Poems & Essays

The Mississippi Mud Ship.
 
The hysteria over the fact that New Orleans is below sea level is misplaced.  New Orleans is not quicksand city, it is a ship, and like every other ship, a large portion of her hull is below sealevel. And like a ship, she requires a commitment to to keep her seaworthy, as a vessel for humanity, rather than a monument to the failure of neglect. If we value New Orleans, If we value where she has taken us, and where we have yet to go, we must provide her with with proper bilge pumps, and commit to the repair and maintainence of her hull. If we protect New Orleans, she will continue to protect us.

The Most Important Part of the Country

Realistically, how many of us are going to schlep accross the big pond, to experiance the cultural extravaganza known as Europe? Luckily we have an American version, a short drive accross the big swamp. New Orleans could be considered as a cousin to Amsterdam, the jewel of the Netherlands, which is also below sea level, and mecca to decadent living.

I think New Orleans is simultainiously the most undervalued and most appreciated city in America. I have heard the entire region refered to as the asshole of America, though recently, and more aptly, I read it refered to as Americas G-spot. To validate both these points of view, I will say that New Orleans is the genitals of the Nether-regions.  Like most genitals, no one wants to pay them too much public attention, though they are the source of much joy.... If occasionally some embarrassing behaviors, as well.  Like genitals, New Orleans is the great nerve center of its larger whole, and should not be discounted simpley because the information is a little more abstract than the data that passes through NY and DC.

It would not serve Amerca well, if it were to abandon its Nether-regions to biological collapse and the destruction of erosion.  The irony of Americas disassociation with its Nether-regions, is in the unique fact that the real estate of southern Louisiana is literally compiled from the trillions of soil particles that have been contributed by each of the 50 continental American states, through a vast network of tributaries and streams. It is this web of earthen contribution, corraled between the banks of the mighty mississippi and sent swirling south, that built the land that supports americas greatest port city of New Orleans. As sweet mother nature succumed to the designs of Man, the soil building rythms of flooding and draining were curtailed by a growing network of levees.

Levees are like underpants, life in society requires a measure of protection, but if they are overly restrictive, they can leave you a bit musty in the bayou. Well designed briefs provide the protection and freedom needed for happy healthy Nether-regions, and they are certainly not beyond our grasp. Our bayous are becoming die-yous, and our coastline is a ragged wreck. There is something profoundly un-American about sending our valuable particles of  American acreage, swirling out into the gulf of mexico, rather than contributing them to the maintainence and upkeep of our nations most universal asset. America, I beg you to reclaim your genitals.  Your nether-regions are washing out to sea, lost like grains of sand through the hourglass of your own demise.

Bowl Economics

In New Orleans, we don't want no globalized economy,
Cause we got a...BOWL-erized economy!
We ain't under the jurisdiction of man,
Its the sea! She's the hatcher of the master plan!
We ain't control freaks, we follow her lead,
with the fat-ass tuesday and the mardi-gras bead!
and when other folks die, and rest in the ground,
We been livin' it up 6 ft down. (below sea level)

Bitch Don't Care For Us

New Orleans has ample decay,
underwaterville of mud and clay,
You should hear what some say,
"what a sorry sight"
while visionaries stop and see the light,
and homies go yo thats tight!
she the great port city she no drainage ditch
we dont need no pity from the brainage bitch,
Bitch say New Orleans ain't practical,
I say port city pretty damn tactical,
Bitch say New Orleans she got to go'
I say dont shut de do' to the gulf of mexico!
Bitch say she just a bowl fulla muck,
I say Great cities aint built on luck,
Bitch say, we cant afford,
I say, We got the  power of the people and the will of the Lord!

Bring On The Future

New Orleans katrina and a bad smell,
bio-hazard houses and a moldy southern belle,
dumb domaciles where the underdogs dwell,
New Orleans is pew Orleans, in 7th hell,
Swampy-moto tolls the towns death knell,
Rebuild rebirth reborn!
glowing like a page of architecture porn,
rose from the mud like wet phoenix,
cloned from historic double helix,
steel studs with stucco in front,
build the brand name for the white ellaphant
shot gun houses sliced from from extrusions
cookie cutter mansions milk the illusions,
"cause in Clean Orleans theres a truth in delusion,
Theres history in a future with a cash infusion,
re-vamp and be the champ from the mud?
or sink into the swamp eating milk duds?
some say no!
They don't wanna be a swamp Ho!
But I just wrap around that pole,
shake my thing to get my bling,
cause I'm cozy in the bowl.
New Orleans.

Success 

If at first we don't succeed,
maybe its time to secede,
not try try again,
not another round of remember when,
not a patient stranger in a pen,
late to the union,
let's cut and run,
why shiver in the shade when there's plenty of sun,
a river with a diamond studded turnstile,
a city safe and dry behind golden sheet-pile,
Louisiana ain't no cheap whore,
we got the key to the mississippi door
why plead for scraps while dancing on laps?
they can't make a dime if they can't stock the store.

Universal Dirt

my name is Adam,
with dirt for my mother father and madam,
I know I can't stray,
I'm the first man, made out of clay,
I'm like a mayfly,
live for a day,
then dive in the dirt when I die,
I'm like a necktie,
and when I'm undone I'm not gone,
I'm in the ground,
which is what I am,
and I'll wait my turn,
as part of the plan,
'cause everything is round.

I'm Glad

the bible says build upon the rock,
 not the shifting sand,
much less mud and sinking land,
but come on man,
a rock? a grain of sand?
one is the other, depending where you stand,
and moments are eternal,
'till they pass,
so stand in the sun,
walk in the grass,
product is byproduct of proccess,
blow bubbles in milk, it's fun.

The Bleeder
 
they diapered her,
poor old Miss,
mopped up her bayou like a puddle of piss,
the army corp of mothers,
and the river they smothered,
turned a sportsmans paradise, into this,
wetlands are like a liver,
she got scerosis,
and a hemorage of the river,
she bleeds American soil,
past the platforms and the oil,
she bleeds out to sea,
blood in the gulf,
dump the usa,
off the continental shelf. 

Errosion

they dug a channel through the marsh,
called it a short cut, for a boat,
it's not harsh,
to call it a short cut,
accross our own throat.

Fat Muffin

crescent city became a cressant,
then a fat old muffin in a bowl,
we drained the swamp to meet the goal,
my opinion?
swollen city is the sin,
bloated below sea-level,
muffin in a bowl,
was once a crescent on the rim.

Abandoned

urban flight is like a coup,
people are free to see and say and do,
but united we stand,
divided we're screwed,
spread our tax base accross the land,
which wasn't land at all,
but a pumped out sump,
we destroyed the swamp,
and left the helm unmanned,
I believe people should be taxed where they work,
duty free means duties get shirked,
like lemmings to the sea,
picket fence, high stakes, and a cheap levee.

I am dirt

dirt is what I am,
dirt, in the wrapper of a man,
dirt in a shirt Goddam!
NOT dam! levee!
ashes to ashes and dust to dust,
I love the Lord in the Lord I'll trust,
and when I die and join the ground,
 I'll become the levee and protect our town.

Come back

city life,
has it's share of strife,
but when they run,
when they save their own butts,
the abandoned in the canyon go nuts,
looters loot and commuters pollute,
each has a wagon, stuck in a rut,
every city is a gigantic titty,
and everybody sucks,
but some ride home in a truck,
500 hours a year,
many spent in first gear,
that's 1500 gallons of gas,
burned, staring at ass,
and the bill?
that's a bitter pill,
starts at 5 grand,
but that's for you my man,
you get off easy,
while we live in the big hard,
it's sleazy,
to sell us out for a yard,
a lawn to water, car to wax,
what a wonderfull community!
but who really pays the tax?
you ain't got unity,
you're more subsidized than the projects,
how much tax do you strip?
that bill is the tip,
what about the whole iceberg?
consumer spending, YA HEARD?
you left for you're family, and fear,
 but you ain't scared to work here.
30 years of employment equals 15,000 hours on the road,
which is 45,000 gallons of gas,
which is $150,000 it costs you,
add a measley $10 an hour for your time, for another $150,000,
so it costs you $300,000 to commute for 30 years.
you could retire on what you blow,
cost to the city?
we wish you didn't go.

Adult Education

the city is shitty,
no space in this place,
stacked like cordwood makes me bored dude,
plus the city's sort of scarey,
but its not a woodpile, it's a library,
it's a resource, and we have recourse,
and the tallent to fill this conservatory,
fix it up break it in bust it out,
nothing to fear but fear, nothing to doubt but doubt,
it's not just a tit for earning,
it's the # 1 institution of higher learning,
the tuition is the tax,
the solution?
come on back.

Money & Power

a % of a % of a %,
of what we got,
is not much of a dent,
but it's a lot,
to give to a rat,
who rose from corperate tar,
to become czar,
funded from a funnel,
of rounded up bills,
and imaginary ills,
he can't do shit but take,
don't payroll the snake.