I had reason today to write a comment on a federal website. The National Park Service’s announced that they’re seeking public comment on the plan to build a Triumphal Arch at Memorial Circle, the roundabout at the DC end of the bridge that connects Arlington National Cemetery with the Lincoln Memorial. I can’t tell you what a terrible idea this is, if you’ve never been to the Lincoln Memorial — but if you have been, you know it’s a terrible idea that ruins and breaks the symbolic architecture of the two places in DC that most recognize and honor and thematically heal the nation from the conflict of the Civil War.
AYE, build his archway — from papier maché
And those micro-brads meant for finishing,
and strips of lath, and similar cachet
ephemeral to Time’s swift ravaging.
Chicago’s “White City” all burned to ash:
When the world’s fair closed, its throngs dispersed,
its grandiose halls swift decayed to trash;
No scheme nor plan such entropy reversed.
Let snow and wind, rain, teen pissing bouts,
Matchstick malice in arsonists’ eyes,
stain its plasters, its tiles and grouts
as the nation repays his sneers and lies
with carnival facades that do not last
to honor or praise his infamous past.
I know that sometimes it’s hard to get through to federal employees with sarcasm, so I tried to make it as clear as possible that they should build the arch of completely disposable materials.
