The second part to ‘My NOLA’. I married my first husband post-Hurricane Katrina in September 2007. I have always loved the city of New Orleans, so to see it devastated on such a catastrophic scale? Broke my heart–so I wrote about it. -JBHarris
Chinky I-walls lay against stiff
Bricked houses graffittied
By FEMA, a bright orange lie
Mocking sleeping dead inside.
Murky water smothering growing grasses,
Cattails bobbing over cloudy photographs,
Barbie dolls, and green-algae Bigfoot Power Wheels.
Dogs turned to gargoyles,
Fixed and black, found
Bound to beer bottled fences.
Catfish bump into wide-eyed grandmother,
Eyes to the sun of the Almighty,
Mama’s kitchen sinks, with
Grandpa’s Red Indian tobacco.
Cajun navy in johnboats,
Putting holes in attics and going
Past rooftops garden with
White sheets and signs.
The world watches just
How high lows can go.
-Jennifer Bush (now Harris), 2011
