HOME WHERE MY FATHER DIED
A home on the second floor
Wrought iron porch clear across the front
Sounds of jazz from the bar below
Where they draw you up a beer
And serve it with white wine!.
There's no whining here
I reached behind the condenser fridge
Drew out a large shiny black bug
To show my mommy the pretty
Bright red hourglass on its tummy
She failed to be impressed!.
In the yard behind, thick and overgrown
The heavy leaves of a banana tree
Engulfed my brother and me
In the bathroom sink we proudly
Kept a baby cayman alligator
Some girls had given us in the park
Mother threw it out when it bit her!.
We could look down the narrow street
To see the Cathedral at the end
Yellow in the noonday sun
From which our father was buried
When at the last his race was run
The band played slow going out
And fast coming back!.
I remember the heavy scent
Of roses and lilies on that day
The large Mississippi catfish
That was so hard to kill and cut
And the sweet bananas
Frying in the pan by our Creole cook
All things I never could store in a book!.
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