A BitterSweet Nightmare\r\n\r\nTragedy at every corner,\r\nNo way to get out if you have not already left.\r\nWinds blowing so hard that they could pick your feet up off the ground and make you fly.\r\nRoaring waters slapping against levees that are not capable of defending the city, what a pity.\r\nHer name is Katrina and she\'s a category 5, she\'s alive!\r\nLike most, I evacuated. \r\nRan away from the beast of the ocean so that I may not feel her wrath.\r\nBut, oh, how I was wrong.\r\nHer wrath was so strong, like the Roman army.\r\nI sit in my grandparent\'s living room.\r\nI watch with my family the destruction that one storm has done to an entire city, my city, our city. \r\nThere\'s silence, no one is speaking at this point.\r\nEveryone is in amaze, in a daze, \r\ncan\'t believe we won\'t be going back home in a few days. \r\nCan\'t call to see where everyone is because phone lines are down, or so I heard.\r\nTexting anyone who might respond, emailing too.\r\nWas told my house is fine, just some wind damage to the fence and the roof.\r\nThat\'s good news for me, a sweet remedy.\r\nNew school, new friends, new surroundings.\r\nKatrina is forcing me to start bonding.\r\nGetting pretty comfortable now, settling in with my new life.\r\nBut now I hear from my old friends and in their voice I can tell something isn\'t right.\r\nTheir homes have been flooded, some completely destroyed.\r\nThey\'re not coming back to New Orleans once everything is back,\r\nbecause they have nothing left but the clothes on their back.\r\nNow I\'m bitter.\r\nI\'m upset that Katrina has taken away my friends.\r\nI\'m ready for the madness to end!\r\nI return to the city in January since our house is okay and my old high school is opening it\'s doors. \r\nBut the city isn\'t the same anymore.\r\nDilapidated houses, empty buildings on every side.\r\nThis site makes you just want to break down and cry.\r\n\"How is the city doing?\" the most common question I get asked.\r\n\"It\'s not the same, progressively getting better though\" is the response I have programmed myself to say. \r\nI couldn\'t wake up from this bittersweet nightmare\r\nBut after the rain comes the sun, and Katrina will no longer be there.\r\n\r\n

Citation

“[Untitled],” Hurricane Digital Memory Bank, accessed December 7, 2024, https://hurricanearchive.org/items/show/45251.