Hellicane - poems by, for & about those affected by recent natural disasters

A Lasting Legacy

2014-12-16T10:02:00.001-08:00

It has been nearly a decade since I launched Hellicane as a crowdsourced, poetic response to the pain and suffering, the rebuilding and rebirth, connected to Hurricane Katrina. While new poems are not being added to the site, Hellicane lives on for future generations to learn from and experience.

The site -- with all the poems from scores of poets around the world that are part of it -- has been inducted into the Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, a unique project started in 2005 by George Mason University’s Roy Rosenzweig Center for History and New Media and the University of New Orleans, in partnership with the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History and other partners. It uses electronic media to collect, preserve, and present the stories and digital record of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita.

I am so proud of all the poets who contributed to Hellicane to know that our creation has found a permanent home connected to such prestigious institutions.

I'm also proud to report that the poem that started it all -- my work, Is This My Country? -- has been published in a special illustrated format in the Louisiana Anthology/Anthologie Louisianaise at Louisiana Tech University, a Tier 1 national research university located in Ruston, north-central Louisiana.

New Orleans: A Second Disaster in the Making?

2010-02-24T16:51:00.000-08:00

The founder of Hellicane is now pursuing a PhD. in Public Policy and Sustainability at Walden University. This week in my class, "Elements of Sustainable and Livable Communities," I read a passage in a book called Growing Smarter, edited by Robert Bullard, about New Orleans in these years after Hurricane Katrina. It grabbed my attention in a big way. Here is the passage:

It would be good to hear from some residents of New Orleans and the Gulf Coast for their perspectives on the above issues.

"This is what New Orleans deserves"

2010-02-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

From AFP: New Orleans explodes with joy after Saints win

The Night of the Rising Flood

2010-02-06T15:21:00.000-08:00

by Nancy Hansen Merbitz

(sung to the tune of "The House of the Rising Sun")

There was a night in New Orleans
there came a rising flood,
with wind and rain, the levies busted
‘fore the night was done.

Those with cars, they got away;
them without were through.
Wait and see what happens – hey,
what else can you do?

The mothers called their children,
they called their babies home;
their fathers brought them to the attic -
then the waters rose.

Tearin through the rafters,
tryin to reach the sky.
Then they’re waiting on the rooftops,
hopin help comes by.

Many died, and many more
had nowhere to go.
Starvin in the Superdome –
what did “Brownie” know?

The Delta of New Orleans used to
shield her from the seas;
then the plunder drove it under
oil refineries.

This beloved city,
full of life and joy
won’t be left to drown in pity,
filthy mud, and oil.

Now it’s four years later,
Still the work goes on,
Raising homes ‘n buildin schools –
Won’t stop until they’re done.

Raising homes ‘n buildin schools,
Won’t stop until we’re done -
And God, we know we’re One.

------------

Note from the author: I wrote this while riding home recently on "The City of New Orleans" train to Chicago, after a visit to New Orleans ... I haven't written a poem in decades, and this was as if an inspiration had come over me. I think it was the spirit of the city. This month I'm going to perform it (vocals and piano, with friends on guitar and bass) in Pontiac (my town).

Remembering Hurricane Katrina

2009-09-05T01:20:00.000-07:00

In memory of the fourth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina, I offer this online radio interview I did (as my alter ego PodPoet) with BlogTalk Radio founder and CEO Alan Levy about Hellicane, the poetry project housed on this site which I launched during the Hurricane Katrina catastrophe in 2005. My interview was recorded and aired one year after Katrina struck, and you will hear me in the last 1/3 of the program. I talk about the background of the Hellicane project and recite several excellent poems from the collection.

(This picture is by Hurricane Katrina survivor Felicia Washington, from the Katrina's Angels Web site.)

Go Home Ike

2008-09-13T09:47:00.001-07:00

A tow truck bearing a sign drives along the sea wall in Galveston, Texas September 12, 2008.

REUTERS/Jessica Rinaldi

164. Swollen Cotton

2008-08-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

by Byron Bogard - Rhea's Mill, Arkansas

I'd been asleep for a long, long time before that
torrent of ice water woke me. One hundred and fifteen
years I had slept. The great old oak in St. Louis
Cathedral lay on the ground. Where Casius had asked
me about forever, there lay a bloated corpse wearing
one shoe and a plaid blanket.

I found Bourbon Street. Where they had marched me
down to an old jazz song about wandering saints, there
was nothing left but twisted signs and a cicadas
shedding last year's clothes on a pile of brick.

This city that kept me alive after sticking me in
the ground all those years ago, seemed dead. It
appeared the fires of Hell had taken up residence on
the mighty river. I could see the sins of so many
floating like demonic soot to be baptized in the
Gulf.

In despair, I wept. I feared this old city, this
place that had kept the sins and pleasures of so many
men since Acadia, had vanished; as if an over-ripened
ball of cotton had exploded into the sinews of this
great country.

One hundred and fifteen years ago I went to sleep
under the belly of this great land. I bore the guilt
and pleasures of annual harvests flowing like
riverboats down the Mississippi. I tasted the wine,
grain and gunpowder that seeped through the cypress.

I am awake now. The cicadid's shell hangs on a
swinging sign. We ask if you will still send your harvest.

Prayers

2008-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

Bourbon Street web cam, 8:30 a.m. this morning.

To New Orleans and the Gulf Coast: this humanists' prayers are going out to you in the face of Gustav and maybe Hanna, too. Best wishes for everyone's safety.

Podpoet, Hellicane founder.

Hellicane heading to ... Burning Man!

2008-03-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Hey there Hellicane poets, and fans, the world over. This is Hellicane founder, PodPoet, with some great news about Hellicane for you. It has been a long time since there's been any new activity on the blog. But not for long! Before I tell you what lies ahead, let's look back over our achievements since Hurricane Katrina rolled ashore in September 2005 and Hellicane was born as a voice for poets everywhere affected by the tragedy:

-> Due to the powerful, moving works of the poets featured here, Hellicane was inducted into the Smithsonian Institution's Hurricane Digital Memory Bank. Congratulations to you all for that distinct honor.

-> In January 2007, Hellicane entered Second Life with a groundbreaking online "virtual" lecture on caused-based poetry websites and how they help with social expression/action.

-> On the two-year anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's landfall, two poems (below) submitted to the site kept the Hellicane spirit alive, "A hurricane named Katrina" by long-time Hellicane poet Roland Ruiz, and "A study of Sun Rays (Crespuscular)" by an anonymous poet.

So Hellicane has made it to the Smithsonian Institution and even found a way into Second Life. Well, in September, 2008 -- the three-year anniversary of the Hurricane Katina tragedy -- I am taking Hellicane where it has never been before: to Burning Man 2008 deep in the Nevada desert!

This year's Burning Man art theme is "American Dream." I quote from the Burning Man Web site, which calls on those coming to Burning Man 2008 to consider:

"In 2008, leave narrow and exclusive ideologies at home; forget the blue states and the red; let parties, factions and divisive issues fall away, and carefully consider your immediate experience. What has America achieved that you admire? What has it done or failed to do that fills you with dismay? What is laudatory? What is ludicrous? Put blame aside, let humor thrive, and dare to contemplate a larger question: What can America, this stumbling, roused, half-conscious giant, still contribute to the world?"

To answer this worthy call, I will select what I (and this blog's poets and readers, via forthcoming polls) feel are the most powerful Hellicane poets and images, create giant display boards from them, pack them into the back of my Toyota Prius, and, come the last week of September 2008, head north to the Nevada desert to bring Hellicane to Burning Man.

This will be a very personal journey for me, but I embark on it also for the hundreds of passionate voices that fill the pages of this blog. I will post to Hellicane periodically to let you know how the journey is going.

I welcome Hellicane poets who have the means to go to Burning Man 2008 to join me or at least come by, say hello, share your story.

I am also seeking a documentary film maker or videographer interested in documenting this bold new journey for Hellicane and its culmination at Burning Man. Email me if you're interested.

So there you have it. Hellicane lives on, and is headed to open minds, caring souls and new experiences in the Nevada desert.

163. A Hurricane named Katrina

2007-09-10T19:52:00.000-07:00

by Roland R. Ruiz - San Antonio, Texas
In honor of the second anniversary of the Hurricane Katrina tragedy.

As I look upon the spot I left, just two years ago this month
I see the emptiness before my eyes, and not much has changed at all

A Hurricane named Katrina paid a visit that fateful day
She brought much death, with destruction to those who stayed, and prayed

I was one of many, who decided to leave in haste
For I have seen all this before, in the savage winds of Mother Nature

Her fury, contains no mercy, for those who decide to stay
Leaving all behind, we sought a safer haven, than the one we left that day

With my children, and only memories, we drove from New Orleans in tears
Before the storm came ashore, and raped the city we loved

Now two years have passed, and so much remains the same
The politicians say a great deal, they all mean so well

But just look around, in between the streets, only the dreams remain
Of what this city once was, and now will never be

162. A study of Sun Rays (Crespuscular)

2007-09-10T19:50:00.000-07:00

Anonymous

Running to find the end of the rainbow.
Running to find that shaft glory--to be bathed in light.

Bearing the soul to the divine.
Seeking rest, surcease and cleansing all at once.

Faith like a waterfall--full, abundant and never ceasing.

161. The Old Songs

2007-03-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

by Karla Dorman - Burleson, Texas

The old songs
sing the pain
I have seen lately,

penning its
path on my
face in wrinkled lines

of writing ...
poetry
of life you can read.

You know the
lyrics as
well as I do and

sing along ...
our tears flow
together and flow

in measured
rhythms of
collective sadness.

160. Watching The Music Leave

2007-03-27T16:16:00.000-07:00

by Karla Dorman - Burleson, TX

dare i celebrate
(in true mardi gras style),
while others wait
in deepenin shades of sorrow?

(second lines of hot/
hungry/thirsty/weary folk
watch the music leave
the quarter they sang about,
notes of purple/green/
yellow abandonin the
city they once loved,
wonderin if they'll have a
home to go home to.)

and all i can do
is sit in air conditioned
comfort, writin sad
poems of my own traumas
that i'm goin through
(worries about friends and if
they are all okay,
wonderin if they made it) ...

concerns that mean NUTHIN to
those singin the blues
in cesspools of violence --
talk about selfish

'Second Life' session on Hellicane a big success

2007-01-30T12:29:00.000-08:00

On January 28, 2007, Hellicane founder PodPoet gave a presentation on Hellicane and cause-based poetry podcasting in a very unique forum. Here is a picture from the event (PodPoet is the tiny guy on stage in a yellow shirt) and a report from one of those in attendance:

PodPoet Clinquant explains the evolution of his Hellicane website, where people submit poems about the hurricanes of 2005. He explains about caused-based poetry websites and how they help with social expression / action and gives some examples of how we can do it. Hellicane started out with just his poem; then he opened it up to allow others to post poems. Later it was turned into a podcast. It’s become a large community. Submitted by Dedric Mauriac

159. Katrina (in memory of the French Quarter)

2006-09-28T15:39:00.000-07:00

by Byron Holder - Australia

ebb and flow, crash and blow
water rushes to and fro
give and take, provide, forsake
centuries toil laid to waste

bubble and boil, rocks to soil
the timeless power waits...
for little winds, spins and turns
to rouse the giant snake

howl and blow, flash and glow
the sword, the bow, the catapult throw
swirl and twirl, rip and hurl
the angel casts the crippling girl...

158. True Character

2006-09-19T17:36:00.000-07:00

by Saran B. - New Orleans

"Crises always reveal a person's true character."

I went back home to New Orleans recently
to visit my parents and friends

I remember talking to my friends
and we were discussing
what our new plans were in the future

As I think about it
we are all blessed
with new ventures ahead of us
despite the tragedy of Hurricane Katrina

One friend I ran into
is now pursuing photography

Another friend received a promotion
and moved into a another town

And a another friend dedicated herself
to working with children

I am pursing my art, jewelry
and continuing my film work

God has a way of telling us
that we need to peal off the old layers
and see who we really are
and embrace what we are made to do
as God's children

God has our destinies written out
and sometimes, tragedies have a way
of making those destinies come true

So embrace who you really are
be true to yourself
and spread your talents among others
as Jesus did

156. When A Storm Comes This Way

2006-09-19T17:35:00.000-07:00

by Dione Porche - New Orleans

When a storm comes this way
Struggle madly to get away

Come back to nothing
It is all lost
So here I sit

Sitting mindless, it went free
My body is doomed to stay with me

I cannot look back at what I have lost
Things can be replaced
But a broken heart
My heart has since been locked away

In pieces crumpled by the vandals
Whose friendships from the start
Were a gamble

No effort do I put forth
I can't just yet
I know the game
Valentines Day is not the same
Like every other holiday

Alone body, mind and soul
No where to go

No where to roam
Just looking around
This is not home

How do you recover when you know of a better life?
How do you live in dysfunction and strife?

I didnt choose to live this way
But suddenly it happened
When a storm came this way

155. Why

2006-09-19T17:22:00.000-07:00

by Kira (a.k.a. the 13-year-old) - Texas

why do they play with our hearts
why do they act as if we aren't affected by it
why do they think we are nothing
why are we something
why do they doubt us
why do they treat us this way
why do they lie
why haven't they done somehting
why haven't they come
why do they ignore our fury
why do they lie
i only have one question
why?

154. The Horror Continues

2006-09-13T16:29:00.000-07:00

Anthony Grabowski, poetry-soul - Connecticut

August 29, 2006 - one year to the day
Hurricane Katrina visited the USA

Politicians are in New Orleans making the rounds
A shattered city desperately trying to rebound

Louisiana and Mississippi seem to be doing well
New Orleans still looks like a living hell

They say billions have been spent
I wonder where all the money went

Watching all the replay coverage on the news
Listening to all the talking heads spew their views

In the meantime a city is in ruin
Does anyone in control know what they're doing?

The dignity of Human Beings was taken away
As Katrina paid a visit one year ago today

All the people displaced and all the tears
New Orleans, the once vibrant city

The corror contiues
What a pity

153. Spirit Will Get Us Through

2006-09-13T16:25:00.000-07:00

by a. hoper - New Orleans, Louisiana

It’s hard living here... in New Orleans. It’s post-Katrina.
The storm ruined everything. No one’s here. Flooded houses.
Flooded buildings. Flooded cars. Flooded people.

It’s hard to live here. Most people don’t understand.
They’re done with New Orleans - that happened almost a year ago. They’ve forgotten. But we haven’t. We won’t ever forget. No one who lives here will ever forget.

It’s too hard. Because everywhere you go is KATRINA.
Water lines on every other building. Cars sitting on neutral ground . . . still waiting to be picked up. Debris everywhere. Cars, houses, boats, furniture, EVERYWHERE.

Most people’s houses are just being gutted. They aren’t finished yet.
This city won’t be like before in a very long time. Maybe 10 years.
I don’t think I can wait that long. I love it here.

But most of all how about the people who lost everything . . . how long can they wait? And what are they waiting for?
They have no homes or belongings to come back to.

But maybe, that’s not the important thing.
Maybe the important thing is the city they left. That was flooded too.
That got broken too. And how long can people here hold on?
When they have nothing to hold on to? I guess all they have are spirits.

They’re coming back to a city of spirit. And that’s about it.
But spirit is good. It’s what gets us going.
So someday there will be something here. Something to call home.

It will be the same again. It has too. Because it’s New Orleans. It’s important.
But in the meantime I guess we just have to wait.

152. Tears & Fears

2006-09-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

Anthony Grabowski, poetry-soul - Connecticut

I see your faces full of fear
I see your eyes so filled with tears

I see your sadness, your grief and pain,
Your lives destroyed by the wind and rain

Mother Nature dealt a heavy blow
The levees failed and the water rose

No where to run or to hide
A city in ruins, many have died

The shock of uncertainty and disbelief
Hunger and thirst with no relief

The heat takes a toll and all we can see
Are your tears and fears across the T.V.

Many heroes rush in from the sky
To rescue people trapped inside

Feeling helpless, there is nothing we can do
But to pray to God that they will rescue you

Tens of thousands with nowhere to go
Trapped in this city where the water flowed

Days pass with no relief in sight
No food or drink for days and nights

Eyes filled with tears, faces express such fear
Destruction and devastation is everywhere

This is no dream; horror is before our eyes
Hunger, thirst, pain and cries!

The life of a city has been drowned by water
A frantic father searches for his daughter

Frightened children cling to their mothers
Sisters forever separated from their brothers

So many lives destroyed, hundreds are lost
A human tragedy, a tremendous cost

After many days help finally arrives
Many good loving people rush in to save lives

Five days of living hell that felt like years
Endless sorrow and lasting fears
So many eyes dripping with tears

151. Five Whole Days (After Hurricane Katrina)

2006-09-13T16:13:00.000-07:00

by James L. O'Connor - Dallas, Texas

Five whole days we had five big breaks
The kind that turned our streets into lakes
Mother, father, sister, brother, aunt, uncle, son and daughter
had to break through their attics to escape the rising water

Five whole days we've been in near 100 degree heat
with no running water and hardly anything to eat
No lights, no phone, no motor car. Not a single luxury
Like Robinson Cruisoe as primative as can be

Five whole days we heard babies crying
then at every turn we saw people dying
Ain't took a bath, brushed our teeth nor our hair
everyday wore the same clothes and the same underwear.

Five whole days we fussed and cussed
it even brought out the worst in us
There were whites who were shooting
at Blacks they claimed to be looting
But when they do the same thing, it's called "surviving"
Who the %?..@ they think they fooling?

Five whole days we were catching hell all around
all of these choppers flying, not one of them came down
We've seen army trucks and air boats come around our hood
They had no food or water to give and that ain't good

Five whole days many of us from this city
believe that the rich elites had been trying to get Blacks out since
the 1960's
For years they said the levees couldn't hold up to this
yet, they were waiting for them to break. It's no wonder we're pissed

Five whole days, how long will it take
for us to hear horror stories about children getting raped
The Convention Center was a mess. The Superdome was a death trap
All of the crime in the old St. Thomas and Desire Projects couldn't
touch that

Five whole days were days that shouldn't have been
Our leaders were clueless and didn't know where to begin
It's been forty years since Betsy when my sister had drowned
And, after all this time, there was no clear plan when Katrina came
around?

Five whole days were the worst five days
Something shoulda been set up in the first five days
All of those busses and trains, boats and planes
They were left to sit through strong winds and heavy rains

When we were evacuated after those five days of madness
We went through a lot of pain, suffering, grief and sadness
Everything we had was washed away and destroyed
This was one disaster that was hard to avoid

After those five days, we were just about everywhere
But our families were separated and we can't find them anywhere
We don't know where they are, we don't know if they had survived
we're just hoping to see or hear from them again and we prayed that
they have not died

Many of us got good news, others bad
Some of us were happy, while others were sad
We tried to call by cell phone and other means of communication
trying to keep in touch after all of this death and devastation

Five whole days was a learning experience
letting us know right there and then
never to put your faith in an arrogant and clueless government
or those who claimed to be your friend

If anything, we must thank God (Allah, Jehovah or any other divine
name) that we're here today
Even though Katrina came in and took our homes, cars and lives away
Everything we had is gone, except our spirits
and it's ringing louder and stronger than any hardcore rap lyric

While we are trying to rebuild our lives for the better
We should take time out to pray for those who are still trying to get
their lives together
The Lord is our savior and to him we should pray
and thank him for getting us through those Five Whole Days

Hellicane category: SURVIVORS' Tales

150. Two Sisters

2006-08-23T16:24:00.001-07:00

by Jill Eisnaugle -

[In honor of the one-year anniversary of the tragedy.]

Two sisters stood upon the shore
Their lives still and carefree
Each held sheer blessings to adore
Beside the placid sea

They lived a normal coastal life
And shared their joys at length
Until a wretched wrath of strife
Arrived to test their strength

One August morn, a violent gale
Appeared upon the sand
With utter force, no one could scale
The magnitude at hand

When night befell, it looked as though
The sisters weathered fine
But come the dawn, fate would bestow
A firm and swift decline

Both sisters had been bruised and crushed
As wind and turmoil raged
But soon, one sibling’s life was hushed
When floodwaters upstaged

Submerging her amid the flow
Of tragedy and grief
Left by a certain coastal foe
That offered no relief

The sisters, once still and carefree
Persist upon the shore
As pillars for the world to see
Much stronger than before

New Orleans and Biloxi: kin
Whose lives serve to sustain
Although Katrina marred their skin
In one, late August rain

157. When A Storm Comes This Way

2006-08-23T16:10:00.000-07:00

by Dione Porsche - New Orleans

When a storm comes this way
Struggle madly to get away

Come back to nothing
It is all lost
So here I sit

Sitting mindless, it went free
My body is doomed to stay with me

I cannot look back at what I have lost
Things can be replaced
But a broken heart
My heart has since been locked away

In pieces crumpled by the vandals
Whose friendships from the start
Were a gamble

No effort do I put forth
I can't just yet
I know the game
Valentines Day is not the same
Like every other holiday

Alone body, mind and soul
No where to go

No where to roam
Just looking around
This is not home

How do you recover when you know of a better life?
How do you live in dysfunction and strife?

I didnt choose to live this way
But suddenly it happened
When a storm came this way

147. Soul Feud

2006-08-23T15:54:00.001-07:00

by Dr. Charles Frederickson - Bangkok, Thailand

Never getcha self inta pissin’
Contest with stank hightailin’ skunk

Where sushi is called bait
Earthworms danglin’ from rusty hooks
Wrigglin’ night crawlers glowworm possums
Actin’ crazier than sprayed cockroaches

Just ‘cause chickens got wings
Don’t mean them’all ken fly

Uprooted human beans collard greens
Hog maw chitterlings black-eyed peas
Hominy grits soaked in lye
Crumbly runt hush puppy litter

Puttin’ yer boots in de
Oven still taint changin’ nuthin’

Bristly catfish whiskers unshaven stubble
Stranded crawfish fetid potluck jambalaya
Force-fed toxic mumbo jumbo gumbo
Bubblin’ brown sugar pee-can pralines

Don’t piss on my leg
And tell me it’s rainin’