A Storm Awakens Activism

Buried in the Bayou

She was dark and nameless; her clothes were maimed; her heart barely beats.

Arriving after nightfall, welcomed by broken signs and stuttering stoplights, companioned with my friend and an obsolete map, the flood waves washed upon our minds still in full effect. Eerie tales swelled within the darkness of a city once lit; diving into a strange reality, we sought to swim through the remaining currents of disaster.

And so we did, companioned with our new friend - an eager old mentor; a black panther activist shaped in the sixties - and we ventured into the underground of a city still in shambles. Straying from the typical route of service trips that keep in groups and firmly buckle into safety, we opted the side street, following the example of the greats Che Guevara and Lincoln Steffens. Well, what we saw was unpleasant to say the least. The eyes of the homeless child naked and parentless have tattooed my heart with sympathy for those forgotten by this fucked up system.

One day the movement will organize behind my words and justice will prevail - until then i take

notes in my journal...

So here are my scribbles from the ride home from New Orleans...

Something is Lacking

She bombarded the beaches of the gulf coast, engulfing those structures of man looking vainly into the face of the ocean;

She mounted the monuments of man’s prominence…

Their pride was raised but now is razed – piles of artifacts – the broken pieces of people’s lives – scattered and buried for miles.

The sweeping torment of morality attempted to awaken the world, asking accordance of all to allow the eyes of another to transform this world – to begin again –

But here I walk past casinos, strip clubs, a fully thriving tourist town;

yes … here I walk through neighborhoods of rubble, streets of silver-lined shiny signs that homeless infants hide behind –

they crawl upon the mounds of time – pick through history for a piece of saving grace –

They stumble over symbols of all little they had…

When did we decide

To fix our finances

Before feeding our kin?

When did we begin

To open businesses

Before housing our friends?

When will suffering end?