Four Poems: Katrina's Pathway

Harvest of Apoplectic Horses
((Dedicated to: Katrina)) crisis)

It has happened before:
Nearby and afar,
Where the four-horses of
Apocalypse
With their flaming nostrils
Breathed in the fury of the winds
Only to vomit out, disaster; -
Then galloped away,
Against pale faces!...

#824 9/2/05

The Vanishing
[Dedicated to: Katrina]

For a time, I left my body-
Behind me.
Still,
I resided in my darkroom-
"There is good in the world," I said,
The spirit of the world begins
To move-slowly, after Katrina.
I closed my eyes, thinking
New Orleans, Mississippi
(a prayer, if only for one).
Women's hands, loaves of bread?
Appear?eyes of men tired with dread
Burgundy faces, huddled
Together?appear.
I say: thank God it's not winter.
The world is silent (mostly)
A few friends hear our cry
But they are just shadows
Turned away from the sun.
The only thing worse than death,
Is this-the vanishing.

#825 9/2/05

Bones in Water
(The Gem of the South; Katrina)

There once was this gem
Down along the Mississippi
(The Big Easy, New Orleans)
A gem, all wanted to touch:
Now in silent waters, like Atlantis;
The city in the dark:
Once the blossom of the South,
It cannot stand up right now.
Broken to its knees, with ease
In the winds of the hurricane:
Katrina's pathway: bones and ravage.

#826 9/2/06

Doomed to Live [Katrina]

Doomed to live Are those who survived-? Katrina's massive outcry The defiance of Mother Nature Against mankind-. Thus, her ultimatum, her Remorseless, implacable Unalterable despair- Gave her skeleton to create A great catastrophe For humankind? Her face was gaunt, with Patched gray, colored dead With tarnished braids around Her eyelids-unaimed, calm Her voice, not even rose- She destroyed New Orleans Her golden rival!...

#827 9/3/05

Dennis Siluk, international Poet