{"id":13620,"date":"2015-08-29T22:45:06","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T02:45:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/?p=13620"},"modified":"2015-08-29T22:45:06","modified_gmt":"2015-08-30T02:45:06","slug":"remembering-nola-2005","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/pierrejoris.com\/blog\/remembering-nola-2005\/","title":{"rendered":"Remembering Nola 2005"},"content":{"rendered":"

We\u00a0flew to New Orleans in the first week of\u00a0November 2005, i.e. two months after Katrina had struck,\u00a0for readings & meeting with friends. From notes I took while there I put together the following poem when we returned East. Here it is again, 10 years later, in memory of that disaster, of those who perished, of the friends we found devastated \u2014 but already energetically rebuilding Nola. A great city for great people. Much work remains to be done \u2014 as actor\/activist Wendell Pierce so clearly said this morning on Up With Steve Kornacki<\/a> and yesterday on Democracy Now<\/strong>! (that video is embedded below the poem).<\/p>\n

\n

The Scumline<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

of fridges & watermarks<\/span><\/p>\n

for there are only two lines<\/span><\/p>\n

needed to give<\/span><\/p>\n

us a fix on the real<\/span><\/p>\n

a vertical & a horizontal<\/span><\/p>\n

crosshairs take aim<\/span><\/p>\n

at New Orleans<\/span><\/p>\n

post-Katrina topography<\/span><\/p>\n

toxic mold blooms<\/span><\/p>\n

a new circle in hell<\/span><\/p>\n

a diabolic doodle rhymes<\/span><\/p>\n

with Tsunami & Falluja<\/span><\/p>\n

Baghdad & Yucatan<\/span><\/p>\n

a twisted zig-zag geometry<\/span><\/p>\n

earth embedded in house em-<\/span><\/p>\n

bedded in steel embedded in<\/span><\/p>\n

water embedded in air in fire<\/span><\/p>\n

a twisted zigzag geometry<\/span><\/p>\n

where the only fix is the<\/span><\/p>\n

line left by receding water<\/span><\/p>\n

on house in house on<\/span><\/p>\n

mind in mind through soul a<\/span><\/p>\n

watermark, scumline<\/span><\/p>\n

SKUMLINE Dave yelled<\/span><\/p>\n

& yanked torn twisted <\/span><\/p>\n

siding scumlines now<\/span><\/p>\n

vertical to hold open hell-<\/span><\/p>\n

mouth door<\/span><\/p>\n

cave where the question<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201chow do you preserve<\/span><\/p>\n

the preservers\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

has been solved<\/span><\/p>\n

cast out the dead<\/span><\/p>\n

preservers, put out on streets<\/span><\/p>\n

white metal menhirs<\/span><\/p>\n

sibylline square <\/span><\/p>\n

vertical volumes<\/span><\/p>\n

open or closed<\/span><\/p>\n

a straight-up solidity<\/span><\/p>\n

belies the lines they cross<\/span><\/p>\n

a thousand crosshairs<\/span><\/p>\n

aiming nowhere<\/span><\/p>\n

duck-taped prophets<\/span><\/p>\n

sad squat kabbas to be<\/span><\/p>\n

circumambulated<\/span><\/p>\n

in alien Hazmat suits
\nto read their hanging odes<\/span><\/p>\n

no formal mu\u2019allaqat but<\/span><\/p>\n

black marker dayglo impro <\/span><\/p>\n

graffitoems like:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll never know<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

what<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

it means<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

to miss New Orleans<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

cause<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

I ain\u2019t going<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

nowhere<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Baby\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

or:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cCan you tap a street light<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

for power without<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

burning out your cord?<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

If not take your<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

carpet-begging<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

bullshit Activism<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

elsewhere\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

of fridges & watermarks<\/span><\/p>\n

the lines are outside<\/span><\/p>\n

& inside, the lines are<\/span><\/p>\n

everywhere, I said watermark,<\/span><\/p>\n

you said scumline,<\/span><\/p>\n

& Paul Chasse said to me <\/span><\/p>\n

I wrangled<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

the fridge outside with<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

the help of a bottle of<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Jim Beam then I shot<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

it dead pumped three rounds<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

of ammo & the gagging<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

stink came out right away <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

it was an old corpse & I told<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

a National Guard foot patrol<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

fresh from extended <\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

Baghdad vacation<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cit was the only<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

decent thing to do\u201d<\/i><\/span><\/p>\n

the writing is on the walls<\/span><\/p>\n

the writing is the walls<\/span><\/p>\n

the lines are on the walls<\/span><\/p>\n

the lines are the walls<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cwe had to abandon the boat\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Styx crossed or were those<\/span><\/p>\n

crossed sticks or <\/span><\/p>\n

pirate flag <\/span><\/p>\n

skull bones?<\/span><\/p>\n

& someone said if<\/span><\/p>\n

you want to learn<\/span><\/p>\n

how to walk on<\/span><\/p>\n

the water, get out<\/span><\/p>\n

of the boat<\/span><\/p>\n

illuminated mold<\/span><\/p>\n

in the first fridge I opened<\/span><\/p>\n

gold mold<\/span><\/p>\n

gold mold<\/span><\/p>\n

old old<\/span><\/p>\n

before its time <\/span><\/p>\n

new new<\/span><\/p>\n

make it new<\/span><\/p>\n

in New Orleans<\/span><\/p>\n

the post-K New Crescent City<\/span><\/p>\n

where the favorite, the<\/span><\/p>\n

favorite greeting I heard is:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cjust returned!\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n