(sidenote: i think it's unfinished.)

them levvies broke long time ago
& them poor people been drownin
survivin
floatin' on make shift jobs
shuck & jivin
for us camera clickin tourists
tossing quarters in the wishing well of their eyes

they been stranded

wading on jackson square
with concrete feet
to catch a whiff of begients off of our outsiders breath
when we asked stupid questions about creoles, cajuns & where's the best place to get
po' boys

they were always missing their babies

teaching them to fiend for themselves with smiles
& an empty cigar box at their feet
these muddy water colored children
been tapping dancing with hunger
living off of bourbon street
strays
picking prayers outta pockets

they been lootin

trying to steal back their pride
they been lost
home & heritage turned watered down labyrinth
pushing them further to the outskirts
resident floater we made them

they been afraid

fearin god couldn't hear their pleas over the hoots & hollers
of college co-eds gone wild
& every morning they realized they were forgotten
left over
littered
hurricane & gernade keepsakes
tossed aside
because there was no room left
in the suit case

they been sucking up ignored air

stepping over human waste & the walking dead
at bus stops all along canal & rampart street
waiting in their bordered skin
to get somewhere else
less crowded

& it has never been a secret

that they lived below
sea level
only protected by hope
that some day
things would change
drastically.

---
www.sheflypaper.com

felt! what a divine understanding, or should i say, overstanding of their situation. write on, write on!

I didnt' reply on your blog, so here goes: That summed up most of the emotion I have been feelin' for the past week. I refuse to watch TV anymore, ya dig? Nicely put, sis.

Semloh

you are very talented .....you write like an old nergo spiritual ... you capured a picture yet to be told by the poet's here

but i like it.

thank you tho.
---
www.sheflypaper.com

you not even my type ;) lol


c'mon ma you know i got a wife!!!(c) DMX

read from you again. I really felt this piece.

Keep Flowin' Sis'.....

I think it's important to remember how hard life was for those people in poverty BEFORE that storm hit. Mainly poor black folk. Your piece here is very telling, and moving. And this aspect of the tragedy on the Gulf Coast has yet to be adressed. Great write. Thumbs North. ~one~

hurricane & gernade keepsakes
tossed aside
because there was no room left
in the suit case


that can NOT be edited out...unfinished or not...kimabe

This is pure truth in all of its impure glory. Mos def felt.

i was discussin' this w/ a coworker of mine today... city was built on a swamp below sea level... *shakes head*

there are many quotables, but i seem to have found my favorite line:


they been sucking up ignored air

"ignored" screams read me over and over again...

these dedication poems are getting better and better. glad to see you put your twist/take on things and share it with us love. Peace

------------------------
Pinwheels and Hula Hoops: my book
http://www.lulu.com/content/132318

http://msmind.blogspot.com

you keep running and one day
you're gonna be clean out of a path...

>(sidenote: i think it's unfinished.)

For what it's worth, I think it's finished -- But if the perfectionist in you feels it isn't -- By all means, write your lil' heart out! -- :)

It seems we've ALL been tryna write bits & pCe's of emotional angst and sympathetic vent~age -- If 4 nutthin' else, then for the sake of purging and pounding our poetic fists --

But ^THIS^ dug a lil' deeper and hit oil -- Lubricating the dry, cracked eyes & minds of the reader -- (I've cried so much the past few days, I ain't got no tears left) -- *sigh*

(((Thank You 4 This)))

like how you stuck in a little jazz history and meshed it in the mix...tawkin bout "muddy water colored childen" were you referencing Muddy Waters?
this is like lookin at a prism getting so many perspectives it seems i just want to look longer to get what i think i missed.namean?
"keep pennin till the earth birth's your rightful seed then nurture it wit more ink..."
ASIEM
"Kuun fiyah Kuun" Quran
(Be and it is)
" A writer takes his pen to write the words again that all in love is fair" Stevie Wonder

kidding...kidding...you already know ©112


<<----reporting live-----

http://www.myspace.com/vicversus

i was feeling this
they waited too damn long to respond to that shit
AND
they should have made more efforts to get people out of that shit before it struck

BLAH.

thanks for the inspiration!
i will be writin on this shit
-lol I write battle verses to Mariah Carey songs...

www.webspawner.com/users/delicateaurasoul4/index.html
This is a great website to discuss spirituality/religion, philosophies, and post poems:www.aware-discussion.net
www.3kingsmusic.com < for spiritual

------------------------
Pinwheels and Hula Hoops: my book
http://www.lulu.com/content/132318

http://msmind.blogspot.com

you keep running and one day
you're gonna be clean out of a path...

<----"what u mean u didnt like Fade To Black"...Lmao


"I had to get off the boat, so I can walk on water". - Jay-Z

http://www.soundclick.com/artist/5/youngsleep_music.htm

this idea is amazing and well said:

>them levvies broke long time ago
>& them poor people been drownin
>survivin
>floatin' on make shift jobs

and then throw in this notion--

>shuck & jivin
>for us camera clickin tourists
>tossing quarters in the wishing well of their eyes
>

for me this was a completely new perspective on katrina

honestly i been thinking a lot , but it's just so overwhelming i havent been able to get past the basic facts of what happened--- this piece really digs deep

and the closer is great

>& it has never been a secret
>
>that they lived below
>sea level
>only protected by hope
>that some day
>things would change
>drastically.


just a side note- my uncle his ex wife and my cousin- his daughter, and at one point my grandma work pleasing the tourists in jackson square

thankfully we've recently found them and they made it out to alabama

they're all white

i know that overwhelmingly this issue affected the black community, but lets not forget that a lot of the problems in this fucked up society we're living in that are regarded as race issues are also heavily affected by class

poor people are at best second class citizens in the us regardless of race- beinng a minority only makes matters worse for them

i aint even wanna touch it, when so much of this is.. the complex disgrace of haves ignoring the have nots...

it's just seemed that every little bit of outrage at this point is 20/20 hindsight...

i didnt think i could write anything that i felt would capture my real reaction to it all.

i'ma try now tho, thanks for the inspiration.

:-)

---
www.sheflypaper.com

but it didn't show up.

insert smirkish smile here.
---
www.sheflypaper.com

i just know that all of this is so much bigger than words have capacity... i didnt mean to suggest that this was merely an attempt.

>i aint even wanna touch it, when so much of this is.. the
>complex disgrace of haves ignoring the have nots...
>
>it's just seemed that every little bit of outrage at this
>point is 20/20 hindsight...
>
>i didnt think i could write anything that i felt would capture
>my real reaction to it all.

basically.

i still haven't even tried.

i don't think i will either.

and paperdollpoet:

sometimes i feel like i'm not quite qualified to dig into your poems.
i always enjoy them tho.

this one was no different.

wow you really brought what's below sea level up to eye level.

If this isn't finished -- (And when it does get finished) -- I'd love to see it in ARCHIVES ... *Yuuuup*

I'll ^UP^ it again later tho --

I've read several flows -- (Not just on "this" OKP board) -- regarding the Katrina dilemma -- But ^THIS^ one by far hit below the belt / upside da head / like a swift kick in da buttt -- And I could read it over & over -- peeling back different perspectives each time!



^UpPeRz^

that they lived below
sea level
only protected by hope
that some day
things would change
drastically.


u know...hopefully now they will.
Felt


- En-Vista

A dreamer is one who can only find his way by moonlight, and his punishment is that he sees the dawn before the rest of the world. - Oscar Wilde

b/c of the way we do sumtimes
but i aint got it
in me this time it seems

lately, the last stanzas have been doing it

n/m

sustained ....i think you can take one of mine out to get this in