Poem commemorating the 5th anniversary of Katrina descending on New Orleans
What would it feel like
For you to wake up in a cold sweat,
Wet just from the fear, not the flooding —
To have seen a twunny-foot wall
Of black-gray greasy oil-soaked water
From three lakes and the ribbah and the gulf
Coming atcha home in Gentilly
And all the cats and the roosters
And the little ole neighbors, elders and babies
And it was just a big bad, horrible
Dream? Yes, you just had an awful nightmare, and it was real dark
Gray in this dread vision, wet with fear,
Not as Montana LeBlanc, who, when the levees blew,
Had to wade thru gator-, mad dog-, and dead body-infested deep sludge
For real. The nightmare was happenin’!
Not in a dry bedroom up in D.C.,
but in dear, dangerous and beautiful New Orleans.
“Do ya know what it means, to miss New Orleans?
And missin’ it night and day,
I know I’m not wrong:
The feelin’s gettin’ strong
Longer I stay away…”
-Louis Armstrong, 1946, from Alter & DeLange lyrics & music
