"New Orleans Poems in Creole and French" by Jules Choppin

When you are born and grow up in a state that has parishes instead of counties, whose legislature was required to write laws in both French and English as late as 1911, whose legal system is based on Napoleonic Code, and where Mardi Gras is an official state holiday, you gradually realize that you come from a very different place. 

Louisiana is an unusual state. North Louisiana, where my father grew up, could pass for East Texas or Mississippi; it’s Bible Belt country. My mother’s family was a combination of German immigrants and Cajuns from south-central and southwest Louisiana. I grew up in New Orleans, where people’s accents could pass for Brooklynese. I had close relatives who spoke German, Cajun French, and English. My mother didn’t go grocery shopping; she “made groceries.” 

 

When you’re a child, however, all of that seems normal. It’s your day-to-day experience. Only when you grow up and move away do you realize how strange it all sounds – and how difficult it can be to explain to people not from Louisiana. 

My childhood and family experiences came back in a rush when a friend handed me a copy of New Orleans Poems in Creole and French by Jules Choppin (1830-1914). 

To continue reading, please see my post today at Tweetspeak Poetry.

Some Tuesday Readings

The Men Who Were Worthy of Athens – Douglas Murray at The Free Press.

 

Poetry Prompt: Revels & Celebrations at Colony! – L.L. Barkat at Tweetspeak Poetry.

 

Which words are not – poem by Laurie Klein at Kingdom Poets (D.S. Martin).

 

‘Insomnia, My Sometime Muse’ and ‘Netherworld’ – poems by Norman Solowey at Society of Classical Poets.

 

‘Dover Beach’ by Matthew Arnold – Joseph Bottum at Poems Ancient and Modern.