"New Orleans"

Tele-Vision
Oprah Winfrey
New Orleans
Hurricane Katrina
Displaced people

Trailer trash?
Chemical pollution
My heart hurts!
My head hurts!

Doctors
Turn away
Long lines
"Sign of the times?"

litmus paper test!
Judgement?
"The least of us?"

What if?
What if?
What if?
Floods
Tornados
Earthquakes

Panic attack
Terrorist attack

Dead men walk
"Cry every day"
"Think of death"
"Think of suicide"

Murder
Mayhem
Mutilation

Poverty

Danger:
High crime
Low places

Kings & Queens
Gangsters
Drug Lords

"Katrina Exposition"
Ugly underbelly
"America the beautiful"
Welcome to any town USA!
.....................................................
The big picture?
Violent crime in the U.S.
Increased 1.3 percent
2005 USA
Murders 16,692;
Violent crimes 1,390,695

"Grandpa"

Bricks missing, the well looks abused
Long since replaced by indoor plumbing
A rusty pail waits unused

A fence is in bad need of repair
It holds one lone black cow
She stands chewing her cud unaware

A half dozen white chickens free range
Ruled by an old red rooster
Watching a scruffy dog with mange.

In the yard an old yellow pick up truck sits
One of its tires is flat
That ancient V-8 engine won't quit

Parched and dried rows of corn
I see, for the reaper to glean
We gather on this day and mourn

"Note"

I leave this note
At your ear
For when you wake
Pick up the phone
Dial the number
Take the time
To let me know
You will
Be with me
When I am free
Many days are gone
Since we last spoke
Words lost in a choke
Forgive me
I left you
breathless
Still,
All alone
Pick up the note
I left at your ear
For you when
You wake
Take the phone
Dial the number
Let me confess
And share
My feelings,
Explain why
I went away
Disappeared
That faithless day
There was no time
To let you know
Led away
Shackled
Handcuffed
Made a mockery
And a show
They
Spit in my face
When it was done
There was left,
No trace
My ego bereft
I leave this
At your ear
For when you wake
Read it
Pick up the phone
Dial the number
Let me know
That you care
I pray,Reality
You will see,
Believe me
When I say
I wait today
In this lonely cell
My intent
To attest
To confess
It was false arrest
I am innocent!


Note: Workshop poem written from one line of a WS Graham poem.

"Sea"

Breaking waves of salty sea
Foaming blue and green color
Gently disintegrate me

Imprisoned yet free
This creature and I lie en rapport
Breaking waves of salty sea

There is no desire in me to flee
Enamored with my captor
Gently disintegrate me

From life’s camp a refugee
A serpent my conspirator
Breaking waves of salty sea

My fate I prophecy and see
Floating on this briny floor
Gently disintegrate me

Everything has ceased to be
This is what I long for
Breaking waves of salty sea
Gently disintegrate me.

Note: "Gently disintegrate me, line came from WS Graham poem.