This is What We Stand to Lose--In My Medium

[nolabear]

I know this seems an odd place for poetry, in "Editorials," but it's what I do and my heart is breaking for a place so underappreciated that the government is willing to stand by and watch it die. I fear the world won't end in either fire or ice, but in the cruel disinterest of those blithely in denial of the beauty and importance of parts of the world they can't look out their window and see. This is MY Gulf Coast.



The Middle of Saturday Night

The middle of Saturday night sidles up
to the back door of the Gulf of Mexico
like a lover whose clothes she has thrown
out the front door, into the yard.

It slinks and shuffles, laughs
a whiskey and Lucky Strike laugh,
knocks “shave and a haircut,” and is let in,
unrepentant, for one more go ‘round.

Out where buoys toll like seagoing hounds,
Out where gnarled tree branches swim for shore
working men sweat oil and hot rivets; they lie
in the bottoms of little bateaux, and tong up
women like pearl oysters from milky dreams.

Back home, the radio stations crackle in
from Mobile and New Orleans,
and the shackled young in their various uniforms
become momentarily fine
in the moonlight and the big city beat

And all around the bowl of ocean
salty as lip-licked blood, warm as desire
the night pulse pulses like jukin’—
like it will dance them right out of their everyday shoes
and Monday morning, they just might not go back to work at all.

[Uncle Joe]

1. Kicked and recommended.

Thanks for the poem, nolabear.:thumbsup:

[nolabear]

2. You're welcome. Thanks for the k&r.

[yellerpup]

3. Woo.

You talking about something here. :kick: & R

[nolabear]

4. Thanks. I love the place. Much of the Biloxi beach is a protected nesting ground this time of year

There's a little bird called the Least Tern that nests in the grasses they've let grow in one area. When I was small my grandfather would take me to see the nests in the sand bars in the Pascagoula River. It was one of the most special times of my very young life. Those nests are threatened with destruction, this year and for a long time to come.

[yellerpup]

5. Your love comes through loud and clear.

The destruction and disregard of nature breaks my heart. Your grandpa was in tune with his environment and helped instill that same respect in you. Too bad he didn't get a chance to educate BP executives as well. The world would be a better place. Peace to you and wishes for long life and adaptability to the Least Tern. :cry:

[nolabear]

6. Amen to that.