‘Jesus Out to Sea’ art from Katrina

“Jesus Out to Sea”

by James Lee Burke (Simon & Schuster Paperbacks, 291 pages, $24.95)

When a tragedy as monstrous as Hurricane Katrina befalls us, journalism can tell us what happened, and occasionally it can even explain why. But it cannot take us to that quiet place where spirit goes to heal.

For that, we need art.

Katrina has inspired a fair amount of it – some good, most not. Thankfully, there are two special works we can cling to.

One is “Levee Prayer,” an elegy by bluesman Jimmy Thackery. The other is “Jesus Out to Sea,” the signature piece in a new short story collection by James Lee Burke, better known for his hard-boiled detective novels.

Both are simple, personal, spiritual and hauntingly beautiful, and they are best experienced together. First read Burke’s story; then pop Thackery’s “In the Natural State” album in the CD player and skip to the fourth cut.

Burke (who splits his time between Louisiana and Montana) helps us come to terms with the incomprehensible abandonment of victims by asking us to share a roof with two junkie musicians.

Despite the horrors they see all about them – the bloated body of a priest, a dead baby in a tree – they peacefully reminisce about good times in their once-beautiful city:

“You woke in the morning to the smell of gardenias, the electric smell of the streetcars, chicory coffee, and stone that turned green with lichen. The light was always filtered through the trees, so it was never harsh, and the flowers bloomed year-round. New Orleans was a poem, man, a song in your heart that never died.”

As the water rises and the house buckles beneath them, each prays in his own way for the help that will not come.

The story is one of two about Katrina in this collection of 11 short pieces written by Burke over the past decade. Most touch on his usual theme: the courage of ordinary people in the face of evil.

Meanwhile, Burke is not done with Katrina. “The Tin Roof Blowdown,” a crime novel that will be published in July, unfolds in New Orleans in the aftermath of the storm.