The storm wasn’t brief.

It washed away
the color of grass.
Wet dirt trickled
down the elevation
of front lawns,
turning street puddles
murky.

The rain eroded
our final defense
against the summer storms.
Our power was
lost for days.

My mother clucked her tongue
as we sloshed through
the puddles.
Her tires rotated,
spinning tidal waves,
crashing onto driveways
like sudden shorelines.

My friends and I joked
about the day
we’d find seaweed
in the water filled streets,
twisting and turning
in the current.
Lost.

For those two weeks,
our landscape
had been drained to grey.

Sarah deVeer
3rd Place 9th &10th grades
LA Writes! 2010
Lusher Charter High School
New Orleans, LA

Used with permission of LA Writes!