Hurricane Haiku

Katrina Haiku Wall

Bourbon street
a tilted sign
water back

Shanna Moore
Hawai USA

Bourbon street heat
a patch of flies on the water

martin
USA

Bourbon Street Blues--
at muddy water's edge
only the notes echo

abandoned--
she sleeps the last sleep
in her wheel chair

rescuers rescued--
helicopter wreckage
in muddy waters

John Daleiden
Oskaloosa, IA USA

Sept jours et sept nuits
mais ni Amstrong ni Noé-
les gangs et l'armée

JP Cresta
France

no one left
to hear it
cicada song

doris kasson
Florida, USA

famous New Orleans
now out of any jazz
under the water...

oh, all the Saints
come back with Noah's arks
to your New Orleans

Tomislav Maretic
Croatia

Coast Guard helicoopter
CC - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tidewatermuse/38899253/

Coast Guard Petty Officer 2nd Class Shawn Beaty, NY

Fema
old cronies kill
the poor

nausea
hopelessness
a drowned grandma

Bureaucracy
kills
thousands

carol Sircoulomb
USA
9/5

receding waters
the fear of what lurks
beneath the sludge

Deborah P Kolodji
Temple City, California

her body clad in shorts -
found on a muddy street,
once a glamour girl

No food or water -
baby clings to mother,
unconscious

convention center -
no one speaks for them,
garbage piles up

empty buses
stand by all day
for survivors

FEMA computers -
further assessments,
unclear directions

coast guard pilot
hovers over rooftops,
a waving of arms

-Joachim-
USA

New Orleans---
canal street
under water!

yajushi

The Ninth Moon. . .
a pregnant woman thigh-deep
in flood waters

Moons
Linda Galloway

New Orleans
a stained glass window
hurricane crazed

New Orleans -
white seagulls catch at souls
of the departing

the Big Easy. . .
spring breeze in autumn
rocks floating bodies

Nancy Stewart Smith
USA

Hurricane Katrina
her one eye bulging
in a fit of fury

floating
in toxic floodwater,
fire ants

no match
for 9/11 or Hurricane Katrina:
bureaucrats

Hurricane Katrina:
when do bureaucrats
act
to prevent a disaster?
after the disaster.

ito
California, USA

New Orleans Blues
(a cinquain trio improvisation)

The call
with no response --
their anthem of despair
shouted to the heavens met with
silence.

Rhythm
of the swinging, stomping,
dance in the streets
as sweet as a pecan praline --
ruined.

How blue
the sky reflected in the flood --
the worst remains hidden
in the depths of
stillness.

hortensia anderson
New-York City, USA

seven days later. . .
a tear in his black eyes
a small boy looks up

seven days later. . .
a man waving a black fist
at the cameras

seven days later. . .
one finds food
the other loots!

yajushi

*the above are based on news report by DPA (dt 4th sept, 05) and reported statements by congressman Elijah Cummings of Maryland.

When the Saints Go Marching In--
For the first time ever
instead of jubilee and jive,
tears fall to mingle
with the murky water.
Oh, New Orleans!
My breaking heart.

Mary Lee McClure, USA
(former Gulf Coast resident and one who downed many a 'Hurricane' at Pat O'Brien's Bar in the French Quarter)