Anne Notations

Friday, September 02, 2005

Adieu, New Orleans


Rescuers assist a family atop their swamped van after Hurricane Katrina.

City of jazz and jostling crowds,
Rich meals, poor shacks, brown river, revelry.
Balconies flaunting iron-lace petticoats,
And haunted mansions seen through moss-hung trees.

We can't go back to hear your wailing blues,
Won't glimpse strippers in bars on Bourbon Street.
Those dark men pushing handbills - "Come on in,
Best show in town! Free drink!" - Where might they be? ...
Heads in hands, on shanty roofs above the poison flood?
Gasping for breath inside the Superdome?
Guarding a loved one's corpse wrapped in a sheet?
Wading away with hope too faint to bear?



I gaze upon these scenes from New Orleans.
Dazed mothers fanning babies, fed on air ...
A husband stunned, his wife adrift - "I'm lost."
Tears flow and flow. There's water everywhere --
The levees broke. Anarchy and despair
Have murdered NOLA. Desolée, mon cher.



An exhausted deer, stranded by rising flood waters.

1 Comments:

  • I know this blog is several years old, but I stumbled upon it while doing research on Mayor Hardberger. We are proud to have had his services here in San Antonio through most of the decade, as he has transformed our city. Because of him, San Antonio is booming. Thanks for a well-written blog!

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at Wed May 27, 09:55:00 AM EDT  

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