La Tasha N. Nevada Diggs

laveau’s sojourn

hear me loosen from the alabaster

 

crosses     all    lose      grounding

 

             feathers from the cock

                          craft delicate flakes not of snow

 

no more bus tours

no more trampling over my charms

above ground under water I am calcium

milky spirals in ruby mud and splinter

 

I can rest now

 

with plastic and cinderblock

the markings are bloated                    inscribed with a telling mood

 

black is my conjure blues

 

what could my spells do now?

the rattle is drifting between a roof and a river

my handsome messengers float head down in fashionable white

 

all this

            good for my sleep

            I’ve not slept for a very long time

 

how un/peaceful these gates were

the levees lost  purpose

my neighbors some                  were  without a stone                    anyway

 

you’ve given enough coins

no more flowers now

leave no single note for your heart doting and twinge                                   

jot not another cross               please

 

these pores are filled

too cemented with wants and reprisal

 

                                                     when the water             subsides

                                                     my prayer will have bosomed

 

the freshness of cholera   and myth                goes further                            

I can rest