This piece bothered me and in all honesty severely hurt the point I feel she was trying to push in this book of poetry. It consisted of an short explanation preceding the poem: "George Bush plays guitar with country singer Mark Willis; 2 p.m., August 30, 2005. It is just another example of bashing a leading political figure who was likely doing all they could to try to help in an absolutely impossible situation. Smith could have much better detailed the hardships the city of New Orleans felt after Hurricane Katrina without resorting to cliché and tactless strategy of demeaning government officals.
If my memory serves me well, and in this situation I believe it does, all citizens of New Orleans were issued a mandatory evacuation the leave the city. These evacuations are not issued lightly, and mean citizens are supposed to leave their homes. Citizens who stayed behind not only severely jeopardized their lives but also the lives of the men and women who would inevitably have to come to their aid. There were situations (Smith details them quite well in "Ethel's Sestina") where it was impossible for some to leave. The other situation ("Only Everything I Own") details people who refused to leave the city because they owned nothing but what lay before them. These people led to many of the causalities caused by Katrina, and they needn't have happened. Much of Smith's writing is a question posed to people in charge. She is wondering why aid wasn't overwhelming. Maybe she should be wondering why the citizens didn't leave, and the risk they placed others in.
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