HIV/AIDS Caregivers Memorial
The HIV/AIDS Caregivers Memorial honors the workers, families, and friends who care for those affected by HIV/AIDS with poetry engraved at the Dupont Circle metro station
The HIV/AIDS Caregivers Memorial was installed at the north entrance of the Dupont Circle metro station in 2007 and honors the caregivers of people living with HIV/AIDS in Washington, DC during the early years of the crisis. The Dupont Circle neighborhood was a hub of gay life in Washington, DC in the early 1980s, before AIDS even had a name. Caregivers were often fellow gay men and lesbian women who took a great risk to care for their friends and lovers when little was known about the disease or how to prevent infection. The memorial uses excerpts from two poems to highlight the struggles and bravery of these caregivers.
The first poem excerpt encircles the metro entrance’s escalators. It is from Walt Whitman’s poem The Wound Dresser, which describes Whitman’s experience volunteering at a military hospital in Washington, DC during the Civil War:
Thus in silence in dreams’ projections,
Returning, resuming, I thread my way through the hospitals;
The hurt and wounded I pacify with soothing hand,
I sit by the restless all dark night – some are so young;
Some suffer so much – I recall the experience sweet and sad…
The final lines from that stanza, “(Many a soldier’s loving arms about this neck have cross’d and rested, Many a soldier’s kiss dwells on these bearded lips.),” are not included in the engraving. You can read the full poem on the Poetry Foundation website.
The metro entrance’s long escalator gives adventurers plenty of time to read the entire inscription. It wraps around the granite wall that encloses the escalators. During the summer months, the poem is accented with sunflowers and other vegetation, thanks to the Phantom Planter.
The second part of the HIV/AIDS Caregivers Memorial is another poem excerpt engraved around a circular bench behind the metro escalators near Connecticut Avenue NW:
We fought against the invisible
We looked to one another for comfort
We held the hands of friends and lovers
We did not turn our backs
We embraced
We embraced
The contemporary poet, E. Ethelbert Miller, is both African American and a long-time resident of Washington, DC. The expert is from the poem We Embrace. You can read more of Miller’s work by checking out one of his volumes of poetry from the DC Public Library.
This installation is technically a “literary-based artwork,” not a memorial. However, since it is was inspired by and dedicated to HIV/AIDS caregivers, I think it is fair to call it a memorial. If you or someone you know is a caregiver, the National Institutes of Health’s MedlinePlus has resources for caregivers, including how to deal with stress and take care of yourself while caring for others.
I love the hidden-in-plain-sight nature of this adventure, as well as its emphasis on underrepresented groups and local talent. While it may not be worth it to travel to Dupont Circle just to see the HIV/AIDS Caregivers Memorial, it’s a perfect adventure to pair with a trip to nearby Anderson House or the Barbie Pond on Avenue Q.
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Address
Q Street NW and 20th Street NW
Metro Station
- Dupont Circle (RD)
Directions
The memorial is at north entrance to the Dupont Circle metro station on the corner of Q Street NW and 20th Street NW.
Cost
Free
Hours
The memorial can be viewed from the street even if the metro station is closed. Metrorail hours are:
- Monday to Thursday from 5:00 am – 11:30 pm
- Friday from 5:00 am – 1:00 am
- Saturday from 7:00 am – 1:00 am
- Sunday from 8:00 am – 11:00 pm
Length of Adventure
15 minutes
Website
https://www.wmata.com/about/news/pressreleasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=1718
