Bienvenue
Michelle Rose
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andouille, boudin, cracklins, dirty rice, étouffée, filé, gumbo, jambalaya, on fait lagniappe ici, maque choux, pain perdu, beaucoup roux, c’est si bon, laissez les bons temps rouler rolling off tongues, hands greasy, feet dancing, plates refilled and refilled again, stories told too loud and twice, laughter spilling, elbows knocking, saints ignored, sins forgiven early, joy stacking higher and hotter and louder until it tips past appetite into something holy and uncontainable, until the noise becomes belonging and the excess becomes inheritance and the only thing left to say—over full plates and full hearts and voices still rising—is it’s home to me, can’t you see, it’s home to me. Ça va.
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Michelle Rose grew up in Vinton, Louisiana, and studied psychology and addiction studies at Northwestern State University, earning her bachelor’s degree in 2013. After college, she lived in Portland, Oregon; Alaska; North Carolina; and Oklahoma before settling in Alabama. She has collaborated with bestselling authors and served as an editor for a widely read Substack publication with more than 30,000 subscribers worldwide. Her work is shaped by her Southwest Louisiana roots.
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Posted in Mardi Gras Microfiction Contest: March Feb '26 and tagged in #boudin, #microfiction