In Arlington

Once across the river,
Orthogonality is scrapped,
As if Cartesians tired of it
And abstractedly doodled on our maps.
In Arlington, quadrates degenerate
Into messy spiderwebs of streets.
Sure, we have a rational system--
Ordinal numbers east and west,
Alphabetics at ninety degrees--
But it's an eccentric grid at best,
Full of lapses, loops, and languishings,
Anomalies and interruptions.
No wonder the stranger feels kinda
Trapped,
Easy prey for big arachnid
That is bound to bustle out,
Fangs bared, venom dripping,
Pedipalps flailing.
Your almighty GPS can't save you!
(Computers aren't immune from error . . .)
It's lost amid discontinuities,
And you've omitted the all-important
N-or-S dipolar letter.