DOTS OF TOWNS MONTHS AFTER HURRICANES HARVEY AND IRMA

by Sister Lou Ella Hickman

Storm-damaged Rockport, Texas homes are seen in this Sunday, Aug. 25, 2017 aerial photo. Mortgage delinquency rates soared in September and October in many of the coastal and other cities flooded by Harvey, including Houston, Beaumont and Corpus Christi, according to new data from real estate analytics company CoreLogic. —San Antonio Express-News, January 15, 2018

of course, there will be long, massive work
for big names like
houston and miami    however rubble
is also rubble in the dots of towns
with their downed trees and power lines
roofs sheared off   walls that caved
these are the invisible ones living between and around bigness
dots of towns in a litany of counties
               that lost schools, citrus groves, hole in the wall cafes
               that didn’t make the news
               the question now
               will the police officers, librarians, butchers, teachers and bakers  go elsewhere
               or will they like some of the volunteer firemen decide to stay
               after all, this is where we grew up
               our children were born
               and where we go to church
               the dots of town must dig deep
               among the rubble for their just reason for staying

Sister Lou Ella Hickman is a poet, writer, and spiritual director. Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and TheNewVerse.News. Her first book of poetry was entitled she: robed and wordless. Sister Lou Ella lives 45 minutes from Rockport, Texas, one of the small towns devastated by Hurricane Harvey that may never recover.

HAIKU

by Lee Nash

hurricane season
a journalist flies
against the flow


Lee Nash lives in France and freelances as an editor and proofreader. Her poems have appeared or are forthcoming in print and online journals in the UK, the US and France including Acorn, Ambit, Angle, Ink, Sweat and Tears, Mezzo Cammin, Orbis, Poetry Salzburg Review, Presence, The Interpreter's House, The Lake and The World Haiku Review.

ONCE A STORM HAS LEVELED A CITY, THERE IS LITTLE MORE IT CAN DO

by Devon Balwit 

Island of Barbuda left 'a rubble' by Hurricane Irma as Prime Minister says 90 per cent of buildings destroyed —Mirror Online, September 7, 2017

We reach for superlatives,
devastation dragging us
beyond speech. What lies
on the other side of End Times?
What does completely feel like?

            A high percentage of framed homes
            will be destroyed, with total roof failure
             and wall collapse.

Before, we had a view
from our open window. Now,
there is no window.

            Fallen trees and power poles will isolate
             residential areas. Power outages will last
            for weeks to possibly months.

Our habits powered our bodies,
opinions towing us through the feed
like a plane its banner, a boat its skier.
In the aftermath, we gather
wherever there is a signal,
pulsing distress.

            Most of the area will be uninhabitable
            for weeks or months.

Elsewhere, others continue about their business
as we dig out. Someday, this will be story,
we soothe fellow sufferers.

We cannot wait.

Editor’s Note: Italicized lines as well as the poem’s title are found in “No, Hurricane Irma Won’t Be a ‘Category 6’ Storm,” The New York Times, September 6, 2017. 

Devon Balwit is a writer/teacher from Portland, OR. Her poems have appeared in TheNewVerse.News, Poets Reading the News, Redbird Weekly Reads, Rise-Up Review, Rat's Ass Review, The Rising Phoenix Review, Mobius, What Rough Beast, and more.