MARY MCMYNE

Menu
  • ABOUT
  • PUBLICATIONS
  • WOLF SKIN
  • THE BOOK OF GOTHEL
  • RECENT NEWS
Menu

“Louisiana Disaster Recovery 3.0” in Gulf Coast

Posted on July 15, 2017March 30, 2019 by Mary McMyne

My poem, “Louisiana Disaster Recovery 3.0,” appears in the latest issue of Gulf Coast. I’m so grateful that it found a home in a journal so close to my hometown because it’s about the floods my family and friends suffered in the greater Baton Rouge area last fall. The poem was written for a multimedia dance/art/creative writing concert organized by Joshua Legg at my university last fall. The concert was called “Re/Action,” and Joshua chose coping with tragedy as its overarching theme: how communities create stories about ourselves to cope with tragedy, successfully or unsuccessfully. The floods happened right before he told me about the prompt, and every time I tried to respond to it, I kept thinking about them.

The frequent hurricanes and floods are part of the reason my spouse and I chose to leave south Louisiana. It’s so difficult to build something, when the weather continuously undoes all your hard work. My mother-in-law’s home in Vermilion Parish was devastated by Hurricane Rita in 2005, and they had to use FEMA money to raise their house up on concrete stilts. Most of the other houses on the Ramke family land have been destroyed by the constant floods. Here are some pictures from our most recent visit to the land that my daughter will inherit when she grows up–that is, if it’s still around.

Alice looking out at the Vermilion River.
This structure was built in 1885.
The whole area is overrun, in the summer, by golden orb weavers.
Tree near the family land (photo by my mother-in-law, Claudia Ramke Bennett)

You can order a copy of the Gulf Coast issue here.

Share this:Tweet about this on Twitter
Twitter
Share on Facebook
Facebook
Share on Tumblr
Tumblr

Share this:

  • Click to share on Twitter (Opens in new window)
  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window)

Related

  • experimental poetry
  • flood
  • Gulf Coast
  • Louisiana
  • poetry
  • CONTACT

    To contact Mary directly, click here. She is on Facebook and Twitter. For professional inquiries, contact Sam Farkas at Jill Grinberg Literary Management.

    FOLLOW MARY

    Enter your email address to follow Mary and receive special notices by e-mail.

    Join 1,731 other subscribers

    Twitter

    My Tweets
    © 2021 MARY MCMYNE | Powered by Minimalist Blog WordPress Theme