Poems for New Orleans

by SANDERS, EDWARD

• ISBN13: 9781556437427
• ISBN10: 1556437420
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2008-08-19
• Publisher: North Atlantic Books

Summary

The indomitable spirit of the people of New Orleans is the focus of this powerful suite of poems by counterculture icon Ed Sanders. The book begins with a series of vivid evocations of key events and personalities in the city's history, then brings this colorful legacy into the present with the harrowing force of Hurricane Katrina. That natural catastrophe, multiplied by human indifference, incompetence, and greed, is explored as a watershed demonstration of the sociopolitical fissures underlying modern America. At the core of the book is the saga of the Lebage family, beginning with Lemoine Lebage, who fought with Andrew Jackson's forces in the Battle of New Orleans and then set down roots in the city. Five generations later his descendant Grace Lebage is a singer and poet struggling to restore her life after Katrina has wrecked her ancestral home. Although the enormous, still-unfinished tragedy of Katrina suffusesPoems for New Orleans,human resilience in the face of adversity is its ultimate subject. Here is a New Orleans only glimpsed by the outside world, a place whose creativity, humor, and triumphant spirit no tragedy can overcome.

Author Biography

Edward Sanders was a founding member of the seminal bohemian rock band The Fugs and a prominent figure in the 60s counterculture. He is the author of numerous books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction, including the bestselling study of Charles Manson, The Family. The winner of a number of writing awards, including a Guggenheim and an NEA fellowship, he lives in Woodstock, NY.

Table of Contents

Poems for New Orleans
The First 85 Years	p. 3
The Battle of New Orleans	p. 13
Teeming Docks - New Orleans 1820-1860	p. 24
What If William Blake Had Gone to New Orleans	p. 29
The Stranger from Brooklyn	p. 32
Did Mark Twain Meet Marie Laveau?	p. 33
Bead Greed	p. 36
Marie Lebage and Huey Long	p. 37
Groups Pulling Groups	p. 40
Costumes for the Full of Fun	p. 41
China	p. 42
Oswald the Spring and Summer of '63	p. 43
Preparing for Mardi Gras	p. 45
A True Story from 1987	p. 46
The Mississippi	p. 47
Pressures and Masks	p. 48
On the Way	p. 49
Secret Poverty	p. 52
Boot the Loot	p. 54
Not Gonna Get	p. 55
Lake Pontchartrain	p. 56
The Levees	p. 57
Heirloom Heaven	p. 59
Unearned Suffering	p. 60
Athena and Poseidon Have a Meeting in Her Temple in Smoldering Troy	p. 62
Echoes of Heraclitus	p. 67
Aphrodite Came Out	p. 68
Some FEMA Trailers in Hope	p. 69
Rowing to Save	p. 74
My Darling Magnolia Tree	p. 76
Ironing Board	p. 78
Rape	p. 79
Calling on Charles & Wallace	p. 82
The Higgs Boson	p. 83
Give Us Back!	p. 84
I Hate FEMA	p. 85
New Orleans Water Comes from the Big River	p. 86
Post-Katrina Vote Fraud	p. 87
The Spirit of Vote Fraud	p. 88
Gimme That Land!	p. 89
The Chunk	p. 90
Privatization	p. 91
Down in the Gulf	p. 92
We Are Standing in the Way	p. 93
The Cottages	p. 94
Lethal Ineptitude	p. 96
To Poseidon	p. 97
Grace Lebage	p. 98
Quiet Joy	p. 103
Ash Wednesday and Lent	p. 104
Scythe Man and Scythe Woman	p. 106
Then Came the Storm - a prayer for the victims of Katrina	p. 107
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.