Flutes and
Flambeauxs
What is this
strange land
Of flutes and
flambeauxs
Dancing in the
streets
To musak with
strange beats?
It is the collage
Of cultures mixed
With French,
Spanish, Creole
And international
flare.
Have you seen the
Indians
Of this partying
town?
Yes, they call
themselves Indians.
Dressed in
flamboyant costumes
With beads and
feathers
And painted faces.
Playing flutes and
horns
Of mixed, music
blends.
Dancing wildly
In the streets
Of the town
They call Novelle
Orleans.
Makes no
difference
Black nor white
Just the sound
Of people playing
Musak, games
And full of fun
On a day
Called Fat
Tuesday.
Flambeaux? "What
is that,"
You ask?
When they party
Into the night
It is the
flambeaux - -
Torch bearers -
Who make the
light.
Tis a party
Day and night
That they play
Til dawns next
light..
Happy Mardi Gras,
My friends!
Hope you live
To see it again!
© 2005 Roger C.
Bull
About the Author
Roger Bull is a veteran sergeant with nine years experience
in the Jefferson Parish Sheriffs Office (metropolitan New Orleans). He attended
three colleges: Southeastern Louisiana University (biology, chemistry and
physics), Louisiana State University Law Enforcement Institute (advanced police
studies), and Holy Cross College via a grant from the Jefferson Parish District
Attorneys Office Law Enforcement Assistance Program (criminology, psychology,
sociology).
His extra-curricular activities included volunteer work as
an Assistant Scoutmaster (Troop 196), Tiger Cub leader, Cubmaster (96 Cubscouts
in Pack 796) and adult trainer for the Boy Scouts of America. He is an Eagle
Scout. He was on several church committees including building committees. Roger
carves Native American flutes and plays flute music. He enjoys reading, hiking,
camping, fishing, genealogical research (over 29 years of research on the family
of Ambrose Bull, circa 1750), astronomy and electronics tinkering.
His secondary occupation was computer programming and
consulting. He constructed his first computer from chip level, two years before
Wozniak and Jobs retailed the Apple IIe. He has operated his own computer
consulting business, Bull Data, since 1980. He is the founder of the West Bank
computer Users Group (WBUG) which had 125 members.
He is a moderator for the Fairhope Writers' Group in
Fairhope, Alabama. Think Sonny Brewer and the Southern Writers Conference. Sonny
promotes southern writers, especially those living in and around Fairhope,
Alabama. Through Joe Formicello and Suzanne Hudson, in a program granted by the
State of Alabama Writers' Guild, Roger and Karen attended a writers workshop at
the University of South Alabama. Upon completion of the course, the attendees
decided that the group should continue to meet weekly to assist each other in
polishing their respective work.
His wife, Karen, writes murder mysteries with crime scenes
occurring mostly in New Orleans and others along the Gulf of Mexico. Her first
three books are part of a trilogy. Some of the characters exist in all of the
stories of this trilogy; but each can be appreciated as stand-alone novels. She
has two other books in mind that are independent of the trilogy and each other.
The non-published titles of the first two books are, "Past Ties" and "The Red
Shoe."
He has published a book of poetry, "Within The Heart And
Soul," in 2007. The profits of which were donated to his church for rebuilding
an adult education building that burned in a fire.
Roger is currently writing a terrorist mystery, tentatively
titled "El Rey del Tiempo: Its Not What You Think." It is an ambitious novel
with eight strong characters from various parts of the world. The power, greed
and political madness of the world has brought this group together for some
chilling and thrilling episodes.