DC Siege Decorations

Video Transcript:

My name is David DC Dave Martin and this poem is entitled simply Washington DC. Up by the White House's business base, Pennsylvania is closed off, well-passed Madison place. And almost encircling Lafayette Square, they've been planted a border of federal poles there. By the broad, flat expanse of the avenue, police are standing with nothing to do but glare at the tourists, hoping to see some tokens of our nation's majesty. And though all the structures are sturdy and solid, the message projected is shabby from squallet. The symbols of historic bravery here have been overwhelmed by the symbols of fear. This poem is entitled Federal Poles. The crude New Jersey barricades have almost had their day. To guard against the terrorists we found a better way. Ornate metal colonnades now do the job with taste. Each with the seal of this great land in front and back is graced. No doubt the usual cozy deals have added to their cost. But what's priceless is the innocence we've lost. And my third and final poem is a parody of William Ward's words to the great poem about daffodils. I wandered lonely as cloud. And it's entitled, I wandered with a rotted mind. I wandered with a rotted mind thinking of some trouble souls. And suddenly what did I find but a file of federal poles standing straight and painted well, they struck me as the cue for hell. The crisp is any coarse line that ever draced the Broadway stage. They surely were no anodine for my slowly building rage. Their perfect order spoke to me of anything but comity. Against the tax they'll contravene is how we have the people schooled. But they form a line between the rulers and the meekly ruled, the latter who were sent to fight, and those who shirk with all their might. Now often when at home I lie impassive or in thoughtful mood, they show up in my inward eye and stir me in my solitude. Then I join those trouble souls and curse the lines of federal poles.