Coffeehouse Poem #609
by Erren Geraud Kelly
Toxic Gumbo
by Erren Geraud Kelly there's nothing sadder than looking at the paper and seeing a picture of brown pelicans covered in progress this summer, kids will collect tar balls like they collect seashells the flood that came to new orleans came to nashville, too but it was just god's tears he cried in anger as he exacted his revenge on us karma is a bitch and she always wins so, taste this toxic gumbo and enjoy it we won't care if the headphones from our cell phones give us cancer in a few years it's just a small price to pay for keeping up with the joneses isn't that what cancer is anyway, a growth that doesn't stop? enjoy your oyster po-boy while you can
Home
by Erren Geraud Kelly A place i head back to That i'll never belong to again It's growing My family accepts, if not Love me for what i am The streets are always the same Summer heat makes crepe myrtle Trees wilt And gumbo tastes good With beer on a hot night I look on the parade ground For the person I used to be I wonder about shannon sometimes, I refuse to believe she didn't love me Funny, i don't take the advice I gave to my mother To "simply let go" I see my barber Though we know I don't need him anymore The streets are still the same But not me Erren Geraud Kelly is a poet based in New York City by way of Louisiana. A graduate of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, he has been writing for 21 years and been published in Hiram Poetry Review, Mudfish and Poetry Magazine. Most recently, he was published in " In Our Own Words," a Generation X poetry anthology. "The themes in my writings vary," says Kelly, "but I have always had a soft spot for subjects and people who are not in the mainstream. I never limit myself to anything, I always try to keep an open mind."