democracy dream, joyful and callous:
two centuries later, the realization that
a functioning democratic republic
must be free to let its failing members
fail, to let the meritocracy sneak in
around the edges and determine the daily:
who sees the doctor, who gets the new
hip or knee or heart. shabby urbanity
glowing in light pollution, the white limestone
that houses great ideas and shallow men
and no solutions; night in dc only serves
to shade the homeless behind the monuments.