one official said
New Orleans looked like scenes from some
“poor African country.”
another called the newspaper
pictures something
from the Third World:

and, descendants of a looted people
are now being
labled looters in the streets
while the bush President calls for zero
       tolerance:

at least one little white girl
named Katrina
now wants her named changed—
contaminated flood waters
have raised black suffering
back into the Mainstream,
but, the real contamination
infecting our lives
began long before a storm
changed the meaning of a name …