Ash Wednesday in East New Orleans

Slashed Angel" by James W. Bailey

"Rough Edge Photography"

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Ash Wednesday is from my book of poetry, Southern Standard Time.

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Ash Wednesday

hell is in your palm...

on the ashes
on your forehead
reminding you that it never changes
even in penitent moods
-
after painful celebration
noon mass across the street
that's covered with trash
and beer bottles and excrement
and there's no levitating over it
you'll have to walk right through it
-
and beyond the doors that are locked to the private
are those who are about to make a pledge
to give up one thing that means a lot to them
one thing that they don't even own...
...that they are willing to give up for awhile

"Ash Wednesday in East New Orleans" by James W. Bailey

Evil Digital Photography

(My friend Susan and her brother-in-law Larry don masks at Susan's mother's home in East New Orleans. Six months after Katrina people are still desparately searching for precious memories lost in the mud and debris that drowned many homes in East New Orleans in 9 feet or more of water.)

You don't see a lot of people in East New Orleans these days. The ones you do meet all wear the same mask: a mask of shock.

Susan's mother lived on Perelli Drive in East New Orleans. Perelli Drive is two blocks long. Prior Katrina it had 46 homes filled with families. All 46 homes drowned in 4 feet or more or water.

Everybody lost everything.

Not one person has been able to return to their home on Perelli Drive. There's no electricity, no potable water, no gas service, no landline phone service. If you're lucky, you can stand in the middle of the street and get a cell phone connection...if you're lucky.

Most of the people who once lived on Perelli Drive will probably not return home. The shock of losing their homes has only been compounded by the immense confusion over whether or not the city, state and fed will even allow people in East New Orleans to rebuild.

But there are people who push back against disaster. Several of the residents of Perelli Drive have requested FEMA trailers. These trailers were requested as far back as five months ago. So far, not one FEMA trailer has been delivered to Perelli Drive. The mask of shock only hardens.

Susan's mother's neighbors have all relocated out of the city - some permanently. Some, against all expectations, will return.

The mask of shock covers a river of tears that have been spilled over the loss of homes, families and neighbors.

In New Orleans people long ago learned to easily and effortlessly exchange the Fat Tuesday party mask for the penitent Ash Wednesday mask. There's something about people who have a deep passion for life and love for their city that allows them to do so.

Today, we exhange the penitent Ash Wednesday mask for the biohazard mask so we can keep digging deeper and deeper into the muck to try and make some sense over what has happened.