a passion emerges warm and deep
for a city that has stolen lives, countless, it gives in absolute return
that all things have a pattern and seems to come in turn
capable of usurping souls and spitting out their bones
yet so cherished by its children that never can they roam
A place where many wear eyes of the lost and insane
the celebration never sleeping devours revelers inane
elegance and refinement lounges in the bed of filthiness
its streets and alleys where composure tis slain
lit up by thick heat in summer and washed away in winter rain
Within such a timeless city lay light and dark as lovers entwined
just along the borders of its unholy yet sacred mind
are all those who bleed and suckle upon an age enshrined
has there ever been a place to our senses so intoxicating
it holds much for the eternal child and endless knave
it drips with hedonistic pleasure for the seeker of self indulgence
for the daring, rage terrifying delights of the grave
shadows lurk for the insidious and beauty for the artist
for the musician a paradise of ceaseless awe
a spectacle and sensation for the foreign eye
elegance for those requesting poise within its alluring garden
gentleman who open doors and ladies who ask your pardon
yet the homeless in the night streets hunt generosity
along with the entertainers enduring with infectious charm
the mob of frivolity
bourbon heaving and breathing as a single monstrosity
god for the godless and sin for the righteous
the river for the tenacious and the revels for the carouser
felony may thrive and profanity if you choose her
In its music constant there is perfection and miracle
but for the unprepared there has been agony
for the unbelieving a curse and scream
for the knowing not a trimmer or travesty
unpredictable this city that washes in the sea
but in a city of such resolve there is left such survival
take not a warning lightly for the wretched, miserable and wicked
take to the streets in the darkness of night but are swept away in the morning
with the brooms of the faultless and honest
The food from the sea cooked in uniqueness and to many have grown fond
Among its people is an unbreakable and tested bond
But as well can both be unmerciful and vicious
Of its strife you will be hard pressed to find the Fictitious
Shops of every conceivable wish both common and strange to the taboo
what a fascination born in such a flawless balance
houses of dignity mirror streets of absurdity
taste and symmetry run with festivity
memory and history bear mystery and piracy
witchery and sorcery walk with purity and piety
obvious diversity born out of a culture of slavery
there is bigotry and there is charity
the wealth and then the poverty
tis humanity and treachery
grief shares its bed with ecstasy
suffer can it when its rivalry tears thru its sympathy
but savagery can be saved thru its equal suffering
variant as it is divided but ever looking forward
remember with every night comes a penalty!
much to be heard felt seen and tasted
sensational
an hour here a year there cannot be wasted
has seen her share of sorrow, tribulations and woe
yet still the thrill of enthusiasm and joy there flow
tis impossible that this city fade in ambiguity
born in liberty and industry
yet it is ever so obscure
both dubious and certain has an odyssey in misery
a legacy in lunacy makes mockery of modesty
prideful in its dualities
a comedy and melody
in poetry and symphony
within all there is born a perfect rhapsody
heaving and growing with perfect tenacity.
Within this place that walk the dead and living both adorning
A Crescent laid over, an arch, a seductive curve of its mouth
over its laughing eyes painted are forlorn and stormy
it is purely this
A Deafening Grin Draped in Mourning
—C.R.Stanger
copyright
8-4-17
About new orleans...an enigma of a city..sorry must tell.... I go there once a year on Halloween ...and i think thats enough...both fascinating and tiring...hah ..it truly has something for everyone but not everyone will enjoy it..if that makes sense...it is,not,just a celebration city..it has poetry and music for the artist and for the slower lived houses and streets out of the past...the garden district...I've been once a year since I was 16 or 17 ..I'm 30 now...and i just now think I've seen enough to write this ...and give credit to all its charms and horrors ..I was young and mingled among its darker places and bought and taken part in its illegal things...and paid for it..been robbed there...been thrilled by those who preform on the streets...had one,to many morning where I've felt awful from the night before...spent many sleepless nights up to see sunrise even if it was thru hazy eyes...growing up I've seen all its paranormal wonders...had several encounters..taken pictures of entities that I cannot explain..stayed in all its haunted hotels in the French quarter..fell asleep or passed out hah on bourbon street on the nasty ground...dressed in Halloween costume and Halloween on bourbon is an experience...Frenchmen street is for the those not looking for tourist revelry and hoping for a night less obnoxious ...its where the natives go ..music there is superb and less drunks screaming about..walk the garden district where the old beautiful houses and garden are..ride the trolley...even though I've been in the streets of its non tourist side or out of the French quarter...I've known that its darkest places or projects are somewhere u never go ..everyone knows that of every city..but I've heard new Orleans is bad... you feel their anger when they come into the quarter...being friendly will not get u anywhere but many have told me we aren't all like that...there are tons of amazing people there polite and fascinating with each a story to tell....you feel the sadness of the tragedies that have happened ...i went there the 1st time 2 yrs after Katrina....it was emptier than any yr I've been after...growing up I now have even stopped goin to voodoo music festival and just doing the calmer more historically related things...and tasting its food which is both interesting yet not for me ...i could go on and on....so many experiences there I've lost count..still have probably missed a bunch if of things that are known,only to the native of the city...
*Note on all poems** all my poems are copyrighted and have codes to prove ownership ... While I doubt anyone here does this ..still have to say Don't steal other people's work wether a poem is good enough or not .... It's personal and directly speaks from the soul of the writer and to take their work and say it's yours ..it's wrong and unnatural ..your stealing a peice of them ...it's nothing to do with money or rights...it's so much more than that...its happened to me .. It can happen to anyone .. It hurts and I always speak out against it even if to most it seems pretentious...
#dark #duality #ghosts #haunting #light #mourning #music #new #party #party #revels #sin #spirits Orleans town
