ROYAL STREET

October 28, 2002

by Blanche Blacke

Balloon clown fashioned me up spontaneously
a pink heart with a black dog inside.
He smiles and says, "First time a man ever gave you a blow job"

Continuing down the block, is street painter, Micheal, Dena’s friend.
Asks me what I'm doing here in New Orleans.
Why he brought up Keroac next I don’t understand
But then, I never read the Dharma Bums.
He smiles and baits me for a date.
I smile back and continue walkin‘.

At the corner of Royal and St. Peter
by the A & P and the Royal Cafe,
Gramps Sonny jams with the band, in his over-alls and straw hat
singing "I wonder who’s gonna love you tonight"
Looking right at me.
I toss a fiver in the open guitar case, wondering the same thing.

I feel you so strong here.
like I did in the summer, on Decatur street.
Premonition or recollection?
The veil between worlds so thin on Halloween.
I speculate on what spirits will tell me.

Micheal paints a purple building, looking hopeful as I pass.
Looks like a young Harrison Ford, nice enough, and a poet too.
But, not something I have the urge to do.

Copyright 2002 B.Blacke

Poetry a

Creative Expressions