When the Saints Go Marching In

Holey Ghost

when Katrina hit I wrote a series of poems to mirror the awful grief and despair that I felt as many suffered and waited and waited for help, yet there were also tales of courage and resscue.

Holey Ghost

What to Save and what to Raze
With The Big Easy in ruins
It’s residents scattered
Their lives shattered some still dazed
How many will return and rebuild,
To uncover and restart the Crescent City’s weakened heart

As they raise the rhythm from the mud
As 50-100,000 homes are razed
The Soul of the City remains

Much of its past now swept away or covered in mold
What will be preserved is what was old
As it’s denser wood and craftsmanship
Withstood Katrina and Rita’s flood

Those that come back to dig out from the ruins
Are refusing to be buried and chased from their past
Are rebuilding stronger and more resilient to last

Resilient Souls are restoring The Big Easy’s culture
With a uneasy look towards its future
Lifted with good spirits rising from the mud
It won’t be long, before we hear the N’awlins Jazzy sound
As the beat and rhythm rise from it’s hallowed soggy ground

05 Oct 2005 Holey Ghost

Holey Ghost

New Orleans, The Big Easy, The Crescent City
The birthplace of jazz and The Blues
Sits nearly empty now, still partly under water
Where across the Gulf Coast millions of lives were forever changed

The lucky ones are stunned----still in shock as they survived Katrina’s onslaught
Others are still grieving for lost family member taken so cruelly by the storm
Others waited, stranded, begging for help in food and water
That never seemed to come
Left to the mercy of criminals that had no mercy
With bodies piling up in the streets
Some uncovered and untended
It was a hell like we’ve not witnessed

Amongst the horrid sorrow conditions
Acts of kindness and courage were displayed
Tens of thousands were rescued by our Coast Guard
Religious congregations have welcomed thousands
Of strangers into their homes and hearts
Welcomed as brothers and sisters, as fellow Americans

Many lost their homes, their cars, their possessions, everything
But Katrina’s aftermath didn’t kill their spirit
With a core strength and courage that rises above the pain and sorrow
A spirit of being an American
To rise up and rebuild, making it even better than before
And bring a sunny day in the Gulf Coast tomorrow

Still lots of grim work remains
Gathering the dead with the respect they deserve
Families still separated need to be reunited
Katrina threw us Fastball and followed up with a nasty curve
She may struck us out, but we’ll get back at bat and hit a Grand Slam
From Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi to Alabam-a

And facedt with this monumental task
Americans all over American are extending their inherent generosity
We’re coming together as at a team without a name to blame
Donating time, clothes, shelter, food, money, whatever they can contribute
This is the compassion of humanity

Not only will the Gulf Coast rise
But it will thrive
So not only will NOLA and Gulf Coast be rebuilt with the love of this nation
It will be rebuilt, on higher ground
And once again we shall all hear that N’awlns soulful sound

15 Sept 2005 Holey Ghost

Holey Ghost

Swept away from their parents
or somehow separated
They wait to hear word of their fate
Their homes now gone
Their protectors now missing
They’re living a nightmare,
They hope will end
They search and search for a familiar face
Their parent or parents gone, without a trace

Hopefully many will be reunited
And their pain will end
For now, they need some friends
Some friendly faces to help them mend
While their search continues
These are the Children of Katrina

15 Sept 2005 Holey Ghost

Holey Ghost

It looked like a War-Zone
A nuclear blast could not have done as much damage
Though many had at least a warning of the impending disaster
Many stayed on to ride out the storm,
Not wanting to leave their pets or possessions behind
Others simply couldn’t leave, even tho’ they’d been warned
Some like nursing home residents were left to the elements
When the fury and wrath of Mother Nature hit
They were left with whatever they could find
Some that had survived were running out of time

90,000 square miles of land and its occupants took the brunt
Thru Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana
Dwellings crumbled like matchsticks
Cars and trucks thrown around like toys
Pine trees littered the landscape
Leaving nothing untouched but those that escaped

Lives were torn apart, memories buried
Nightmares lived
Survival was the order of the coming days and nights
Waiting for buses or being rescued by boats and flights
The wheels of bureaucracy slow to roll
Tho’ rescue workers worked furiously
Images of the disaster tugged at our soul
Surreal but knowing they’re real

It looked like a War-Zone
With the dead and dying
As Mother Nature huffed and puffed
And blew everything standing down
And then the water came
And washed what was left away

Katrina was a natural disaster, but seemed so un-Natural

13 Sept 2005 Holey Ghost

Holey Ghost

“I just thought it would be a little wind and rain and then it would just blow over."
she hadn't paid much attention to the warnings
she didn't want to evacuate without the family's pets
three dogs, a cat, a guinea pig, a gerbil, six hamsters and a parakeet

After the levees broke, within minutes, it was waist deep
Tiffany, her teenage daughter lost her cell phone trying to save a hamster
nearly drowned trying to save her cat in water
They all made it to the Highest Ground, the attic
They only found about a gallon of drinking water to take up with them
There were no windows, or light, just one small air vent.
Temperatures climbed with the water level
but hope receded with each rising inch
They took off most of their clothes because it was so hot


Then their battle to survive began.

Helicopters hovered overhead but no one could hear their banging
No one could hear their SCREAMING!!
Fear got the better of their Mom
With painkillers in hand she offered to have them all end it
Yet her daughter kept pleading that they would be saved

“I want to finish school and have a job and have kids and have a husband”
In the midst of hell, dreamy thoughts of the future helped them survive
Yet Grandmother wouldn’t live out their nightmarish ordeal
“We told her we loved her, and she said she loved us,
I told her I was sorry I couldn't help ... And she closed her eyes

Soon, the drinking water was gone
the same water they had to urinate in started filling up the attic
They inched farther and farther back.
As their situation got more and more desperate

Then truly a miracle!
Her Brother appeared with a boat and friends
Debbie thought she was dreaming
Her daughter’s prayers and thoughts of the future were answered
Tiffany woke to the sound of her mother’s screams
Their lives were saved, and it wasn’t just a dream

With an axe her brother chopped thru the roof
A Miracle, A Rescue! one of many
to be told amidst the chaos and depair
Not just in NOLA, but all over the Gulf Coast everywhere

12 Sept 2005 Holey Ghost

Holey Ghost

New Orleans, the birthplace of Jazz and The Blues
Now a fetid bacteria-infected toxic swampy goo
with holdouts hangin' on to all they've got,
not wanting to be evacuated,
having survived Katrina's onslaught,
Ready to rebuild once the waters' gone
Wanting to get a head start in front of the empendig rot

The Soul of Crescent City, The Big Easy may have been taken
but the spirits of the living dead have not forsaken,
the hollowed ground,
the cradle of Soulfull Sound

The beat of the city may have slowed
but the Heart of the City can never be buried
not by wind, rain, nor fateful floods
It's on the backs of it's spiritual history,
That its future will be carried

Holey Ghost

They worked around the clock to rescue survivors
The worked as doctors and nurses healed the sick and dying
First responders, fire and police and then the National Guard
They lifted survivors off of rooftops and brought to higher ground
Volunteers searched for survivors all day into night
Volunteers fed and comforted those in shelters,
Some had missing family members or had lost others
Some kids and babies had been separated from their Fathers and/Mothers

But across this Great Land
Americans of all colors, creed and class
Came together and gave everything they had to give
From the bottom of their hearts
They graciously lent both hands
Offering hope and faith, or just sharing tears
Helping to conquer fears
Lifting them up, to help them find a new start

This is America
The Land of Golden Hearts
Spreading their wings
The Angels of the Storm

Holey Ghost

Mother Nature had her eye on New Orleans
by all indications The Big Easy was her target
Yet at the last minute she jogged Left
and most N'Orleanders thought they'd dodged yet another bullet

And the Gulf Coast of LA to Mississippi took the brunt
of her vicious winds and fury
Blowing down houses like cardboard boxes
leaving a pile of wood looking like scattered matchsticks
Vehicles tossed about, boats flung this way and that
Within a few hours thousands were left homeless
Without running water and power and only the clothes on their backs
with their past now a part of Katrina's history, Katrina's furious attack

Then the Tidal Surge came
Bursting levees
Turning the Big Easy into Atlantis by 100X worse
the ghosts of the past had fulfilled their curse
Soon the Crescent City was no more
Even tho' they missed the Eye of the Storm

Holey Ghost

The Evacuation was called for as planned
This wasn't a Drill, like "Hurricane Pam"
the predictions showed 30% wouldn't go
Mostly stubborn, elderly, very poor or sick

Shelters were set up
The Convention Center and Superdome
Both of which became putrid hellish tombs

Bring Food & Water for 2-3 days
It'll be like a Campout
While we seek Shelter from the Storm

For the want of luxurioius Greyhounds
The 500 school buses sat unused and under water
For sticking to "the plan",
The Red Cross armed with Food and Water was held at bay
While the Mayor says, "Let us Pray"
It was a "Desperate SOS!!"
People died in Wheelchairs
Murders and suicide reported
Where was the NOLA police?
Chasing looters I 'spose or joinin' in

Seeking Shelter from the Storm

Holey Ghost

Many thousands of Katrina survivors
Left without homes and everyday comforts of home
Now are being taken in and cared for by others
Americans from all walks of life stepping up to the plate
Giving them shelter, food and clothes
Little bits of kindness to help them on their way
Americans helping Americans ease their pain

Yet so much more, now needs to be done

Being Enlightened

Holey Ghost wrote:

Many thousands of Katrina survivors
Left without homes and everyday comforts of home
Now are being taken in and cared for by others
Americans from all walks of life stepping up to the plate
Giving them shelter, food and clothes
Little bits of kindness to help them on their way
Americans helping Americans ease their pain

Yet so much more, now needs to be done

Agreed! SO much more needed/needs to be done. Thank goodness for the kind-hearted! My good freind was displaced. She ended up living in a motel in Houston for a spell and now lives in LA. It's a shame. I was lucky enough to enjoy Nawlins' prior to all the shit going down. I really enjoyed it...I think about the people there often and wonder how life is going for them. I was only able to skim through these right now, Holey, but I look forward to actually reading them and absorbing them later today.

Ali

Hurricane stands on the street.
Now with their new meaning.
Cast iron railings on three story,FRech-Creole buldings,
Now rusted.
Cobblestone streets on Bourbon,
Now covered in muddy clay.
A cemetary at the end of the rue,
Now left where more bodies float.
The French Quarter and its' tents,
Now swept away in water.
Jazz musicains and people visiting by the masses,
Now taking their trips at home,
in mourning.

c2006adv

thank you for your AMAZING post holey.I need to write more into the famines,
corruptions,plagues, and diseases...not to mention,pay respects to those
living and deceased....