Subject: Barricades

Washington, D.C.

Up by the White House's business face
Pennsylvania's blocked off down to Madison Place,
And halfway encircling Lafayette's square
They've put New Jersey barricades there.

By the broad black expanse of the avenue
Policemen are standing with nothing to do
But glare at the tourists here hoping to see
Some tokens of our nation's majesty.

Though all of the structures are sturdy and solid
The message projected is shabby and squalid,
The symbols of historic bravery here
Have been overwhelmed by the symbols of fear.

Pennsylvania Avenue

A court does not a monarch make,
Nor barricades a king,
But those who treasure freedom take
Them as most troubling.
With Andrew Jackson looking on,
I'm sure reproachfully,
The party that he made has gone
Into our history.

Our Hero

Hoping the memory has faded
Of the dangerous war he evaded,
He uses his power
To simper and cower
In a mansion that's well-barricaded.

Say Again

"O say does that star-spangled
Banner yet wave
O'er the land of the free
And the home of the brave?"

The question's still a good one,
But these days you have to wonder,
Not about the symbol over,
But the people under.

Unfit News

I wouldn't give a pfennig or peso
For news by government say so
But that's about all that we get
Except on the Internet.
No wonder the circulation
Of newspapers is down in the nation,
Why would anyone wish
To read these wrappings for fish,
Or to spend his hard-earned wages
On liner for parakeet cages?

See No Evil

Coreless, shadowless, empty vessels,
Lucky to cast a reflection,
Letting the theft of our heritage
Blithely escape detection,
Lacking even the wherewithal
The insidiousness to decry,
We're hollowed-out men
Huddling under
The grotesque reign of the lie.

DC Dave .

Pennsylvania Ave. Closure || Peace Park