Poems and Stories

Monday, August 13, 2007

Katrina, You Bitch

Katrina, You Bitch

She took all that he had.

His house and his boat,

his dog and his guns.

and all that he wrote.

If he had a family,

she’d have taken that, too.

The levee had failed

he knew he was through.

The water rose,

the wind roared

but he never left town

nailing board upon board.

But she took it all

and left him dry,

whispering in the dust;

“You bitch, you bitch…Why?

He tried to walk out,

but was stopped at the bridge

so he turned around

on a virtual ridge.

He could leave now

no reason to stay

Or he could remain

and find a new way.

He walked to the East

his mind clear as a bell

to his own 9th Ward

straight into Hell.

He laughed like a madman

and spit on the ground

his whole life was gone

not a trace could be found

There was no one else laughing

There was no laughter or play

So he walked into town

back to “Vieux Carre”

In his old bar on Bourbon

he relived the past

through the eyes of the devil

at the bottom of a glass.

It was easy to drink

his blood had been spilled!

But he slammed down the glass

and walked home to rebuild.



Tom Crowley
in New Orleans

since October, 2005

Written in November, 2005

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