Superstorm Sandy, 2012

At Broadsided, we believe that art and literature belong in our daily lives. They inspire and demonstrate the vitality and depth of our connection with the world.

Moved by the plight of people affected by Superstorm Sandy, Brooklyn-based Broadsided artist Ira Joel Haber sent us the image below.

We asked you to respond with words, and amazing work came in. Poems from people who had experienced Katrina and other devastating storms, poems about those who work to clean up such events in their aftermath, poems about the drowned amusements of Coney Island.

In the end, Robbi Nester’s poem, “Watching Superstorm Sandy on the Weather Channel, October 2012” felt right. Her empathetic link, through the people near to her, to those affected and her poem’s surprising turn opened our experience of both Ira’s art and the reach of the storm itself. We hope you agree, and we thank all those who lent their time, imagination, and voices to this project.