In the Creole Twilight: Poems and Songs from Louisiana Folklore

by Joshua Clegg Caffery

Many of the recurring motifs found in south Louisiana's culture spring from the state's rich folklore. Influenced by settlers of European and African heritage, celebrated customs like the Courir de Mardi Gras and fabled creatures like the Loup-Garou grow out of the region's distinctive oral tradition. Joshua Clegg Caffery's In the Creole Twilight draws from this vibrant and diverse legacy to create an accessible reimagining of the state's traditional storytelling and songs.
A scholar and Grammy-nominated musician, Caffery borrows from the syllabic structures, rhyme schemes, narratives, and settings that characterize Louisiana songs and tales to create new verse that is both well-researched and refreshingly inventive. Paired with original pen-and-ink illustrations as well as notes that clarify the origins of characters and themes, Caffery's compositions provide a link to the old worlds of southern Louisiana while constructing an entirely new one.

Genres: Poetry, Nonfiction

88 pages, Hardcover

First published September 7, 2015

Reviews

[Sam Plauche · Rating 5 out of 5]

A big fan of anything I can get my hand on that focuses on traditional Acadian/Cajun folklore or oral storytelling. This book is a collection of poems that are either poetic retellings of Acadian folklore and original poetry written in the literary/oral storytelling traditions of the greater Creole culture. Many of these poems brought me back to the folk tales, poetry, and zydeoc lyricism I often heard as a child and simply warmed my heart to read it. Caffery does a great job in keeping true to the literary traditions of Cajun storytelling and has an informative notes section at the breaking down how he wrote the poems. 10/10!