Until Waiting Fills

The title of this post commemorates one of the sublimely bohemian hangouts I once frequented in New Orleans. It was one of those cavernous corner dives down on the Esplanade end of Royal Street or Decatur - I don't remember which...with garage size doors on all sides that were always open. It served coffee, tea and there were always rasta-haired, tatooed bohos reading or playing chess along the walls and bar. This was 1984. I worked for a an Italian American printmaker who had a cavernous studio on the second floor. I remember glancing out one of giant french windows and seeing a couch on the roof. The French Quarter was a place for artists and musicians, as well as tourists way back then.

I am in mourning now for the city that God forgot... (I was in a show there with this title in the 90's...) Nature finally got her way. I've been waiting. It was inevitable. The thing of it is, if I had a place down there I don't know if I would have left. There is enough voodoo and religious ferver in the crescent city that somehow the big ones always bypassed her... nature had mercy for a long time...but they didn't pay attention...the city hasn't maintained its infrastructure and its all gone. We used to jokingly call it a backwater bannana republic back when govenor Edwin Edwards was indicted for gambling with state money...under the name Wang Chung. A few years later we were glad to see him willing to run again when David Duke, former grand wizard of the KKK came out of the wood work to run for state office... this resulted in my favorite political bumpersticker of all time...."Better a lizard then a wizard..."
(my second favorite is the recent one "Evil lurkes in the Bushes" communicated in a creepy appalachian woody-style font.

As bad or worse than New Orleans is the loss of life and limb on the magnificent gulf coast. It was a beautiful place lined with antebellum homes and palm trees...yes, and casinos, too. My sister and mom both made the coast their home for a long time. My mom, thank the stars, left when the cost of living escalated due to the casino development.

My sister stayed. I haven't heard from her. No one has heard from her since she told my Mom she decided to wait it out in a home that survived Camille. No one thought anything could ever compare to Camille. She is in my thoughts and prayers.