Katrina, Katrina

I lost my voice after the storm;
paralyzed chords without resonance.
Only gasps, sighs, and silence -
silence as dark and deep
as the nights.
My lips tried to shape the sounds,
as I exhaled muted whispers:
but my breath was taken away,
Not even a rasp -
No utterance to convey
the fear, the anger, the despair.
No way to describe what remained,
the sepia images of death and desolation
and shadows;
or how it felt to survive.

Words came back in emotional streams,
black ribbons of mourning,
fluid if not fluent:
Poems and songs playing
slow, solemn tribute;
Dirges and prayers of thanksgiving;
Petitions for strength and for life;
Willful, determined promises;
Oaths to generations
past, present, and future.

Until Spirits stirred
in the cemeteries and abandoned homes,
and we gathered - neighbors, friends,
families and strangers -
to observe our sacred traditions:
We lowered the coffins
and raised our voices -
returning home with
songs of triumph, hope,
and resurrection.

jjm 11/20/05


For a generation of Americans who did not live through the civil rights movement or the Viet Nam war or Watergate, Katrina was their apocalypse.

- Ted Kennedy 11/17/05

Katrina

The five year anniversary. . . hardly a cause for celebration. But we were beckoned, nonetheless, to center stage in a Katrina redux - a morose revue produced and directed by mainstream media. For one week, we were asked to reflect and relive and report - to sate the public’s curiosity.

Immediately after the storm, before the flood devastated our City, I was confident that we would, that we could, rebuild. I told Brian Williams that we would, because we are resilient. We have “good bones.” Tom Brokaw told me that we would, because “it’s New Orleans.”

And, to some extent, we were right. Those who have returned and resumed some semblance of their former lives, did so on their own for the most part. They did it with their own resources – sweat equity or life savings – and they pulled themselves up by their own bootstraps. We were – and are – still blessed to know the kindness of strangers who have invested their time, talents, and resources to rebuild homes and lives. Unfortunately, those who (for whatever reasons) were depending on government aid and waiting for government solutions - are still waiting.

Five years is not enough time to distance ourselves from the fear, anger, horror, despair . . .

Five years is not enough time to rebuild, repair, recover . . .

Five years is just enough time to remove the stench, to adapt to the stomach churning, heart wrenching surges of optimism and disappointment . . .

Five years is too much time to endure the bureaucratic incompetence and stupidity.

Courage is not the absence of despair; it is, rather, the capacity to move ahead in spite of despair.

- Rollo May