Halloween Sonnet Contest: Shades, Danny Fitzpatrick

Danny Fitzpatrick is the author of a few books, most recently He lives in New Orleans and edits a journal called Joie de Vivre.

SHADES

The shades of New Orleans address the tourists, who process, stately, with hurricanes in hand

No watches chink the murals of my sleep.
No hill crest keeps the sea from seeping up
And slipping her hot fingers through my hair
And braiding souls inside her loving cup.
All summer sweat the footfalls toward the gloom
As sirens split the streams our melting bounds.
No monument arises at the loom
While in the deep the treadle beats its rounds.
Sick autumn, fickle winter, sickly spring
Give way as we amend our gibbered praise
And urge our segregated selves to sing
The tropic ardor of our sunless day.
Account yourselves, sweet visitors, thus blessed:
That time can still afford her circling rest.


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