I have never seen so many herons
\nfluttering like paper,
\nalong this cradle of paradise,
\nthe great gulf ocean of melted blue.
\nAnd towns glittering on a bracelet
\nof beaches,
\nshrimp boats, sturdy ships
\nof labor and love of waves.<\/p>\n
My family remembers these places
\nfrom May.
\nPeople crowding the pinata
\nof New Orleans.
\nThe artery of the Mississippi
\nspreading its veins into the sea.
\nThis part of earth,
\nof lusty nights,
\nof fearless gamblers,
\nthe girlfriends of the sun.
\nThe old, hearing themselves
\nin the cascading swells
\nof apricot evenings.<\/p>\n
How grand this summer was!
\nDrier in Ohio than usual.
\nThe early pulse of fall.
\nChildren returning to school,
\nearly this year, for outings later
\non the sand.
\nShores waiting for travelers
\nfrom the barrenness of the winter.
\nThere are names for catastrophe.
\nHow beautiful Katrina is.
\nHow flowing the dress of its sound.
\nA storm to the south.
\nA weaving circle of clouds.
\nNight air and the sound of thunder.
\nFar away. Far away.<\/p>\n
Katrina stirs, stretching her arms.
\nHer tresses streaked with lightning.
\nA tiger cub.
\nA life so short it will not remember childhood.
\nWe do not remember life like this.
\nWalking in the French Quarter.
\nEating cotton candy.
\nSipping wine and partying.
\nBut pinatas break,
\nand Katrina took its stick
\nand swung,
\nand the celebration of life
\nwas shattered.<\/p>\n
The bracelet torn apart.
\nThe child of destruction roared,
\nand then,
\nonly spaces.
\nFlood of biblical proportion,
\nweeping and despair.
\nThe party over.
\nAn aftermath of ruin,
\nblood,
\nand life pushed out of Paradise.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I have never seen so many herons fluttering like paper, along this cradle of paradise, the great gulf ocean of melted blue. And towns glittering…<\/p>\n