Showing posts with label 2 AM Moon. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2 AM Moon. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 13, 2021

2 AM Moon and the Tie That Binds Us To Our Homes

My Paw Paw had a few decks of Squeezers cards when I was a kid.  I probably learned most of the card games I know on a pack of Squeezers.  The picture side had two bulldogs, straining at their chains, each attached to a doghouse. At the bottom of the card it read, "There is a tie that binds us to our homes."  I still have those cards, mostly because I'm a sentimentalist and I save things that are important to me.  Especially family things.  Not everyone that's from New Orleans played with a deck of Squeezers cards, but all of them understand the tie that binds us to this home.  New Orleans has a strange magic about her. Strangers come to visit and are often enchanted, never again to leave.  Natives who venture to move across state lines in pursuit of sandy beaches or mountains will inevitably feel the pull, like a riptide in the Gulf of Mexico, pulling us back home to her briny, humid shores.

Near the end of 2020 I was inspired to put together another book of poetry, culled from the last ten years of my writings.  My first book, I Wandered From New Orleans was first published in October of 2010 and it included works that spanned a greater period of time. From my own perspective, I feel the two books together are a coming of age story.  I see my own continuing evolution as a human as well as the inevitable patterns that repeat.  It's an interesting process, to look at one's self through the lens of time.  I can say I have come a long way, and I still have a fair journey ahead.  There is always so much to learn.

I discovered that even when I journal for myself, I sometimes write cryptically.  In retrospect, I don't always recall exactly what I was talking about because of how I describe things symbolically and less directly.  I'm always in awe of poets like R.M. Drake, who can write conversationally and have such a great impact with their words.  My words are often visual and symbolic, with an intent to convey layered  interpretations.

2 AM Moon Tracy L. Conway


I wanted to make sure that the two books were somehow connected by more than just my name.  I like how it turned out.  Even just comparing the two covers, one could say that they are like night and day.  The cover photograph from, I Wandered From New Orleans was taken at the corner of Esplanade Avenue and Bayou Road.  My favorite unknown ancestor lived at the corner of Bayou Road and North Broad, a number of blocks down the street.  It was because of this, my appreciation for the Peace Monument, and the fact that Bayou Road is the oldest road in the city of New Orleans, that I chose this location for the photo.  The cover for 2 AM Moon is designed in layers.  If one looks closely, there are stars, behind the stars there is a map of New Orleans from 1854.  The Mississippi River is near the bottom where the moon is reflecting on the water in an unconventional perspective.  Esplanade Road runs from bottom to top of the cover, between the two O's in 2 AM Moon.  At the very top of the cover, Bayou Road crosses Esplanade on the map at the same location where the photograph was taken for the first book cover.




I don't know if anyone else will find this kind of intentional weirdness to be interesting, but I feel like it's just more layers of hidden meaning, perhaps akin to my fascination with secret compartments and all things standing hidden in plain sight.

I feel it is important to pay tribute in some small way to those who have come before me, not only my ancestors, but the community, the people of the city.  Historically, the people who lived and worked together to make New Orleans into the cultural melting pot we all know and love, and miss.  No one knows what it means to miss New Orleans more than we do, and I'm missing her spirit right now.

Thank you for stopping by!

Signed copies of my books 2 AM Moon and I Wandered From New Orleans are currently For Sale at my website, as well as a discounted book bundle package.

The Kindle version, or unsigned books may be purchased at Amazon.