“The Olden Days” | Teen Ink

“The Olden Days”

December 10, 2008
By Nicholas Hébert DIAMOND, Austin, Texas
Nicholas Hébert DIAMOND, Austin, Texas
84 articles 25 photos 0 comments

The flow of the fleuve1
Flatters fluttering
Paddles of the peeshwanks2 in piroques3


Bouki4 howls
from the bowels
of the hills
of the hunting hounds


Marshwarohn5 moil
In the murk
Of the marsh

Fir form the fram6 of the forest



1 Cajun French for ‘river’
2 Southern Louisiana Creole dialect for ‘little people’ “refers to natives” a borrowed

word from the Indian language (presumably Choctaw)

3 Cajun ,Creole, and standard French for boat (similar to a canoe in some instances)
4 Cajun French dialect for (wolf and/or hyena) borrowed from the Wolof (West African language)
5 Southern Louisiana Creole dialect for ‘catfish’
6 Southern Louisian Creole dialect for ‘door’ and/or opening.

The author's comments:
I thought it'd be nice to right a poem reflecting my Creole background.

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