Winded

The past couple years
have tested the strength
of the unaware citizens on these coasts.

Two thousand five
has been hellish to the max
as the list of names has been exhausted.

As Alpha and Beta rise and fall,
I look at this season with a jaded eye.

We ran.
We hid.
We boarded up.
We hunkered down.

It's gotten repetitive
as Halloween creeps up behind us.
We spend more time at Home Depot
than we spend at home or school.

We swam through the floods
of Dennis and Katrina
while holding on for dear life
in the winds of Wilma and Rita.

The aftermath is the terror
that brings us to our knees,
and the strength to stand up
quickly slips away.

Water's a hot commodity
even as we wade to the aid.
How long can this ice last
in this oppressive heat?

We're busting out our grills-
if we didn't have them washed away.
Otherwise, we'll bust some windows
to get some food for the next few days.

As we sit around the radio-
an homage to the twenties-
we hear the same ol' garbage
from asinine reporters.

I'm tired of hearing
"It's a dangerous situation."
Well, isn't that obvious
given all the things that can kill you?

High winds,
rising water,
downed power lines,
carbon monoxide.
There's plenty of ways to die due to a hurricane!

But perhaps the biggest kicker
comes when it's all over.
Where's our aid?
Time to whine to the government!

It doesn't matter the year,
the scope or the location.
Every single year it's
FEMA, FEMA, FEMA!

Complaints large and small
are made about this acronym.
What does it mean?
"Federal employees missing again!"*

But why are those who could have prepared
clamoring for FEMA's attention?
Isn't FEMA aid for those
who have nothing left?

In the end, though,
we're alive but tired as hell.
Come December-time to rest
so we can face next season.



*-I saw this in an MSN article about how Katrina survivors used humor as a means of coping with recovering from the catastrophe. This quote was apparently on shirts and other merchandise.