FEMA Exit Interview

As I've thought about all the hurricane poems I've written, I've gone to the blog to see how often I've posted them.  So, rather than repeat one, let me offer a new one here.

In the Asheville area, we're in a time period where lots of folks are applying for FEMA assistance.  I will likely not apply; we haven't had any damage, after all.

But in part, I won't apply because of how past hurricanes have shaped me.  We've had damage that wasn't covered by insurance, so I applied for FEMA money.  Each time, each hurricane, we were turned down because we had insurance.  Different administrations, same result.

In 2017, after Hurricane Irma, we applied for assistance, and even though we were turned down, I still had an exit interview.  My memory is that it was a phone interview.  Did I know it was an exit interview?  Did I complete it hoping there was a chance of some money?  Probably.

It was later, after seeing how the poet Oliver de la Paz transformed screening questions for autism into a poem, that I thought about doing the same with the FEMA exit interview.  I probably gave a simple answer to the question that begins the poem, the lack of money and supplies answer.

I have other hurricane poems that I like better.  But this one might be one of the more honest hurricane poems I've ever written

FEMA Exit Interview



“What factor has been most important
In your inability
To fully recover?”


a. Lack of money

b. Lack of supplies

c. Your inability to find a contractor or other workers

d. Your insurance company has been non-responsive

e. Your mortgage company is a cosigner and has unreasonable requirements before they will release the funds from the insurance company

f. Not wanting to invest any more resources in this house that has betrayed you

g. Your exhaustion

h. Your irrational fear of the phone

i. All of your friends have decided to move and you cannot make any decisions because of your mournful state

j. You realize you have made a dreadful mistake by moving to the coast in a time of sea level rise

k. This house was the cornerstone of your retirement plans, and the storm has made you realize that these plans are untenable and you don’t want to invest more into this sunk cost, but if you don’t invest the money, you will never sell the house, and your sunk cost will be lost forever