Life in Poetry: ⌗AtoZ Challenge, 1st April 2020, A like Annabella

Welcome to my blog Life in Poetry.

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Welcome to the 2020 APRIL A to Z Challenge

if you would like to know more about the A to Z Challenge, founded 11 years ago by Arlee Bird at Tossing Out, read here

for my theme revealed , go here on Blogger

On Wordpress, read here

This First extract from my novel in progress will appear half way through most likely.

Brief synopsis of plot and characters :

Mathilda, my first main character, is American and lives in New York City. She is a student at NYU where she is preparing a thesis on the origins and developments of African American Music. She is a first person narrator. Her timeframe is 2005.

Bartolomé, my second main character, is Cameroonian and lives in Yaoundé. He is a professor of Mathematics at the University there. I will be using a third-person omniscient narrator for this character but from his Point of View. His timeframe is the early '90's.

A for Annabella, a secondary character whom Mathilda meets in New Orleans as part of her research into Jazz.

My appointment with Annabella was at 10 p.m. She lived on the corner of Barracks and New Rampart Street, a few strides from my inn on Burgundy Street.

Annabella was a stout, cheerful woman always dressed in colourful skirts, blouses and sometimes pagnes. Her breast arboured a string of necklaces, rainbow beads strung together with artistic care. Her long, shiny thick hair, she wore entwined in a white kerchief wound up on top of her head. Annabella was a sorceress in the most pure tradition of the Caribbean's. She had inherited the charge from her mother and grand-mother before that, leading back to the 1830's.

She greeted me on the doorstep when I casually flicked my fingers through the wooden chime. A doorbell being nowhere to be found.

" Mathilda ! How lovely, " she exclaimed, hugging me off my feet.

" Thanks for meeting with me again, Annabella. You look in great shape."

" Don't you go all soft on me, Honey Pie. Come in, come in. We'll sit outside in the courtyard. Herbal tea or coffee ? "

We went down the hall and I was amazed at the decor. You see, we had met before at a coffee shop downtown. The walls were covered in photographs, paintings, posters, amulets, dried-flower wreaths and what looked like bone necklaces, probably from some small animal. Next she bustled me through the kitchen : bowls, plates, fruit, vegetable and a whole array of sac pouches filled with ingredients I was incapable of identifying, covered the table and sideboards.

In the yard, Annabella planted two firm hands on my shoulders and sat me down. She gestured to the tray and I blurted out,

" Coffee, please."

" Here's sugar and cream, Honey. "

She settled herself in a woven straw armchair among luscious bright cushions and picked up her mug of steaming tea. It smelled of cinnamon, berries and combined with the bougainvillea climbing about the patio, I already felt drunk on the energy and vibes which emanated from her.

" In your letter, you said you were interested in the origins of New Orleans jazz. Vast subject, ambitious, I like it. How can I help you ? Fire away ! "

" Well in New Orleans, I'm looking for the different currents that flowed into jazz. So basically I think I have to start with the Louisiana history from the French and first African slaves. "

" Ah ! Well, I'm going to tell you a story. It's my story, so you won't find it in any history book but you can fill in the blanks with those later. "

" That sounds great, thanks. "

I picked my mug up from the tray and cradled it in my hands. I could feel the warmth coursing up my arms, to my chest and the cockles of my heart. Resting my spine on the chair, I looked at her, eyes peeled and ears wide open.

©susanbauryrouchard

... to be continued on J is for Jamaica.

Santana, Black Magic Woman, live 1970, here

New Orleans Street Music, playlist, here

History of New Orleans' Jazz, here

My photos, my last trip to New Orleans, April 2008