Patricia Smith uses excerpts from an actual letter from Marty Bahamonde, one of the only Federal Emergency Management Agency employees still in New Orleans at the time of Hurricane Katrina. The letter was written to his boss Michael Brown and the use of the letter was effective in showing her point of view. She begins each paragraph with a piece from the excerpt and then supports the statement with her interpretation of what is happening in New Orleans. Her choice of words put vivid images in my head, whether I really understood them or not.
She says, “And the heat singes art on bare backs, sucks tears from parched skin. It’s true there is no food, but there is water everywhere.”
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