New Orleans

To begin what I hope will be a busy and creative 2006, I am offering my recently completed long poem: “New Orleans”. Please feel free to comment on the poem - I want to know what people think about it.

"New Orleans" was intended to be read as one long work because it has consistent themes, characters and images running throughout all of its eight sections. However, I realize that this is a lot to ask of any reader, so I have posted it in such a way that each section of the poem can be read individually.

About "New Orleans":
The major influence on the style of this poem is the style adopted by political blog writers who weave direct quotations and links to other sources into their arguments as a way of reinforcing the veracity of their information. I was influenced by this style because I followed the events of Katrina and its aftermath primarily by reading these writers - the best of whom now represent the only reliable way to get facts and background information that are otherwise ignored or buried by the increasingly irrelevant mainstream media. I still claim full poetic license (still available to poets as far as I know), but I have attempted to support certain facts and events in this same style by providing notes at the end of each section of the poem.

The unifying theme for this poem was wholly influenced by the book “The White Goddess” by Robert Graves. Written in 1948, this book decodes the language and symbols of myths and religions in order to trace the one “true” theme of all poetry. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in these subjects.

Of course Hurricane Katrina was a natural disaster, and as such, can not be “blamed” on any particular person or group of people. However, the President and his party wield such a great influence over government policy that their philosophies greatly affect what occurs in such a disaster. For instance, when it is the strong opinion of people in power that everyone, no matter how economically or physically disadvantaged, should simply have the strength and will to survive with very limited government help, then, obviously, this will greatly affect the disaster response from the government. Also, when the overriding philosophy of our government is that we are the children of a strong father God who gave us the earth and everything in it to use as we see fit because we are the first of things, then, this affects government policy towards the natural environment and all forms of life within it.

I would like to dedicate this poem to my father William Pratt whose initial reading and comments about the poem gave me the confidence to post it.

New Orleans
by Thomas Pratt

I. Behind the Razor Wire

II. To You These Children Sing

III. Billy the Kid Dreams of America

IV. Jazz Funeral

V. The Marsh of Shades

VI. The Culture of Life

VII. The Great Eye

VIII. Black Snake’s Prayer