We are now speaking of evenings in New Orleans when the world was the time it took to ride
my bike from Galvez St. to the French Quarter where I pedaled over the cathedral’s cobblestone
to watch tourists wipe powdered sugar from their lips and, drunk on Bourbon, learn that jazz
was molten, beaten over the anvil of some braless alto until every cigarette was lit.
Summer of 1982
KEVIN SIMMONDS is a writer, musician and performance artist originally from New Orleans. In 2011, his debut collection, Mad for Meat (Salmon Poetry) will appear along with his edited anthology, Collective Brightness: LGBTIQ Poets on Faith, Religion and Spirituality (Sibling Rivalry Press). He lives in San Francisco.