Notes made on a tour of New Orleans

Neutral ground, Bourbon Street, Vaseline on poles;
Louis and Anna;
Johnny’s bar – candlelight – no ice;
Quadroon balls

Blue poles of varying height = depth;
House > float > boat

Lower Ninth:
Weatherboard – that’s what we call it in Britain,
No protection against Katrina,
Weather damaged, stripped, warped.

Walls no longer protecting, now mouldy, rotted, ripped, removed.

Peeled: lives peeled away, to reveal inner: soul, core, basic,
Peeled: overgrown, tiles missing, broken gaping lives open to the sky, to the elements,
Peeled: memory overgrown with bad, weed infested.

Shock / warning / ignore / hope / decision hard to make:
Rust – government bought empty plots;
Stripe, strip, stripped;
Shutters, shut, open, shut, folded, hinged.