Washington DC late August 2011

boots of the world crunch
tennis shoes and loafers too
crunch the brown-gravelled
walks on the long Mall

foreigners film their girlfriends
wives and families under blue sky
against the backdrop of
the House of Congress

whited stone stupa, swelling teat
innocent now, or irrelevant
in late August, now the demons
are fled to smaller fiefdoms

approaching the Hirshhorn
Lichtenstein's soaring brushstroke
interrupted by passing bus
full-length mural -- "Mr Sleepy"

out in Rock Creek Park cicadas
croak their antediluvian song
turning the wheel of the seasons
archaic rasp sinks into stones

earth moves,  tyrants tremble
crack in the Washington Monument
mountains of despair
into stones of hope