I presume I will be offline due to the hurricane. We have a plan and have made preparations as we are able.
After the storm clears and power and cable are restored, I’ll be back online. (I suppose I should use a battery-powered laptop with wireless Internet, but I don’t.) I’ll let you know of our condition as we are able.
Keep all of us in your prayers. You are in ours.
After the Flood
The city’s dead undulate in rivers.
They sing of loss, haunt
the haunted city.
The newborn is crying.
She is a loaf of discomfort.
Her cold mother was not swift.
We, hapless humans,
prepared the best we could—
Bought cigarettes,
wandered through clouds.
Clare L. Martin
8.31.05
“After the Flood” first appeared in the anthology, Beyond Katrina, published in 2005.
My poem “Ice to Water” has been nominated by The Dead Mule for inclusion the 2008 “Best of the Net” anthology from Sundress Publications .
This is a very special poem to me. I wrote it shortly after my son’s death. The nomination list was posted on Adam’s birthday. The poem is a tribute to him, and one of the most truthful poems I have written. It was perhaps the most difficult poem to write, but helped me process a little piece of the whole of my grief.
Thanks Dead Mule Editors, and especially Helen. I am deeply honored.
Just booked our winter getaway. Same place as last year and the year before. It’s 4 months away but I am EXCITED! Maybe I will have some quiet time to read. Maybe I will paddle a canoe. Maybe I will build a fire. Ah! Something special to look forward to…
Twenty four years ago I gave birth. Today would have been Adam’s 24th.
A lifetime transpired between those sentences.
Clare L. Martin 