they gather in shadow beyond the monuments 
no longer chiseled names but men again 
haunted by what they see 
each bearing the weight of his vision now worn 
washington stands first 

i'd like to think that the founding fathers, the framers, the men who wore wigs & makeup & helped make all this a possibility for me, would look at our country, at the cherry blossoms refusing to bloom next to the white-columned house engr

Staring through eyes of stone at the republic 

oh, for which it stands 

one nation like a burning stick 

a stick that is almost snuffed out 

George Washington

Alexander Hamilton

Thomas Jefferson

John Jay

John Adams

James Madison

And more

We have monuments

To honor these people

A musical for one

A statue for another

How do I see the world? I see a lot of bad things. That’s what the news likes to show us. There’s war, poverty, hunger, death, school shootings, plane crashes, and of course the looming threat of climate change.