Golden Chocolate Dome

If you go to the Winn Dixie on Tchoupitoulas Street at any given time, you are likely to find yourself facing a ship's hull and cranes, a tanker,from some exotic place. There in the parking lot with all the SUV's, just above the trees, a helm of ochres and blues. They come from all over, through the mouth of the river , up and back carrying all kinds of things. Or if you go to the Fly to watch the boats go by, right behind the zoo, you'll see them being nudged by tugs, up and down the current to various river side silos and storage tanks. To load or unload and load again. Lots of your coffee, and tons of your oil, rice and sugar too have passed before my eyes. In great hulking shapes with little bright tugs bringing them safely to port or away. If you look at the shapes and the angles of them on this little chocolate dome, you might be able to see a ship, a tanker or a tug, braving the currents, sailing away carrying its special cargo. In this case a rich chocolate mousse. It is only tempered chocolate, I know. But I saw it immediately, as Richard Serra might. And for a moment there I was, sitting on the levee at the Fly watching the ships go by under an early evening sky. Look and you will be there with me too. Loving the gently setting sun, watching the purple clouds grow. The gold glinting off the hull. A friend sitting by your side. A pause in the day to just be. Wondering where this one is from, watching the little tugs push and pull. Catching a southern breeze ruffling through the pines.