C::couldn't let go of louisiana

thought i knew you would be around after the melancholy of fog
lifted for blueness of today &; the night to come everywhere--not
just here

i must live away from cut-canals &; river roads where the
night isn't an oranged reminder of chemicals, nuclear plants or light
pollution

even in november i remember festivals strewn across nola parking lots,
people gathered despite weather or work

has the earth became abandoned of happiness without you? not the least!
she embraced hope and moved with knowledge you would slip

into the gulf as the horizon forgot you once lay before her; this quiet
of athens (without gunshots cop cars &; domestic violence
sundays)

whispers with evidence from my friends faces that the ones who love us
least are the same we try to please

which brings us to letting go, and singing ancient songs, at least ones
from our youth that let the years go missing, or away