Sunday, August 22, 2010

Day thirteen

I wrote an email that took about an hour to write. It is private so I will not post it. In it's place I'll add a poem I revised today.

Little Pigs

for Katrina.

Years after the burning of the Bad Wolf

the offspring of the third little pig

flourish on the Gulf Coast.

The nation reveres the three little ones—

They build eco-friendly high density straw

huts, carbon fiber inlaid hard wood

cabins, and steel reinforced brick domiciles .

They light bonfires every night and sing

Who’s afraid of the big bad wolf.

The big bad wolf. Who’s afraid

of the big bad wolf, certainly not me!

* * *

The old She-Wolf awakes from her slumber

finds that her youngest lies dead across

the sea in a foreign land and mourns.

Her thoughts clouded by revenge.

Stomach empty, rum drunk,

she slowly staggers across

the ocean—her anger

smolders steadily like burning

coal and she screams, little pigs

little pigs let me come in!

* * *

The little pigs confident

in their technology chant

their holy mantra not by the hairs

of our chinny chin chins.

She reaches the pig coast

and heaves and breathes and huffs

and puffs with all the fury of a mother’s

anger and blasts a flurry of air against the little pigs

and with one final gasp for air, dies.

* * *

The survivors looked out at sea.

The barren bleak landscape lay before them

and the largest of the little pigs yelled,

We shall overcome and we shall rebuild!

And the littlest of the little pigs whispered,

But, what could be stronger than brick?

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