We are visiting with family on the eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay. Two years ago, hurricaine Isabel tore through here sending an enormous storm surge flooding out vast regions of coastal Maryland. Including my in-law's home. They were fortunate--two years later, they are back in their re-built home.
My heart goes out to those in Katrina's path, to those who have lost loved ones, to those struggling in the aftermath of losing everything.
After the Levee is Breached
Only the lightest puff of air stirs
pennants along the dock. Telltales hang
from luffing sails. In the stillness, bees
collect nectar from the open throats
of thirsty flowers. This time, the great
tidal surge has gathered elsewhere. Wind
once forced Swan Creek to overflow its banks
and scour this peninsula. Camera crews
filmed other places more prosperous
than here where watermen still haul their catch
by hand in wooden boats. Seasons turn;
new storms spin elsewhere. Tonight a front
gathers force; it rends these high, thin clouds.
Stars pour through the rift like water.
ljcohen, 2005
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