Long Louisiana Poems

Greetings to those who would willingly seek admission to theater of the absurd. Zoltan Goliath and Otis Trench are masters of the avant-garde genre silent musicals for the imaginary stage, an art form sui generis....

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Ours was daily mysterious,
sometimes near mystical, 
rapture;
a sensual yet platonic
dorm-mate love affair,
within the only male grad student corridor
at SFSU.

He was the presumably straight Vietnam veteran
southern white good ol' boy,
athletically studying Japanese,
with a gentle passion for...

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6 miles up river Arikara are encountered,
they are a people of amenable disposition and are agrarians,
they chuckle with sympathy as we inform them of our grizzly confrontation
and they tell us that disease had forced them...

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Poet:  Ken Jordan 
Poem:  One Knee 
Edited by:  Sparkle Jordan 
written:  September 2017


One Knee

Yes, I kneel down on one knee 
damn right I do -
I will not honor an Anthem 
of...

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Preface: 
On February 4, 1861,
the seven states that had seceded
by this point convened and created
the Confederate States of America
under the leadership of Jefferson Davis.

Just under two months later,
on April 12, 1861, Confederate forces
opened fire on...

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Pittsburgh, hammertown, Chuck Knoll and his boys
established the best Superbowl Era dynasty
with the "Steel Curtain" defense and the "Blonde Bomber" Bradshaw,
a defense disciplined on shrapnel and elite ego,
"Mean Joe Greene" and Jack Lambert, a compulsive...

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Elvis Aaron Presley, Elvis, came from poor beginnings
born in Tupelo, Mississippi to Vernon and Gladys
this boy loved the gospel music in church . . . . 
at thirteen his family moved to Memphis, Tennessee 
when...

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MY BUCKET LIST

Years and years ago, I made a bucket list.
I looked everywhere and could not find it.
I don’t remember everything I listed,
so it’s time for a new one to be created
or just to go...

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"He made a difference."

Gramps, my mother's father, 
Dave Luke -- my grandfather, 
a tall unlettered white (decidedly white) 
Louisiana man -- was born August 1888.  
He lived 87 years.  He grew under 
the...

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Her full name was Labyrinthia Pennyweight Babineaux, but her closest friends called her Libby. She was of blended French, German, and Native American heritage. Her Great Great Grandparents were said to have come from a...

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Neftlix, Hulu, autumn elaeagnus
thorns, small hairy buds, twigs hyper-lenticelled
fruits supposedly edible, leaves elongated, oblong
xerophytic but found in wetland
introduced species, some say invasive

Xbox is invasive
Hulu is the best source of foreign films
and foreign films represent reality...

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Who or What are these People?

There across the sea is something on top of the steeple?
It looks like people? But with a different neck? Should I pet or let my bird peck at it? I...

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Mount Rushmore; Carved In Stone

From deep within the earth’s crust,
An orogeny pushes
The batholith upwards
To become ‘The Shrine of Democracy,’
Of weathered presidential faces
Chiseled in rock in South Dakota;
Representing 150 years of history
(From birth of a nation
To...

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Beware, out-Lander for thy tread on the sacred ground,
Of Louisiana, guarded by the ghosts of the Mississippi,
And here the dead tell know tails, of the living's returning,
After adventuring into the darkness of the night.
Rattle them...

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Gunshots and tasers aimed at the back
tracking the movements and memories
of unsuspecting dark-skinned citizens 
marked by the scars of a history denied

For Rumain Brisbon, 34
it was crime to be black in Arizona
For Tamir Rice, 12
it...

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Dead by Morning II
(Dead by Morning, 3/13/20 explained what will happen.  This is the followup.)

I’m no prophet…
  I just pay attention…
    so cough it…

What say you? Ah choo? Who?
 ...

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Zenobia Jackson told Officer Murphy that her husband, Rufus, was 73 years old and "a wonderful man when he was awake" but for the past year he had been jerking "something terrible" during his sleep...

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Zenobia Jackson told Officer Murphy that her husband, Rufus, was "a wonderful man when he was awake" but for years he had been jerking "something terrible" during his sleep and had kept waking her up....

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(Apropos Of Juneteenth Celebration)

This is the day the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and celebrate
Because we’re still here…marching on
With our eyes stayed on the prize.
Let us rejoice and celebrate
Because we’re aware that we are not
The...

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If you have ever been near Pentecostal Churches - that really began in c.1900 - you would know Psalm 91 as a great Prayer of Protection and Victories! It is hard not to love both...

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Levees broke; Homes were broken, Stores broken into,

Survival of the fittest, trying to live another day...what else could they do?

Spirits broke, Hearts were broken, People broken in-two

Memories demolished, Lives abolished, not to mention no food!

Political...

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(Apropos Of Juneteenth Celebration)

This is the day the Lord has made;
Let us rejoice and celebrate
Because we’re still here…marching on
With our eyes stayed on the prize.
Let us rejoice and celebrate
Because we’re aware that we are not
The...

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To Mr. Otto Osips Ochs
My friend, the dream is exhausted
But as long as you chase it, I will follow
Mr. Dylan Thomas 
Perhaps destiny it’s self will spare us
To yours, mine, our struggle 
Their smiles
Here’s to...

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Piano Teacher

 Adored her timely teaching skills
Adored the way she never yelled nor screamed!
 even when my Piano lesson bored the heck out of me and  
 my fingers hurt badly you see we...

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Being privileged to have known scores of
Americans known as 'the greatest generation',
I attest to the reality of their greatness.

Herein, greatness will not reference those who went
off to war to defend the interest of their country,
but...

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