In New Orleans Summer: A Tennessee Moment

Before the Great Flood

By China Clark 

In New Orleans Summer,

The Riverboat Queen sails every hour.

She was dressed

In her best summer green dress.

Standing on the bough

of the last Mississippi River Gambling Boat,

[A specter from a Tennessee Williams' play:

A bit of something she retained from a literary moment in childhood],

He saw her.

Appealing, like the gentle summer breeze

As her face caught the light; He whispered, “Hello.”

He was a handsome Businessman from Tulsa with hungry eyes.

They knew they were in a Tennessee Moment.

Like Miss Alma, in “Summer and Smoke,” she giggled.

He embraced her.

And they danced under the New Orleans moonlight

Moving with the spirit of the last Riverboat and the New Orleans’ Summer Breeze