in Joy Harjo's "New Orleans", the line "beaten silver paths" refers to the streets of such city. She remembers of certain Spanish conqueror, De Soto,who came to this lands searching for, and constantly states that he wouldn't find it here. Maybe is a mock to that fact.
The "silver blades and crosses" refers to the sword and crucifix of the conqueror, who drawn in the Mississippi river which dreamt of those items. Maybe this means that the streets of New Orleans were made of the things and dreams of the many conquerors who came to that land in search for gold and failed.
In the poem "New Orleans", the speaker refers to the paths as “beaten silver paths” and connected them to the silver blades and crosses to point that the paths are the unfulfilled dreams of many conquerors.
The poet uses beaten silver paths to describe the streets of the city. She referred to a Spanish conqueror, De Soto, who came to the city in search of gold but failed to find it.
The "silver blades and crosses" refer to the sword and crucifix of the conqueror. By this reference, the poet wants to state that the streets of New Orleans were made from the dreams of the conquerer which remained unfulfilled.
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