.chisaraokwu.

Louisiana Holiday

for Mrs. Charles

It was supposed to be
a nostalgia tour, a trip
back to okra soup & pecan
trees stretched the length of a backyard
behind a house on Churchill
where soccer balls dribbled
& spiderweb clotheslines spun
where yellow-frocked & hair-bobbled
brown-skinned girls skipped rope
played hide n’ seek
under May sun
those may days
when I turned
the big ONE-O! & we flew
back to good ‘ol Laffy
the smack & quagmire
of moss-grown climes:
the ol’ mush breeding
mosquitoes kin folk
reclined & satiated
chewing sticks after feasts
of pounded yam egusi &
chickens freshly slaughtered
plucked & roasted
vinyls gifting country
christian melodies & thunder
clapping on the 1, 3
to remind us how small
we’ve always been no different
than this
may day
this return
& celebration - my birthday
his graduation
no different from when
grown folks danced highlife
in that slow groom-
ing of bayou life
— this may day
may days my own pink birth-
day cake rose-crowned, sweet
unadulterated, thornless
garden he slices with his finger
he scoops the biggest rose
holds its petals in his mouth
his eyes wide maydaymayday
you’re such a big girl now