Matty - Who Dat

If you live here,
You’re a Who Dat.
(And I don’t mean “New Orleans, Louisiana is my place ofresidence” live here
I mean, live here, like “you cantake the girl out of New Orleans but you can’t take the New Orleans out of thegirl, this place courses through my veins, I wouldn’t touch jambalaya with a tenfoot pole if it’s from anywhere outside the great state of Louisiana” livehere. )
The owls whisper “Whoooo”
The toads rumble “Daaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaat dat.”
The cicadas crawl out of the soil and reach out with all 6legs just to sigh “Whodatwhodatwhooodaat” in a low rumble
It’s really impossible to miss if you’re listening.
One stranger at the bar yells “WHO DAT?!” and the wholeplace erupts into a song everyone just knows the words to.
We are Who Dats because people look at us and say
               Who Datcity whose beauty can be found in Magnolia blossoms, used book stores, andtrees that make their home in the sidewalk cement?
               Who Datcity with the bright lights that never flicker, even when they’re looking eyeto eye with the storm?
               Who Datcity with the owls, and the toads, and the cicadas, and the late-night partyanimals who never stop singing?
It’s a wonderfully simple answer:  we Dat.


Matty, age 16