Washington, D.C.

I searched these streets

My steps offbeat

Lost and

Exasperating

Anxious and

Self-regarding

I tried desperately to navigate to my plea

Circles overwhelmed me

My legs were fatigued

My mind,

Distraught and

Deplete

Unforeseen

My heart took a back seat                                    

This city is distracted

And bought by Wall Street 

Politicians here

Live

In castles in the air

Turned into millionaires

With

No reasonable care

Vanity Fair and

Empathy is rare! 

Inconsiderate of those unfortunate hearts

I saw gathering water from a puddle

In a parking lot

Poured into plastic containers

In a shopping cart

They ate faster than they could consume

These streets

No food

Their doom

Mental health and ineffective treatment

Second chances spent

Their bed

The cold/hard cement

Many are our vets

Displaced

Betrayed

Beset…

I had no change to spare

Just a plastic card that is square

In my failure

In their despair

I became more aware

Although

I feel sad that I let down our cause

In this city

I still saw through this façade  

In the nation’s capital

There’s a lot to sightsee

But don’t turn away from the twilight sleep

Those shadows not shown on the TV

For at nightfall

Wretchedness seeps

Statues creep

Memorials weep

Over the prosperity and yet

The people bleed

Corporate bail outs

Congressional spending sprees

Our elected

Bought by greed

Government shutdown

A mockery

So really,

In the land of the free who is free?

When there’s ample DUPLICITY

In

Washington, D.C.

Authored by Shellie Blevins