Lower Ninth Rhythm

© Nina Ryser. "Lower Ninth Rhythm", awarded Scholastic's NYC regional Silver Key Award for art

Nina Ryser, my grand daughter, i6 years old when she took this prize winning photo, last summer, went to New Orleans with a group of teen age volunteers to help clean up the mess in the famous lower ninth ward.

Playing The Dream

He’s playing that drum again.
This kid from the lower ninth,
his legs just about long enough to straddle
that big white drum.

He’s doing his beat
with his bright white sneakers.

Leaning against the plywood slats
slapped up in syncopated blues;
There’s the blue chewing gum
peeking out of his mouth
to pierce the sky.

He’s playing his dreams.
Will he play in a soft whisper
or in a roar like the winds of Katrina?

Behind his closed eyes
does he see the
shadows of possibility?

© Helen Webber




The photo is a dramatic reminder of one of the ten Rights of The Child: the right of a child to develop his talents and special abilities, described in art and poetry in the book CATCH A DREAMER. www.dovetailpublications.org