“[A] state of emergency was declared Tuesday [June 27, 2006] for…the District of Columbia. More than 2,200 people near a rising lake in Maryland were ordered to evacuate. Lake Needwood on the north side of Rockville was approaching 25 feet above normal [in] Montgomery County.” -- Associated Press (Jun. 28, 2006)
f.e.m.a.
is finally
on footing with the front-
line of disaster. floods must feel
funny when they’re running
close to the white
house’s
gated
community.
weather in the beltway
found a way to really keep folks
on their toes. fear’s exposed
and freedom’s not
the safe
haven
it once appeared
to be. equality’s
now on the same level with new
orleans. terror can take
different forms.
water
is just
one of them. race
and social stigmata
cause uprising, too. people may
be waist deep— government’s
likely to end
up wet.
Carol Elizabeth Owens is an attorney and counselor-at-law in Western New York (by way of Long Island and New York City). She enjoys technical and creative writing. Her poetry has been published in several print and virtual publications. Ms. Owens loves the ways in which words work when poetry allows them to come out and play. The poem "on political rapids -- losing ground" is written in a form called eintou (which is West African for "pearl," as in "pearls of wisdom").