Homecoming The Future is Now Allstars 2023    Halloween 2 Summer Vibes Allstars 2022 Halloween New Orleans 2 New Orleans

    Let's express ourselves! Literacy helps free the mind! Literacy helps build community! Our voices matter more then ever! LouisianaWords.com is the home of Louisiana's LGBTQIA+ writers and our allies! We help market new and seasoned writers for FREE! Just submit your work and we’ll get you into our content rotation! You may submit your content to louisianawords@gmail.com or you may contact us through social media! Our summer 2025 season of new Louisiana Words content started Sunday, July 6th! As of January 2025, Louisiana Words has officially become a nonprofit organization! So, we are looking to share the good news with a few live shows across the state of Louisiana. We are planning a Louisiana Words tour to showcase local LGBTQIA+ writers and spread the word about  Louisiana Words, LLC . The show is free! The dates will be Friday, August 29 th  – Sunday, August 31 st . We will be visiting Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans in that order....

 

Small talk Innocent chatter Idle gossip But the talk isn’t small The chatter isn’t innocent And the gossip isn’t idle We spend our lives talking, chatting and gossiping Always about others but seldom about ourselves What is so important about someone else’s life  That we spend our valuable time Trying to tear them down? Are our lives so uneventful That we must dwell on others’ misfortune? All my life I’ve been taught to tell the truth. “The truth shall set you free!” Bullshit!!! The truth hurts And my heart aches When faced with my own demons. It is so much easier staying mired In small (not so small) talk In innocent (not so innocent) chatter In idle (not so idle) gossip. I find myself hiding Behind the things that matter most to me. I hide behind the fact that I am intelligent Yet allow others to make me feel stupid. I hide behind the fact I am deserving Yet allow others to destroy my worthiness. I hide behind the fact that I live a life of achievement Yet allow others to make my...

I can hear that music playing again  The bass pumped so loud  It vibrates my bathroom  But no one else hears it  I get it, I do.  Falling asleep drunk  With a boombox in your head  That's what it feels like.  You get used to it  That beat rocking every night  It could be a club in your bath tub  If only you had neon lights  But then again  You don't hear it  Anymore  You don't feel it  Anymore  The beat moves without you  From now on,  Since you're an adult  And the tragic nights Pass onward.

It  was a  warm afternoon in the  Nob Hill District on a beautiful spring day,  when  a  new  homeowner  looked thru the tempered glass looking out towards the San Francisco Bay. People leisurely walking below was the sight outside  of  his windowpane,  w hile inside was a quaint abode with a certain quietness  and a rustic   loo k  he  could not  explain.  He  sauntered over to  a  makeshift  bar: a round table covere d in linen, made of cambric and lace.    Despite  his classic attempts to be refined,  his pseudo bar  wobbled all over the place.  His setup consisted of three upright wine glasses  and  an ’84  Châteauneuf-du-Pap e  s trategically planted on a gold dipped tray  alongside a corkscrew made of  scrap.     There would be a celebration  after the last box was unpacked, commemorating his transit to ...

 

 

  Louis Toliver Jr. interviews Louisiana Words Live host, J. Michael Norris, as one of the featured writers of summer 2025. They discuss the importance of Louisiana Words, the Louisiana Words Tour, and Michael's writing & style.

  J. Michael Norris has been a part of Louisiana Words for almost 5 years! Submitting his first story in September 2020, J. Michael would be named host of Louisiana Words Live in 2022 after it was rebooted. He has contributed several highly read, short stories. Here are his 7 most popular contributions ranked by viewership. Click the links to read each story! Click here to read "The Mirror Twin " Click here to read "Your Very Own Robot" Click here to read "The Last Day at Monterey Bay" Click here to read "A Visit with the Psychologist" Click here to read "wassup" Click here to read "A Meeting of the Presidio Library Womyn's Book Club" Click here to read "Room 412"

  I  had a rough night. I don’t have a friend nor family in sight. I’m driving home, tank almost empty. I feeling pretty low, but I’m a little high. I come behind an ambulance, a woman is on a stretcher inside. She looks like she is barely holding on. Oxygen mask. Low breathing. Paramedics in panic. My heart cries for her and envies her. Tonight, one of us is going to hell and one of is not. I should have just driven around the ambulance, it was a four-lane. But, I just wanted to cruise behind at speed that pulled along like an umbilical cord. Attached. Because, in that moment me and that woman, both, were on our way home.

  Jack and Jill went up the hill, … and I was left behind. Rub a dub dub, three men in a tub, … and I was left behind. Hey diddle diddle, the cat and the fiddle … and I was left behind. All of my life I’ve been left behind … a child without a nursery rhyme!! Children adolesce and teens say goodbye, Friends move on and loved ones die. … and I was left behind. Like the undertow that the wave forgot, Or the drop of rain that the storm brought not, … I was left behind. Yes, all of my life I’ve been left behind, … the mind of a child in a grown-up’s time. I see the world through infant’s eyes And empty shadows and vacant smiles. … because I was left behind. Sometimes the darkness encompasses the light And my beatless heart can see only night. … because I was left behind. In desperation, I sought to avenge  My righteousness in this brotherhood of men. … because I was left behind. All of my life it was always my fault So had to retaliate for this mental assault …because I was left be...

  candles in half circle leaves underfoot incense burns and wafts above night sky looks downward, casts light of star and shadow of moon shed clothes lay crumpled in dark grass skin gleams and glows in light of candle and smoke of incense blessing sage drifts and billows around tapers music entwines with heart and soul and dancing feet bare body leaps and twirls and pushes through the darkness alive floral scarves float and twist and dance around the limbs running ever sunwise, ever gathering, ever drumming energy washes over sense and time and spirit air fire water earth together, grounded, connected, enmeshed feet pound through nature's floor and hands rise towards goddess skies heart opens to raised flowing energies words spit of devotion and peace and healing lips adulate the oneness of all inner flower unfolds to receive blessings of goddess all this is for good all this is for peace all this is for well-being As Above, So Below Blessed Mote We Be

 

 

 

  J. Michael Norris has been contributing to   Louisiana Words   since 2020 and has been the most instrumental person in the revival of   Louisiana Words . A native of Baton Rouge, J. Michael brings a sense of normalcy to his progressive writing. He has the ability to make his readers engaged in his characters, regardless of their gender or sexuality. This authenticity transcends his writing. In 2022, J. Michael invigorated   Louisiana Words   by sharing a variety of diverse work that put him as the top writer 18 weeks out of 31 weeks. This inevitably led to him becoming the top Allstar for   Louisiana Words: Allstars 2022! J. Michael’s writing has many underlining themes: avoidance (“Your Very Own Robot”), duality/masks ("The Mirror Twin" & “A Visit with the Psychologist”), sexual expectations (“wassup”), love/longing (“The Last Day at Monterey Bay”), & gender roles (“ A Meeting of the Presidio Library Womyn’s Book Club”). J. Michael has a tru...

 

It would be a good idea to observe your neighbors Notice how they struggle along daily, with life labors Pay closer observations to people that grow though It is those good neighbors that change the status quo   Why throw an obstacle in the way of people who change? Why chose to be the acid that corrodes what’s within your range A changing human adapts and leads in her or his community I must tell you, adversary to change, that humans reject disunity   It is best to decide what’s important, being family or alone? We do believe that we can live and die together fully grown A family that learns to unite will change to maintain its values Any of those, who use the past to stop progress, we refuse   Dear adversary to change, please understand nature’s stem Appearances evolve, not substance: people change, so let them