Newsgroup: tilde.poetry

Back to Article List


Warning: Undefined array key 1 in /home/deepend/public_html/netnews/view_article.php on line 26

Credo


I believe in hurricanes and their swirling masses of wind and eye,  in cypress
trees and crawfish,  live or red and spicy and having their heads sucked,  I
believe in my friend Greg and his sloppy fishing boat,  I believe in the
Atchafalaya and Lake Pontchartrain and the Mississippi and I believe inalligators and warm summer evenings and snowballs with wedding cake flavor.  
I believe in catfish and crabs,  in mosquitoes and the fog of DDT trucks we
used to play in,  I believe in polluted lakes and the brave fish that thrive
there,  in weeds and their tough roots that will grow anywhere,  I believe in
prairies,  in sunburns and cold crisp chardonnays,  in Ramos gin fizzes and
voodoo dolls,  in Mardi Gras beads and tarot cards,  in Iowa snow,  in water
hyacinths and fountain pens,  in the sound of cicadas and the light of
fireflies.   I don't believe in levees anymore but I do believe in floods.   I
believe in drinking many glasses of wine with friends you love until you
both start crying,  I believe in mint that never knows when to stop growing,  
and in the rosemary I plant anew each year because it can't make it through
winter.   Mostly,  I believe in being forgiven,  in the way that first touch
after years of silence is better than almost everything you believe in.  


 -- Sheryl St.  Germain
    The Poetry Buffet
    An Anthology of New Orleans
    New Orleans Poetry Journal Press,  2023