Sam Ray reads the most read poem, "Dead White Chicks," as an Allstar of 2023! See all Allstar videos and more content from many other writers at LouisianaWords.com. Sam Ray reads at Louisiana Words Live: Halloween 2 on October 1st, 2023 at The Allways Lounge & Cabaret in New Orleans, LA. See all videos from this show and more content from many other writers at LouisianaWords.com. Sam Ray reads at Louisiana Words Live: Summer Vibes on June 18th, 2023 at The Allways Lounge & Cabaret in New Orleans, LA. See all videos at MotdesLouisiane.com or visit LouisianaWords.com for more content from many other writers. Sam Ray reads at our OPEN MIC at Louisiana Words Live: Mardi Gras Rehab on February 26th, 2023 at The Allways Lounge & Cabaret in New Orleans, LA. See all videos at MotdesLouisiane.com or visit LouisianaWords.com for more content from many other writers.   Sam Ray reads at Louisiana Words Live: Halloween on October 2nd, 2022 at The Allways Lounge & Cabaret i...

            “Nobody Said There’d Be a Day Like This” - August 26, 2024                                      “Is This Romance” - August 19th, 2024 “Graffiti” - December 4th, 2023 “Triple Threat” - November 19th, 2023 “Dead White Chicks” - September 2nd, 2023 “Beyond Nirvana” - August 6th, 2023 “Easy” - July 16th, 2023 “Scales” - May 28th, 2023 “Stripper Jonathan” - May 4th, 2023  “For My Lovers” - February 12th, 2023 “Nettie Belle and Monsieur Renard” - October 19th, 2022

  Our next live show in New Orleans is just around the corner! Join us for  Louisiana Words Live: Homecoming  on  Sunday, September 1st  at the  Allways Lounge & Cabaret @ 7:30pm!  Our main cast features Lily Lechler, Sam Ray, J. Michael Norris, & Louis Toliver Jr.  If you are interested in reading at the show please contact us for an open mic spot at  louisianawords@gmail.com . We will also have ask for open mics at the beginning of the show. Spots will fill up quickly, so contact us as soon as possible!

  I know how this should be:  I've seen it, you see, In soap operas, Movies. Your eyes are closed, As if in sleep. Perfect peachy skin Atop a snow white pillow  Under flawlessly matched sheets. The heart monitor, Quiet bleeps. The ventilator, A steady hiss. None of that is this. Your eyes Stuck open  Seeing without sight Yellow sclera Dumb tears streaming. Tubes, taped to your face  Delicate skin torn Where nurses Repositioned them  To feed you To heal you You never liked being told What to do. Your whole torso spasms Spastic, Every 40 seconds. A machine  Forces your lungs to act. Your hands are warm From hemodialysis  But don't respond  When we each grab one Give it a kiss. We spend the day  Brushing your hair  Telling stories  Singing  songs. Praying prayers. You're not there. Hospital staff Are more lovely  If less pretty  Than on TV. When the time comes  They gently walk us From the room Close the curtai...

I grew up in a world of nature’s colors, from the brown and yellow of a fallow field to a verdant green. Green to me also came to represent the full power of nature, a green candle or the glow of an eerie light. I could see the green cast on my mother’s skin as she performed a ritual of union with my father, Father was descended from the stags, and it is him that I resemble the most. Mother was part wild mare. The two of them were a towering couple, as if all the green world were theirs. I, a young fawn, was nestled under the dolmen, where twilight was just starting to gleam. My parents brought me here to be tested, as a rite of passage, for it was the plan that I should one day take their place. It is here, encircled in the green, with the rising mist of the May dawn, my parents consummated their spell. “By the touch of hands, we create the fire of our sacred union.”