#katrina
Children of Louisiana,
Swept away and drowned,
In the river’s flood
And the ocean surge.
Never have recovered
Fully from the rain falling down,
And of a city that was purged.
Ignored by the government
And its fellow man,
Follow in a long line of sufferers
Since the melting, ice age glaciers
And even a tsunami in the North Sea
That wiped out Doggerland.
Dark Ages got darker as people ran
And Britain’s white cliffs were sheared.
Times got better and then got worse,
But the people carried on.
Now, the floods are a weekly thing,
A blip on a newscast,
As lost as the victims in a mess
Of other disasters,
Of wildfires, droughts and don’t
Even mention the quaking earth
Or volcanoes! We can’t take credit
For causing those!
Rich men in their castles,
Feasting and clapping each other
On their fatty backs,
Rolling in the spoils and spills
Of oil, on the flaming water of
The American plains.
Sheikhs in old Mesopotamia
Whine about oil pipelines,
Promised to them by President Cheney,
While the people starve.
Bloated oligarchs spread destruction
All over the world, from
The Congo to Chernobyl,
Melting icecaps and raising the sea,
Sinking islands where they don’t live,
Vacationing in the Maldives,
On special rates before those go under.
They won’t fix Miami, but let it sink,
But not before they plunder
The empty towers built on foolish dreams.
Of course, they’ll be the last to go,
Crammed into mansions up in the Alps,
Fighting with the European nobles
Over who gets a crumbling palace
Now sitting on the last ice floe.
A few American cousins round each other up
To catch the Dixie Flyer down to New Orleans,
Trying to hide from the polar vortex,
A dazzling case of ignorance and greed,
Only to find the tracks buried in the sea…
Down in the mud of the deep, brown sea.
Mar 10, 2021
Mar 10, 2021 at 4:26 PM UTC
What Would ... YOU DO ... !?!
If You Were Left To ... DIE ... !?!
By Those Who CLAIM ...
To ... "CHERISH Your Life !" ...
What Would YOU DO ... ?!?
To .... STAY ALIVE ... !?!
Would You ... LOOT ... ?
Would You ... SHOOT ... ?
Would You ... **** ... ?
Or Get .......... IRATE .... ?
Or Would You JUST ...
Accept Your FATE ... ?!?!?
Whilst You Looked ...
At An ... EMPTY Plate ... !!!
These Are Scenes ...
Like NEW ORLEANS ...
I CAN'T Believe ...
The Things I've SEEN ... !?!
S H A T T E R E D Dreams ...
And Slates Now CLEAN ... ?!?
I Hope You're Getting ...
... What I Mean ... !!!
FLOODS of WATER ...
KILLING Daughters ... !!!
NOTHING LEFT ...
of Bricks And Mortar ... !!!
People ... "TRAPPED" ...
In A State of TRAUMA ...
... "STUCK IN The Corner" ...
of A BODY FILLED Sauna ... !!!
WHERE Was ...... HELP ... ???
When It Was .... NEEDED .... ?!?
Even YES When People PLEADED ... !?!?!
NOWHERE .......................................
To Be .............................. Found .... !!!!!
TROOPS Were ... YES ...
On .......................... Foreign Grounds ...
FIGHTING Those In ... OTHER Towns ... ?!?
NOW If YOU Were Inside The DOME ... ?
KNOWING That You'd LOST Your Home ... !!!
How Would THOSE Words Now Sound ... ?
If You KNEW Inside Your Heart ...
YOUR CHILDREN Had Now DROWNED ... !!!
I'd Feel Like LASSIE With NO BONE ... !!!
AND Might Want To ... TOPPLE Thrones ... !?!
Thrones of THOSE Who CLEARLY CHOSE ...
To TURN THEIR BACK UNTIL EXPOSED ...........
So Now They've COME ...
Like ... ATTILA The *** ... !!!!
Why Send Those Who Carry GUNS ... ?!?
DON'T Get Me ... WRONG ... !!!
Things That Seem To Have Gone On ...
DID Leave Me ... Feeling MAD ... !!!
Why Steal LAPTOPS And TV's ... ?!!!?
WHY Do That Black People PLEASE ... !!!!!
Steal The Things ...
That You Will NEED ... !!!!!!
In A Time of ... TRAGEDY ... !!!!!!!
FOOD Supplies So You CAN FEED ...
People LOSING ... E N E R g y ... !!!!!!!!!!!!!
But Here's The POINT ...
What Would YOU DO ... ?!?
Be ... CIVILISED ...
When TRAPPED INSIDE ...
A City Facing GENOCIDE ... !!!?!!!
It's EASY To SIT And Make A Case ...
Whilst Watching From A SAFER Place ... !!!
But THAT's ... The SAME ...
For ALL Who Watched The HURRICANE ... !!!!!!
And ... Make The CLAIM ...
That VICTIMS Acted With NO SHAME ... !!!
Like Those WITH ...
... Air FORCE ONE Airplanes .... !!!!!!
The Point of THIS Is To RESIST ...
Reports of ... CRIME And WICKEDNESS .....
AMERICA ... Has NOW Been SHAMED ...
PEOPLE Were Just Left To DIE ... ?!?
SOMEONE Should NOW ...
TAKE Some BLAME ...
For Watching This U N F O L D ... !!!
How Could These OFFICIALS ...
Be .... SO COLD .... !!!! ? !!!!
To Treat These PEOPLE ...
Just Like Slaves In Those Days of Old ...
Well THESE Are Days ...
That Seem THE SAME ... ?!!!?
It Seems That Things ...
Just ... HAVE NOT Changed ... !?!
COME ON People USE Your Brains ... !!!
DON'T BE Like Ben Man ...
CHANGE Your Lane ... !!!!!!!!!!!
Blacks STILL Live In ... " POVERTY " ... !!!
SOME White People STILL Hold Keys ...
KEYS To Things From Economies ...
Right Down To Our ... DESTINIES ... !!!
So If You FACED Problems Like THESE ...
Wouldn't YOU ... Feel Blue ... ???
Well Nowadays You MAY Just FIND ...
That NATURE's Giving ... CLUES ... !!!
You See .....
ALL Now Face Some HORRID Times ...
These Words Are Just ... MY VIEW ...
But ...
IF MY Words Applied To YOU ...?!?
In TRUTH ....
..... " What Would You Do ? " ....
Sep 15, 2019
Sep 15, 2019 at 8:23 PM UTC
Katrina…by Jessie 9/05
Calm and peaceful, the waves softly echo and reverberate as they find obstacles in their path.
Quiet… so deafening you can hear the other mans thoughts.
The sky, the bluest blue, and the only real movement, is the birds’ overhead.
Stranded on this island surrounded by water, I look out to all the other islands and all the other survivors perched upon the roofs of flooded homes.
Not a word is uttered, shock and dismay has taken hold.
Sure the sky is blue now but only hours ago the sky was dark and ominous, as a cataclysmic event was unfolding.
Devastating winds, pelting rain, and fear made its way to shore.
It’s as if the gods scooped up the sea and hurled it all at once.
Some made it others didn’t.
The smell of death stains the air.
Faces peer from just below the waters surface, eyes fixated and still, looking up to the blue sky.
Nothing to do but sit and wait
Time devours its self while waiting
Wait for lower level, will assistance come?
Wait for sustenance.
All is gone; all is lost
In a blink of an eye all has changed.
Never seen a sky so blue
Feb 11, 2018
Feb 11, 2018 at 1:59 PM UTC
Have you felt the pain in my city yet ?
Winds on a surge,
Houses and minds overturned,
Life's taking an unwanted turn.
You can't be surprised,
This hurricane has no soul.
These roads leading to your path of destiny
Been cracked by too much debris on main street
The president isn't gonna do too much about it,
He's too comfortable laid back in his seat.
Chop
Another
Tree.
How can america come together in a nation wide crisis
When we can't come united to solve the real everyday problem ?
These power lines and houses been falling
Flood levels in Florida and Texas are rising
Didn't this world learn about broken hearts in New Orleans ?
Keeping your life in order
As the ones that love build on pain to peace
Only if you see through the rain, life's tears, a world's need.
Have you felt the pain in my city ?
©MH
Sep 16, 2017
Sep 16, 2017 at 12:05 PM UTC
*You are the sun
of the deep night
truly the brightest
of the bright
whatever comes,
keep spreading
your warm light*
This is for my roommate who had been like my sister for the past two years and counting.Thank you for always believing in me.
Jun 20, 2015
Jun 20, 2015 at 8:50 AM UTC
If I have a daughter
I will name her Katrina
Remind her she is beautiful
Brought forth from the passion of the sea
She is a mix of warm Atlantic winds
strong enough to devastate a nation in
just a puff of her breath
wild enough to tracer the ocean
stretch out her wings and fly
watchful enough to remember
that spinning is dangerous
but curious enough
to want to go find land
In Winter, she hibernates
waiting for warmer weather
to envelop her soul
and bring life to her feet
In Spring, she stretches out her arms
and yawns, smiling
as the sun’s rays caress her face
In Summer, she giggles and
asks to travel,
whip across the ocean
sprint across the earth
She has no idea that exploring
Surging through the sea
will bring destruction
but when I tell her
she only laughs and says
Mom, you are the eye of my storm
and I will keep you safe
So, in Autumn, I will buy her
a ticket to anywhere
and as she spins out
of my home
I brace myself
for her eye to shrink
and her storm to intensify
because I know what is coming
While she loses herself
in the ecstasy of life
I shield myself as the eye wall,
the freest of her passions,
crashes down on me
with the force of 400 tornadoes
But I smile
because I know it will
be over soon
because winter is coming
and the rains
will cease to fall
and she will settle down
into her new life
and her new home
and one day
I will get a call
“Mom, our daughter’s name is Sandy,”
And I will smile
and watch from afar
as history repeats itself
and once again
I will brace myself for
the most beautiful of hurricanes
Oct 29, 2014
Oct 29, 2014 at 12:31 AM UTC
At the third street on the left
from Bourbon Street,
the reddish brown waterline
follows us to the hotel
The sleek white walls appear
to be from ‘after Katrina’
like many here
In the spring sun
the pale green lies deserted
in the shadow of
a long line of soot
coughing cars
Where Sachtmo's park
seems forgotten
after cleaning and renovation
is the home of this
other musician with worldly
allure, like a fresh blueberry
on a flat beaten hill
full of loose ends
Apr 7, 2014
Apr 7, 2014 at 9:21 AM UTC