capital

let’s go for a run, shall we?
it’s almost dark, i’m almost free
of spreadsheets and linkedin networking

let’s go for a run
down brownie-square streets
and senate retreats,
burnt searing heat etched into concrete

along rows of uptight
brownstone houses
rushing past women in
modern bow-tie blouses

and men in suits wearing imagined crowns
men holding briefcases and city frowns

the sweat slicks my face like
oil ready for the frying pan
no-fuss dinner! late-night snack!
over down there’s a big trash can.

i catch
my breath
as we stroll down
twilight-dappled brick sidewalks
clockwork birds, choked carnations,
the division of international foreign relations―
“actions are louder than words.” “money talks.”

well, it feels noisily silent today
and when dusk rises from the gray
i wonder what will be missed
says me, the pessimist.

oh, don’t mind, just thinking out loud
hmm, i think that one looks like a mushroom cloud

past off-white neoclassical marble pillars
fireworks ring against silent crowds
helicopters drum the darkened clouds
hey, look, did you see? the garden has caterpillars

the winds shift―i feel a storm fermenting
as if the weather listens, I pray
but every drop in a hurricane pleads not guilty
just following orders, they say.
does that make everything okay?