You can’t survive on salt water
-seven haiku for old orleans-
1.
dead dogs hang from trees
bloated barges sit on the
wrong side of levees
2.
dumb pigeons have flown
now it’s people’s turn to perch
roasting atop roofs
3.
a caravan of
yellow busses drowns because
the mayor can’t drive
4.
official death counts
exclude so-called looters shot
on sight of their skin
5.
dry folk uptown hold
their noses, rejecting wet
people’s funky stank
6.
things that go bump in
the night: your boat against a
dead baby’s body
7.
a son returns, finds
four month old bones wearing his
missing mother’s dress
—kalamu ya salaam