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ISSN: 1941-4137 |
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Volume Six Issue One |
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Storm Coast St. Mary's Student Relief Project, New Orleans —for Rachel She learns the smell of fridge tea, the weight and slosh of months of rot sealed in steel, one of Katrina's legacies. They shovel mud and rot from houses, turn off water mains and haul out sinks, finding a confirmation crucifix, unbroken wedding crystal, and a dead puppy. She learns the name of Bermuda grass shoveling it out of community gardens, breaking Katrina's hold on the soil. Back home the gardener trims fescue she couldn't have named. They take down the dead tree with its heart of cockroaches. In Algiers, they plant trees and meet gardeners who turn away, still mourning the dogwood that the winds took, the live oaks. They harvest ripe grapefruit in January from abandoned trees that survive. Soil tests come back clean. Before leaving they make a bonfire of clothing, hundreds of pounds of mud and mold and cotton. |
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