Monday, August 30, 2021

Ida: New Orleans Survives

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE


Ida

 

Memories of Katrina haunt me

As if it happened yesterday

I want to scream at the TV screen:

Get out! You’re in the way!

 

Ida is category two and churning

From Havana to New Orleans

The roads are all jammed

The people are under warning

The fires of Hades burning

 

Will Ida hit like Katrina did?

Will the authorities be unprepared?

Will the lower ninth be flooded?

Will our sense of outrage be shared?

 

We have entered an age of tragedy

It often feels like the end of days

The chain of horrors relentless

Seems our legs are made of clay

 

New Orleans Survives

 

Ida hit the Gulf Coast hard

Like a bombardment of missiles

Like at twenty-foot wave

Like the breath of an angry god

Full of wrath wind and rain

 

The power died before nightfall

Leaving those who stayed behind

Hiding seeking shelter inside

They would baton down the hatches

They would fight back the storm

They would protect their belongings

They would protect their homes

They would do what they could

But the storm kept rolling

Churning like a beast

Spreading mass destruction

Like the Saint’s final feast

 

The people of New Orleans

Know they’re lucky to be alive

They have fought through the years

Self-assured they would survive

 

It’s not a war zone like Kabul

It’s not the end of a long drive

It’s a place where a culture

And its music still thrives

 

So help them through this crisis

As they suffer and we cry

We will do what it takes

To help New Orleans survive

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