—for Tony’s cousin,who“ made it” out safely
.
Frustration as old as New Orleans,
where race was the unspoken issue, keeps
those who could not leave, after Katrina.
.
Shame grows
among the masses,
huddled in the mud and the urine,
the stench of death in torrid attics,
impatience and hunger, amid
the beatings and the suicides, (to say nothing of
the drownings, explosions, and fires). Too much water:
Humiliation floats in a woman’s hurried pee—
.
on the sidewalk, where she’s hidden only by a dying plant,
and a gentleman, whom she thinks to thank,
diverts his tired eyes, in the begging for
a bottle of water for one’s dying father, who is ninety,
only to be denied, lacking his physical presence,
and in the floods that glisten in the sun while being
transformed into sewer-water.
The poor left their everything at the levee,
.
that is, if they could leave, they left everything—
in the place where their ancestors were beaten,
after being “sold south,” then freed but given
nothing but Jim Crow. And now there’s nothing
but heat and shit here by the river’s mouth.
Somehow the hell goes on and on. (Hell
being three babies, dying in the Astrodome.)
.
Did folks not deserve better than
the armed police, who waved guns and
herded them like slaves or black pigs? A bus
overturned on its tardy way to the Promised Land:
Redemption being, once again, denied. But somehow—
the folks who make it will somehow “make a life”:
find purgatory where there used to be hell.
But in the Big Easy (after many prayers),
they knew that life was good,
remember?
.
first published in Washing the Color of Water Golden: A Hurricane Katrina Anthology
7 comments
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August 31, 2006 at 5:15 am
Alice Ponte
You have described perfectly the peril of placing your faith in government. New Orleans is a democrat mecca and should be an utopia if govenment taking care of people was the answer. Instead, it was just the opposite. A great deal of suffering could have been avoided if the sheep of New Orleans had been weened from the government tit and given back the joy and dignity of earning a living. Instead, they continue to wait for a hand-out still no better than slaves, but now from their own choosing. Still they wait for outsiders to come clean up their city, never considering doing it themselves. By contrast, I feel much respect for the people of Mississippi as they have already cleaned up their state. The people of New Orleans can only find the energy to blame others for their problems.
August 31, 2006 at 5:53 am
Pris
Excellent post. Katrina was not only a natural disaster, it was a governmental disaster. You said that so well.
August 31, 2006 at 7:53 am
Helen Losse
Hi Alice, I thnk we’ll agree to disagree about this. The entire situation was a disaster, where the poor were, I believe, once again the victims: “Hell to purgatory,” that’s all,’cause heaven still ain’t happening. Hi Pris, Thanks for dropping by. Glad you liked it.
August 31, 2006 at 5:32 pm
Daniel Comstock
yeah i member that day watchinh it on the news wen katrina everyone thought it was over but the levves broke so everyone was trapped that sucked
August 31, 2006 at 7:16 pm
Helen Losse
Yes, it was awful for them. And what’s worse is some of them still don’t have their homes back. Everyone needs a home, no matter who they are.
September 1, 2006 at 9:31 pm
Daniel Comstock
yeah tha’s true
September 1, 2006 at 9:32 pm
Helen Losse
Hi Daniel, Hope you had a good week.