Member Poem

He Danced with Accordion Lungs
for N’onc Moi upon his passing 9/1/00

He danced with accordion lungs
Pumped la musique cadienne through his body
Until black notes oozed from the pores,
A capella,
And danced about like saucy cayennes.
The acrid aroma seared the nose hairs
Tasted like drunken Cajuns
Waltzing to “Jolie Blonde.”
No, more like jitterbugging
To The Mamou Playboys.
When the hurricane came to Louisiana
The trees tico tico’d to and fro
In a wind that decimated the Gulf coast.
“Mais, mon p’tit,” my uncle loved to say
In cases like these. “If it wasn’t for
Hurricanes the trees would never dance.”
When the aerophone gale of blackness
Swept through Chataignier like a can can
Kicking up my uncle’s shiny black dancing shoes,
He flew through the air after them like Terpsichore.
Little June tried to catch his N’onc Moi
But could not snatch the airy spirit
From the watery washboard sky.
Il voyage tout partout, mais il reste a sa maison en terre.
The accordion whispers, “Don’t drop the potato”
But only in Cajun. The music notes rise
Up and up, abbandono, but my uncle’s
Lungs sing no more.

First appeared in Southern Indiana Review, 2003