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When others sleep 
I lie awake
Waiting
For night
To become day.

Rubbing 
The sun
From my eyes
Everything I 
Tried to forget
Comes back
Like an angry wave.

Hearing about the hurricane
And the neglect
I went to New Orleans
Barely knew the place
Only what I heard
Creoles and Mardi Gras 
The Big Easy and 
Good times
A distant city singing
Its own sad song
From the South.
 
Long days and 
Months later
A fever came round 
From damp nights and bad food
A public health doctor
Looked at me
With an innocence
And worry
I haven’t seen 
Since childhood. 
 
Restless
One night
I set out 
Towards the outskirts 
Of the city.
 
Fires burned everywhere
Violence 
Lay waiting
In gaping holes
Of empty houses
And abandoned cars
The spider web of
Death
Hovered above
Waiting for its next victim 
I thought I saw the worst
But I hadn’t.
 
On a garbage strewn road
Was an old woman
Patiently 
Stirring some sort of gumbo
In a beat up tin pot
I approached her
In the darkness
We were
Two solitary 
Figures on a dirt road
The space between us 
No more than a foot
From the fire 
The veins on the back of her hands 
Stood out
Her face hidden in the flickering shadows
“I’m noticing you 
You’re a stranger
You don’t belong here.”
 
Looking past me
She asked,
“Tell me mister
If they put a man on the moon
Can't they rescue people in a flood?’
I had no answer 
Tapping the spoon
Against the side of the pot
She spoke to no one in particular, 
“Must be
We got to be people
On the moon
Before anyone can help us”.
Behind us
Shadows moved
Heavy voices were heard.

A sudden downpour came 
The rain turning
The dirt road to mud
The old woman shrugged and left
I walked back to camp
Leaving as lost 
As I came.
 
The night
Became a faint memory
I slept forever
Exhausted
I opened my eyes
To see wet clothes
And muddy boots 
In the corner
Of my room
Then I knew
The night
Hadn’t been
A dream after all.
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