V. The Marsh of Shades

Moving swiftly to the work they were born for,
Uniformed men pulled down a façade
Carefully packing away thin boards,
That read ‘Food’ ‘Water’ ‘Clothes’

As the last TV truck left,
A man in a suit shouted over the roar of a nearby chopper:

“Get that food and water back in the Hummer!”
“Get those lights packed up!”
“Go! Go! Blacksnake One needs this for a speech in twenty minutes.”

We walked across this marsh of shades beaten
down by the heavy rain, our feet pressing
on their emptiness that looked like human form ⁴

Weaving a pathway by the foul, black waters,
I beheld a glowing white light with a faint glint of gold,
So bright was it that my guide bade me cover my eyes, saying:
“Do not look directly upon this Angel with the golden horn
“He is Gabriel in black face.
“Child of gentle lovers, he was left in a reed cradle by the banks of the river.”

I said to my guide:
“Surely, an Angel does not belong in such a place!”
“Why does he choose to be here?”
“Everyone is so poor and so black...” ⁵

”I can guide you no farther than this“, said my weary Virgil.
“Look! He raises the golden trumpet to his lips to play the Judgment!”

---

Notes:

“Get that food and water back in the Hummer!”
“German TV ZDF News reported that the president's visit was a completely staged event. Their crew witnessed how the open air food distribution point Bush visited in front of the cameras was torn down immediately after the president and the herd of 'news people' had left and that others which were allegedly being set up were abandoned at the same time. The people in the area were once again left to fend for themselves, said ZDF.”

⁴ “We walked across this marsh of shades beaten
“Down by the heavy rain, our feet pressing
“on their emptiness that looked like human form”
Dante – The Inferno – Canto VI Lines 34-36 Translated by Mark Musa

“...my guide...my weary Virgil...”
The last part of this section begins with a direct quotation from The Inferno and the part after it is intended to be in the style of that poem. Thus the mentioning of “my guide” and “Virgil” because the “shade” or ghost of Virgil is Dante’s guide through The Inferno.

“Why does he choose to be here?”
There was much discussion in the media about why so many people (usually poor and African American people) “chose” not to leave the flood area.

⁵ “They are so poor and so black”
Wolf Blitzer of CNN describing the flood victims.