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Despaux Drive

by Delilah Coyne

Destruction.
Filth and funk.
Debris laden sidewalks.

The house slumps.
Front door kicked in
and sun-bleached.
A once-tended garden shrivels,
brown and crisp.
Weeds have overtaken the yard,
ugly invaders.
Only weeds could thrive
amidst the black oily sludge left behind.
Windows, broken, are holes
to a gutted house, silent and abandoned.
A yellow Tonka truck
lies broken in a pile of debris
alongside splintered lumber and a toilet.
Refrigerators sit, slanted on the curb,
rusted and taped shut.
Water line on the stucco at 10 feet...
....6 feet
....4 feet

A large number,
hastily spray painted
on the front of the house.

0

...the number of bodies found in this dwelling after the water receded.

Block after block, every home looks the same.
Abandoned.
Destroyed.
Broken.
Devastated.
Irreparable.
Empty.

04/14/2006

Author's Note: Went down to Chalmette today (St. Bernard Parish). It was one of the areas hit hardest by Katrina. My family is from that area and I hadn't been there since the storm. To say it was unbelievable is a gross understatement.

Posted on 04/15/2006
Copyright © 2024 Delilah Coyne

Member Comments on this Poem
Posted by Christel Crews on 04/15/06 at 05:05 AM

you've painted a very clear picture here and it only skims the surface of the destruction.. i hope you are doing alright

Posted by Joan Serratelli on 04/15/06 at 01:38 PM

A very vivid and depressing picture of the destruction of Katrin's wrath (I assume this is about Katrina). Good imagery. Well written- good read.

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