Washington

Limp-voiced executives in short-sleeved shirts
direct trainee bus drivers
through LA-style subdivisions
with "Colonial" motifs.

Hare Krishna,
Scientology,
The Reverend Sun-Moon Something--
the various vulture cultures--
clear the streets of
the carrion of lost flower children.

Brash young staffers of the House and Senate
wear sideburns that are too thin,
grow organic vegetables, collect signed prints,
and are genuinely committed.

You have to know the system to ever
be in the right lane, and people who can't drive
are almost always from Pennsylvania.

There is much greenery and no industry,
yet the Potomac is too polluted for swimming.

Banal men have their words carved in marble.

 

                                                            --Robert Winter
                                                                1974