Tarot Reading, New Orleans
You go for a tarot reading
with the missus
in the city
and they never play the death card once
in a racket built on repeat customers
and tips
no one ever dies
always something good
so you will hear what you want to hear
but with enough open questions
that you need to return
and they accept cash or credit
like any good hustle,
play strange Indian music
in southern Louisiana
and the missus is taken
thinks generalizations are uncanny
getting mad when I do not share
her opinion
as we walk through the magic beads in the doorway
back onto Bourbon Street
and 3 for 1 drinks,
where the street cleaners are still
washing away the previous
evening.