aubade for the crescent city
The ‘peopling’
and you gotta
love or hate
that word
of this here
cypress swamp
river bend
is a long long
and super short
complicated
very simple
non-story
of tales
fantastical
voluminous
adding up
to something
while subtractive
of itself
about to
multiply under
the radar
like people’s
lived lives
under this here
style of
economic and
cultural dredged
collection of
impulses and
reflexes and
imaginations and
indeed peopling
of people’s
peopling
a genuine
non-story
of tales
fantastical
intermittent
fractalled
microns of
feelings and
half thoughts
processed
refined and
marked up
to epic
proportions
dimensions
to get lost in
to meet a few
flakes lost
along the way
showing the way
by tales
fantastical
luminescence
blown away
by raging
storms slammed
against walls of
institutional
administrative
ministerings of
you guessed it
a non-story
of tales
fanstastical
interruptive
blown glass
mint julip
fluted beakers
cracking up
spilling out
a micron’s
worth of
effect on
the peopling
in process
on boulevards
in alleyways
in sturdy decorative
colorful abodes
and flopping
makeshift tents
under the highway
overpass
Rodrigo Toscano is a poet and essayist based in New Orleans. He is the author of ten books of poetry. His newest book is The Charm & The Dread (Fence Books, 2022). His Collapsible Poetics Theater was a National Poetry Series selection. He has appeared in over 20 anthologies, including Best American Poetry and Best American Experimental Poetry (BAX). Toscano has received a New York State Fellowship in Poetry. He won the Edwin Markham 2019 prize for poetry. rodrigotoscano.com @Toscano200
