Challenge:In the Wake of Katrina

[Angeline]

put it here then
just for you my dear friend
its been a while

Who made the wind scream?

It is quiet now
Or maybe I am dead
Like my city that surround

Drowning in filth,
and the chaos of flame.
Silence
Putrid stinking silence.

Whence came the boats?
That never were there?
Maybe they died as well
in that mournful banshee scream.

And the silence
Can you hear it?
Eating my city alive.
Day after day
Night after night.

No jazz band for the wake
Beneath the Delta Queen

It is quiet now
Or maybe,
I am dead.

But who cares?
Not you,
For if you do
Where are you?

Where WERE YOU?



I rarely do poems now, and it probably shows.
But it also shows my anger, and my passion I hope
Blue

 

[bluerains]

Romance of Atlantis

I watch a nation suffocate
as death chants our name..

Such swaggering nature
dwelled in the olden days
of bards and song
lingering on poetry
in tablets of clay.

Ms.Caldwell how deep
was your ocean
as I seep
into the prism watching
you,
romancing the stone...

 

[bluerains]

baby boomers...

I soujourn through
an ambient world
seeking my green tambourine
no jingle jangle
here baby..
new age wants their dollar
to make ya holler...
and all the sheep
seem to follow lemon pipers
and sing
amen..
somewhere in a clone
world a byrd sings
Mr. Tambourine man.

 

[RhymeFairy]

I am just heartbroken, and sore, from the sadness, of all this destruction, that has destroyed ... so many hopes, dreams.
Just sad. Wish there were more I/we could do.

I feel like there is no way I can write anything to compare ... to understand, this subject. I am tore into. with such sad emotion, for what these people, and children are going through, and have still yet ... to go through.

I will think on writing, it is heavy on my heart. Will write it out when the healing begins, and I can breath without suffocation, at the thought of such suffering and destruction. Wishing soooo much to help.

*sighs

 

[BooMerengue]

Looks like anarchy to me, Tung. Have you set a date yet?

 

[My Erotic Tale]

My Offerings to Tung~


~Katrina's foot print~

Gulf breeze deceives
in camouflaged reality
to settle on shores
with open heart doors
with smiles to the sun
over soft sand beaches.

"Neptune draw your breath ...
for your children weep."
... like the day Katrina stepped a shore.

Her fury for her father
the King of the Sea
scorned her reality
to suicide shores
she yelled out a gail
of a hundred or more.

"She took a liquid Hammer to Homes,"
...a bad seed spun spawned
in a hurricane dawn.

Neptune lost a daughter
but humanity was devastated
the ocean kings words spiraling
a mere whisper to us all
he lives and breeds
his Kamakazi wind warriors.

"I am King," Neptune sings
his daighter, Katrina he seed
the cycling humanity bleeds.

Tornados of emotions
around every street
water higher than homes
mingles in tears seeped
the city of saints scorned
by Neptune's new born.

"Katrina's foot print forever,"
...when she stepped ashore
it was forever more.

 

[annaswirls]

dang, this is a good one. Great job tackling this tough subject. A lot of cool images-- including that foot print and suicide shores. You gave me some inspiration and hope I might be able to do something. I might even steal a line or something

My Offerings to Tung~


~Katrina's foot print~

Gulf breeze deceives
in camouflaged reality
to settle on shores
with open heart doors
with smiles to the sun
over soft sand beaches.

"Neptune draw your breath ...
for your children weep."
... like the day Katrina stepped a shore.

Her fury for her father
the King of the Sea
scorned her reality
to suicide shores
she yelled out a gail
of a hundred or more.

"She took a liquid Hammer to Homes,"
...a bad seed spun spawned
in a hurricane dawn.

Neptune lost a daughter
but humanity was devastated
the ocean kings words spiraling
a mere whisper to us all
he lives and breeds
his Kamakazi wind warriors.

"I am King," Neptune sings
his daighter, Katrina he seed
the cycling humanity bleeds.

Tornados of emotions
around every street
water higher than homes
mingles in tears seeped
the city of saints scorned
by Neptune's new born.

"Katrina's foot print forever,"
...when she stepped ashore
it was forever more.

 

[tungtied2u]

thank you art

for this contribution. Powerful and mythic.

 

[tungtied2u]

Aftermath

Images of aftermath, a city inundated
the wind and rain but a precursor
to near total submersion
into anarchy, souls saturated
stretched by surreality

wading, waist deep through desolation
bodies bubbling to the surface
bobbing like so much debris
ground up and spit out
a mulch of mankind

trying to find some hope of salvation
in the mire, this swamp
of annihilation
where oil slicks and corpses
hold hands and grab hold
of the senses,

wringing what little humanity
remains, brains reeling
while clinging to plastic tubs, floating
loaded with possessions
and children, eyes stinging
with tears from the loss,

the loss
the loss

ears ringing, with thoughts
of how hard they’ve worked,
for so many years

so many years
so many years

now reduced to armfuls,
what they can carry
as the fetid water reclaims,
the dreams of thousands

gunshots and glass shatter
fracturing nerves
already on razor’s edge
dredging up fears of what lies ahead
when all that’s wanted is a roof
a warm dry bed

a dry bed
a dry bed

bled empty of emotion
this ocean of haunted souls
streams forth,
who can stem this tide
the levee has burst
who will buttress the battered spirits
before they too are submerged
by these dark waters.

 

[bluerains]

cycles of the sea

I watch a nation suffocate
as death chants our name..

Such swaggering nature
dwelled in the olden days
of bards and song
lingering on poetry
in tablets of clay.

Ms.Caldwell how deep
was your ocean
as I seep
into the prism watching
you,
romancing the stone...

this is a poem about katrina...and the unfolding of mother nature washing herself...
http://www.atlantisinsights.net/insights.htm

 

[quietpoet]

Political but...

always to the point. Why this banter about what is right or wrong about someone's post? We are all here, and all will be affected by the remnants of this disaster. I posted this on another thread (my Where are We Going thread) but it really belongs here as Katrina was the inspiration...

qp

Guilty by Association

Anger seethes at a lack of compassion,
a country hangs in the balance.
Witnessing brazen goals of politicos
powerful personal vendettas
against puppet regimes
exposes your soft underbelly.
Life ebbs and flows beneath your pen,
dirtily accumulating deception’s baggage;
we are forced to breathe your tainted air.
Instead of taking immediate control
you fake piousity and publicly cover your ass,
blatantly voicing lies and hyperbole.
Blame anarchy creation on poor minorities,
for they didn’t tithe you in November,
but never forget, for they won’t.
And neither will those of us who
walk a path beyond material lies
who see a vision of prosperity,
not bound in the flowing blood of dollars
or machismo’s almighty oil...
Will we have a chance to create anew,
a world of respect and honor
where differing paths can join
and celebrate their uniqueness?
Or will we just be silenced,
like ‘The Big Easy”,
sentenced to live out shared dreams as fantasy?
Look in your black-silvered glass,
check your righteousness at the gate,
blame stares back in disingenuous disguise…

 

[My Erotic Tale]

dang, this is a good one. Great job tackling this tough subject. A lot of cool images-- including that foot print and suicide shores. You gave me some inspiration and hope I might be able to do something. I might even steal a line or something

Thank you Anna, ...feel free to use, change or play as y'all feel fit, Tom's challenge is unique and historical and I think we all feel the sorrow from this catastrophe.

Thanks Tom ...I am glad you approve, is there a sumbission date?

Art~

 

[My Erotic Tale]

always to the point. Why this banter about what is right or wrong about someone's post? We are all here, and all will be affected by the remnants of this disaster. I posted this on another thread (my Where are We Going thread) but it really belongs here as Katrina was the inspiration...

qp

Guilty by Association

Anger seethes at a lack of compassion,
a country hangs in the balance.
Witnessing brazen goals of politicos
powerful personal vendettas
against puppet regimes
exposes your soft underbelly.
Life ebbs and flows beneath your pen,
dirtily accumulating deception’s baggage;
we are forced to breathe your tainted air.
Instead of taking immediate control
you fake piousity and publicly cover your ass,
blatantly voicing lies and hyperbole.
Blame anarchy creation on poor minorities,
for they didn’t tithe you in November,
but never forget, for they won’t.
And neither will those of us who
walk a path beyond material lies
who see a vision of prosperity,
not bound in the flowing blood of dollars
or machismo’s almighty oil...
Will we have a chance to create anew,
a world of respect and honor
where differing paths can join
and celebrate their uniqueness?
Or will we just be silenced,
like ‘The Big Easy”,
sentenced to live out shared dreams as fantasy?
Look in your black-silvered glass,
check your righteousness at the gate,
blame stares back in disingenuous disguise…

superfabtabulous poetry....ty QP .....and blue

 

[Jennifer C]

Great work

Wow

I just had to say what wonderful poetry you're all writing, to compose something so beautiful and moving from such deverstation is truly inspiring.

I havent had time to write anything myself but it's been a pleasure to read all of yours.

Well done to all

At times like these it's wonderful to all come together to share, inspire and console.

A beautiful thread tung

 

[BooMerengue]

damn, what happened to my ability to let things like this just go?

Thats a good question...

 

[BooMerengue]

always to the point. Why this banter about what is right or wrong about someone's post? We are all here, and all will be affected by the remnants of this disaster. I posted this on another thread (my Where are We Going thread) but it really belongs here as Katrina was the inspiration...

qp

I don't know if you are talking to me, QP, but usually when a challenge is offered a certain date is set to post the offerings. I don't guess it really matters; that depends on Tung, and he hasn't mentioned it. But thats why I mentioned it way back.

Great poem, btw. All of the political quagmire will soon come out in the wash, and hopefully ALL the right heads will roll.

 

[BooMerengue]

This doesn't come close to what I'm trying to say, but it sort itself along the way. I'm not ashamed to say I'm heartbroken over this; The Big Easy is my personal friend for many, many reasons.

The tide is ebbing now
pulling back Her power.
After 300 years of giving
now She's taking back,
reminding us
that She is owner here
that all the death, and loss,
are but a small tribute
for the gift
of a city on a crescent
an emblem of Luna,
Goddess of the moon
and Her power.
A jewel of a city
who's diversity
and strength
who's dignity
and culture
will rebuild, and grow
and become once again
The Grande Dame of The South.

 

[Blue Dolphin]

“How high is the water Momma?”
Six feet and rising,
Don’t worry son, they will be here soon.


“How high is the water Momma?”
Ten feet high and rising,
You just sit on them stairs hun
Help be here soon

“How high is the water Momma?”
Just pass that crowbar son,
Now get in the roof space
Be daylight soon

“How high is the water Momma?”
Too damned high.
Just sit here on the roof son
Soon be dawn

“Where are they Momma?”
Don’t worry son
They will be here tomorrow

“Momma?”
Why is you lying in the water like that?
Momma?
Momma?
MOMMAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[Tathagata]

the earth sighs,
scratches an itch,
and reminds us all
the scale of things,
and what is really important.




duckie write when you can and let us know you are ok.

 

[Du Lac]

Brutal honesty where it is needed! Powerful write. thank you for sharing
du lac~

“How high is the water Momma?”
Six feet and rising,
Don’t worry son, they will be here soon.


“How high is the water Momma?”
Ten feet high and rising,
You just sit on them stairs hun
Help be here soon

“How high is the water Momma?”
Just pass that crowbar son,
Now get in the roof space
Be daylight soon

“How high is the water Momma?”
Too damned high.
Just sit here on the roof son
Soon be dawn

“Where are they Momma?”
Don’t worry son
They will be here tomorrow

“Momma?”
Why is you lying in the water like that?
Momma?
Momma?
MOMMAAAAAAAAAAAAA

 

[Blue Dolphin]

Brutal honesty where it is needed! Powerful write. thank you for sharing
du lac~

Thank you for the comment my friend

 

[duckiesmut]

I'm ok, Mr. Monkey. We're setting up work offices temporarily in Dallas, until things back home are normal in regard to water, power, etc.

On the good news front, my family is safe, and my house made it through okay. A friend of mine went back, and he was able to get in touch and let me know, which made my day--> rather, made my year. The other houses in my neighborhood didn't fare nearly so well, so it was a sheer luck sort of thing. I felt more than a little guilty, because his house has something to the effect of 75-80% damage, and he got in touch to give me my good news.

But that's no never mind. Things in my town are starting to look up, but the situation continues to worsen for those in the heart of the city, and those with family, friends, homes, and pets still there. It's...unreal to try and realize the extent of familial, physical, emotional, and economic distress this storm has caused, and will continue to cause over the months and years ahead.

But I'm not saying anything y'all don't already know.

Hope everyone is doing well.

 

[Tathagata]

I'm ok, Mr. Monkey. We're setting up work offices temporarily in Dallas, until things back home are normal in regard to water, power, etc.

On the good news front, my family is safe, and my house made it through okay. A friend of mine went back, and he was able to get in touch and let me know, which made my day--> rather, made my year. The other houses in my neighborhood didn't fare nearly so well, so it was a sheer luck sort of thing. I felt more than a little guilty, because his house has something to the effect of 75-80% damage, and he got in touch to give me my good news.

But that's no never mind. Things in my town are starting to look up, but the situation continues to worsen for those in the heart of the city, and those with family, friends, homes, and pets still there. It's...unreal to try and realize the extent of familial, physical, emotional, and economic distress this storm has caused, and will continue to cause over the months and years ahead.

But I'm not saying anything y'all don't already know.

Hope everyone is doing well.

I knew your house would be ok
karma and all


Thank you sweetie
I'm glad you and yours are ok

my thoughts and prayers are with you and all of La.

be well my friend
xoxox
T

 

[Du Lac]

Duckie so happy to hear you are well and the important things in life are safe.
blessings
du lac

 

[echoes_s]

...really stupid

but after being asked, I repost but changed the first stanza a bit

Katrina

My daughter and I
lay side by side
watching a documentary
on Katrina.
She is 12 years
going on 17
in awareness,
we talked through it
quietly;

how to prepare for such a wrenching
experience, everything suddenly
sending you spiraling,
completely engulfed
in nothing
for this is now your world.

Stepping from a colored painting
onto white wall,
not even the sensation of falling,
your mind moving so fast
empty scatter...

And your eyes see white,
registering nothing,
no emotion,
ravaged heart
stilled
for eternity,

and then a struggle
to beat without strained
screaming of blood
belting so hard
it tore veins...

step out of the painting again
please

There is some hope there
taking the rest of this generation
to reconstruct and make home
for their children and grandchildren
forever with doubt
of cloaked freedom.

This is the beginning of the season,
weather not warming up all
hot humidity still lurking,
lapping the shores
and craving salt from the air

…she could not watch anymore
after a while,
the anguish of this happening,
her friend there...
every night on chat
her eyes screaming sometimes in panic
and worry...
Mommy, where is she?
another tear ret my heart

My son not able to watch it
as he has problems
with nightmares,
more sensitive to other's pain
as he knows already how this feels.

I wish to see the real world,
always dreamt to help,
I have before with training,
had children and fell ill

Perhaps one of my children would wish
to grow up to be one of those
who would.