The Ghost Queen of New Orleans

Madisun only talks to very old men
and drag queens

while standing in a parking lot

handing out poems like dollar bills.

She left her guitar behind

She keeps blurred photographs of strangers

tucked in her windowsill

hoping that collecting them
will give her life clarity.

She doesn't care
about long hair or brown eyes

she won’t sing along

to Simon and Garfunkel anymore

or listen to good advise

Her five dogs dwindled to 2

and her trains have all derailed.
She can no longer find the sky
with her head hung below sea level
so she wishes on city bricks

(she’s run out of stars)
for another way

to say she’s leaving

whispers adieu

to Marie Laveau

and hitchhikes

leaving her ghosts behind