Lake Pontchartrain

How is it possible
To be nostalgic for a
Place that
I have never been?
(Lake Pontchartrain!)

I guess it comes
From having seen the lake
So much on TV
During the televised
News coverage of
Hurricane Katrina
(How soon we forget!)

Also then too
There were
All of those beautiful pictures
Of the lake
Lovingly filmed during
The recent HBO series
Treme
That so totally captured
The scenes and essence
Of post Katrina
New Orleans

I was especially moved
By one of the show’s
Finale episodes
During which
John Goodman’s character
(An irate Tulane University
English Lit professor)
Commits suicide by
Jumping off the
Lake Pontchartrain ferry
(The fictitious professor
Was not alone
Post Katrina suicides in
New Orleans spiked off the charts)

Hopefully
New Orleans is
Finally on the rebound
And coming back
To renewed life
I would very much
Like to think so
(And by all accounts
I am hearing mostly good things)
As I would not like
To go on
Being nostalgic
For yet another grand
(And from all accounts
Magical place)
That I have never (yet) been

(I hope to remedy
That situation real soon
On the bonnie bonnie banks
Of Lake Pontchartrain!)

jhmarkowitz
Philadelphia, Pa. 2012