Not Just The Levees Broke
By Phyllis Montana-Leblanc
Not just the levees broke
The Spirit broke, my spirit
The families broke apart (I want my momma, my sister, and my nephew back home)
The auction block broke from so many African-American bodies
The sense of direction was broken because of the darkness
There was light from time to time, but they broke away and left us
My being together broke when I fell apart
The smell broke away from my skin when I came out of the waters
The waters that came and stood still, with the bodies of my people, the dogs, shit and piss, rats, snakes and "heard of " alligators
The broken smiles, the broken minds, the broken lives
And you know something? You wanna know something? Out of all of this brokenness, I have begun to mend
With God, my deep, deep commitment to infinite strength and to never give up
I am mending
I am coming back.
God willing, for a long, long time
So, when you see the waters
When you see the levees breaking
Know what they really broke along with them...
Share
Print
Save
Follow
I'm not kidding, I just got your book at our local library!! Also saw your segment on "When the Levees Broke."
I can't imagine what Katrina was like, but you took me there in your words. You pulled no punches. You took me down into the nitty gritty ... used to live 60 miles north of N'Awlins (up 'round Hammond), so glad I wasn't there when she came storming through. Have friends there, they were on my mind (thank God they all made it through). Wrote a lot about Katrina ... but this isn't about me. This is about YOU, and what you experienced ...
Your words are powerful. They need to be read. They need to see that through the storms, Grace was there ... an excellent write.
Welcome to Author's Den, you're among friends.
(((HUGS))) and love, Karla.