Because we became lost teens of the storm, assigned
to the refrigerator with garbage bags and bleach
Amid power outages and school closures
After Hurricane Katrina, we learned to shrug early
As the city went through its own awkward stage.
We had to cancel date night plans again,
But we filled a grocery basket with
Canned goods,
Kleenex,
The last bread on the shelf
In silence. We talked about the smell
Of Lenten catfish in the backseat
On the way to quarantine.
Children of the 90’s, we go there
When we want to remember optimism.
This is why, with a laptop between us,
I reminisced to Britney Spears
Being my first CD,
Wiped the dust off of the guitar
In Tool’s Track #1,
The first songs by Outkast,
Those one hit wonders we neglect;
I explained how “Closing Time” was a metaphor
For parenthood; We shift to “Starman” and earlier
Decades when you confessed never watching
“Saturday Night Fever,” was fooled by the upbeat
Background in “Don’t Stand so Close to Me.”
In the present, there’s a band I went to see
At a bar last weekend.
The facts are,
Grateful Dead’s drummer plays alongside
Papa Mali, and this won’t be the last time we’ll
Fall asleep to trivia,
Slow dance rhythms,
Whisky heavy lyrics
In “King Cotton Blues.” Tomorrow, we can shrug
And do this again to keep the romance.
As music goes on, so the world.
