Louisiana

Explore southwest Louisiana,

 A fertile swath of swamps,

Bayous and rolling plains

People friendly and kind

Step into a mixture of voices spoken

French with gliding vowels so honeyed

Zydeco music fuels the blood and sizzles the soul

Delighted your feet move unbidden

To button accordion, and fiddle guitar.

In Lafayette, the Blue Moon, honky-tonk in open air

Dance nightly, or eat of traditional Cajun,

Randol’s hall a giant pine dance floor,

For historical family experience step back in time,

To fifty eight years ago, La Poussiere Cajun Dancehall,

in Breaux Bridge, Saturday and Sunday nights,

Ages eight to eighty dance to the fiddle.

On Saturday morns they flock to Mamou,

Fred’s Lounge’s doors arrive before eight a.m.

Or pay the price of wedging through the door

To hear 18th century French songs

Dancing mandatory, no two-stepping allowed

Festivals four hundred throughout the year

In towns and cities in Louisiana

Fill the need for Cajun, zydeco, jazz, country, and blues.

The foods exotic “chaudin,” or stuffed pig’s stomach

Boudin sausages and Boudin balls, brown bag of cracklings

At the Best Stop market in Scott,

Olde Tyme Grocery has shrimp, catfish, barbecued ham, poultry,

But the po’boy stuffed with crunchy fried oysters is best

St. Martindale’s southeast of Layfette to St. John,

Tasty dark roux seafood gumbo with fried alligator entices will delight,

At Prejean’s restaurant tempts fried or grilled alligator

Gumbo, combining crab, shrimp and crawfish.

 Their signature dish catfish Prejean,

Battered, fried catfish slathered thick, spicy shellfish stew

Steve n Pat’s Bon Temps Grill allures

With pork chop stuffed with spicy, heavily smoked pork, and apples,

Terrific grilled shrimp with a Worcestershire-tinged cream sauce

Set over jalapeño-spiked grits is another culinary delight.

Daiquiris Supreme drive through is a tasters’ joy.

Two dozen varieties to choose

But no driving and drinking with one still

The night draws to a close

The moon wanes and sighs

Morning has come as the sun rises

Café Du Monde in New Orleans beckons 

Beignets and coffee for all day

As powdered sugar drips

From your fingertips

Bidden to your mouth

As you drink in the sounds

And bustle of New Orleans

Peace surrounds your soul

Life is slows to a even keel

In Louisiana you feel

Like a long lost relative

You've found home

©Sheilagh Lee August 4, 2016