Marks of Distinction Madisonville, Louisiana

On the north bank of Lake Pontchartrain where the lake and the Techfunctie merge a squat, lighthouse sits ghostly and forgotten.

Pelicans perch on giant wood pilings, a dock’s skeletal remains.

A tugboat lays pitched on its side half hidden by brackish water, abandoned to crabs and weeds.

1077 runs a mile from lighthouse to town a pitted concrete single-car bridge widens to a stiltsville of houses.

Waterfront restaurants survive show off waterlines fifteen feet high.

Madisonville, etched by Katrina.

~Linda Joyce