Louisiana

~Matthew Roth --after Wilfred Owen So Noah rose, with an axe went out, and felled the forest all around, and planed the wood and joined it also, according to the rude assignment God had dreamed into his head. And when that work was done, though he'd not seen a cloud for weeks, and all was stars and sun, he honored God, and laying a hand upon her hull, christened the ark Evangeline. Weeks passed. God's creatures all were gathered in, and then, at last, the rain did fall, the tide rose up, and when it reached them, Noah cried for God to spare them from the flood's cruel end. But God demurred, the ark was overcome, and all the souls inside her, one by one.