a system of tubes

Flint's citizens were empoisoned en masse
by water from each residential tap
each time they'd cook or drink or brush or floss
their bodies absorbed heavy-metal crap
intoxication with lead won't flush out
these doses linger to their dying day
there's blame enough for all to go about
for damage that can never go away
Rick Snyder's team can't dodge their share of guilt
for risks he took with other people's lives
all Michigan's committed to the hilt
to recompense the health he's compromised
the governor deserves to be shot dead
for pumping Flint's tax-payers full of lead       

wih friends like these...

the Cairo junta disappears its foes
and makes a mockery of Rule of Law
democracy's exploring a new low
 as Morsi writhes in Riyadh's puppet's jaws
the Arsenal of Liberty's a whore
embracing tyrants when it serves our ends
opposing whom we hate buys merit more
than any ethics one seeks in a friend
we rule a despot "good" or "bad" at will
depending on the crises of the day
and even Josef Stalin fit the bill
until--with Hitler dead--we parted ways
no moral compass could plot out this course
where "rights" are merely figleaf for brute force           

grandiose

the tin of Cornwall hardened Philip's spears
and got his first-born working on a plan
to free the Greeks from trade-embargo fears
by delving his ore in Afghanistan
an empire integrates economies
protecting traders from a brigand's raids
there's revenue to claim on shipping fees
when continents are linked by webs of trade
new Alexandrias sprung on the map
where legionnaires shacked up with local brides
and even deserts proved an easy gap
for infantry to compass in their stride
the greatest realm the world had ever seen
was his when he was scarce more than a teen      

who fail to learn from history

"but this time's diff'rent" everybody knows
this climb in value's never gonna stop!
the old refrain so feverishly goes
until at last the bubble's gotta pop
for tulips or for houses, the same rule:  
the value's what a buyer's game to pay
you've only gotta find one bigger fool
to pump the market each step of the way
at equilibrium, all trade's for needs
and speculation couldn't make a dime
you'd live in houses where you hold the deed
but speculators need change over time
where labor's not as valuable as cash
the system's always prone to boom and crash     

Yitro

the public revelation shook the ground
and no two could agree quite what they'd heard
cacaphony of light and flash of sound
as each strove to accept the Perfect Word
but Moses got a private interview
encountering the godhead face-to-face
without a warning to respect the fence
as he knelt barefoot in that sacred space
"two Judaisms" quoth Maimonides
'cause some intuit while the rest need rules
two revelations, but reality
is One beneath the sundry paths and tools
each brain is captive in its bony pod
but intellect soars free to reach towards God

upwards

Charles Darwin challenged Plato's somber rule
that ev'ry pathway forward must slope down
a hundred generations had been fooled
but entropy sets only global bounds
still order can be increased in one spot
externalizing costs to somewhere far
like life emerging on our home blue dot
remotely powered by our fusing star
no Ideal Plan is needed for design
of organisms each fit to its role
selecting random changes over time
dispenses with Creator and with Soul
ditch teleology and study genes
'cause propagating's all that living means

secrets

Top-Secret"'s a sub-set of "classified"
to those of us who never did Law School
but all's in play when one's intent to hide
a history of disregarding rules
for Bill, fellatio need not be "sex"
and Hillary knows how to split a hair
all Clintons master lawyers' dialects
before they graduate from the highchair
the self-inflicted wound is Clinton style
the private server served no large plan
just one more needless insult on the pile
to the intelligence of madam's fans
a scandal served up on a silver plate
could tip the balance of Hillary's fate

secrets

Top-Secret"'s a sub-set of "classified"
to those of us who never did Law School
but all's in play when one's intent to hide
a history of disregarding rules
for Bill, fellatio need not be "sex"
and Hillary knows how to split a hair
all Clintons master lawyers' dialects
before they graduate from the highchair
the self-inflicted wound is Clinton style
the private server served no large plan
just one more needless insult on the pile
to the intelligence of madam's fans
a scandal served up on a silver plate
could tip the balance of Hillary's fate

archipelago II

each one an island staring at his screen
although they're side by side on the same node
you're never gonna socialize that teen
until he learns to court as well as code
technology can hinder or advance
one's integration in the larger world
but keyboard's can't connect one to romance
or teach one how to woo a pretty girl
a child should move beyond parallel play
to integrate a school- and work- cohort
to care what someone else has got to say
builds teams for life no less than teams for sport
to meet at least one other face-to-face
is still the way to propagate the race   

archipelago

each one an island staring at his screen
although they're side by side on the same node
you're never gonna socialize that teen
until he learns to court as well as code
pornography stands in for social life
although he feels the urge to find a  mate
he lacks the skill to someday get a wife    
but gets the latest apps to masturbate
a child should move beyond parallel play
to integrate a school- and work- cohort
to care what someone else has got to say
builds teams for life no less than teams for sport
to meet at least one other face-to-face
is still the way to propagate the race   

institutional oppression

"lead poisoning"'s used euphemistically
to circumlocute deaths in a gang war
but Snyder saw a way to shave a fee
corrupting service to Flint's urban poor
lead plumbing irrigated Nero's digs
and under-laid New York's first cobbled streets
but now it's found unsafe for even pigs
for all intent and purpose, obsolete
that Black Lives Matter is self-evident
and so our constitution testifies
but when you trace how tax dollars get spent
that high-fallutin' language sounds like lies
'til Black and White are treated all the same
the Press must shine a light on Flint's rigged game        

shadow of the man

Bill Clinton foreswore meat and lost some weight
but something more went missing in the deal
although as years roll by he's looking great
his passions gutter out on vegan meals
the slickest politician of his age
whose tool-kit only lacked in self-restraint
diminished now he's turned this newest page
less penitent and more aspiring saint
the mind's still sharp, but voters crave the charm
that resonated with both North and South
seducing both the board-room and the farm
with honeyed tongue in such a gifted mouth
deployed to rout the specter of defeat
in Iowa, that battle's waged on meat

the consciousness problem

distributive computing works for ants
of whom none bears the cost of a big brain
from individuals as dumb as plants
emergent traits are dev'lish to explain
just as each neuron is determinate
as surely as a gate for 'and' or 'or'
it's only testing them in aggregate
that we're confronted with something that's more
just what's a "mind" and what's it mean to "know"
persists as a conundrum of our age
epistemologists push to and fro
but can't agree on what defines a sage
"what's consciousness?" consumed sir Francis Crick
to build a mind from neurons' a neat trick

circus leaving town

the brothers Bundy have been nabbed and jailed
and their insurgency will fade away
a bad idea that on its merits failed
we heard and laughed at what they had to say
the Waco siege debacle satisfied  
the fools who screamed for resolution quick
but innocents as well as guilty died
when Janet Reno carried the big stick
Loretta Lynch knows time will treat her well
the Sodhouse insurrection's got no legs
the hotheads will cool off in a strait cell
where we decant our social lees and dregs
as wannabe John Browns pack up their tents
the bird preserve slips back to somnolence   

the centre cannot hold

Trump makes it personal to shun debates
when he can't dictate who controls the mikes
campaign of prejudices and of hates
instead of policies the public likes
his int'rests don't align with his core crowd's
he has no love for 99 percent
but they're enamored just because he's loud
and he exploits them just because they're dense
if you want substance, this is not the place
the ClownCar runs on bile more than on facts
while Sanders runs the issue-driven race
the GOP baits Mexicans and Blacks
the backroom bosses hang their heads and cringe
their party's been delivered to the Fringe       

the shape of things to come

electric cars will wean the world from gas
because they've just got fewer moving parts
complexity's a vestige of the past
however dear that purr was to our hearts
by freely using sun or wind or nukes
and not relying on a single fuel
both Ford and Daimler seem short-sighted kooks
more "obsolete" than "charmingly old-school"
a better battery would seal the deal
to daisy-chain 'phone cells is passing strange
electrics will have much broader appeal
when each charge gets four hundred miles of range
in time, we'll fix the infrastructure bug
I've seen the future, and it's got a plug

a more perfect union

a microcosm of America
must capture immigrants into the mix
less lily-white and old that Iowa
more urban (not to call all farmers hicks)
each party's free to choose its nominee
by free and fair elections, or by lot
and only when it's down to two or three
the People pick from what's left in the pot
imperfect system save that all the rest
fill out the range from 'bad' to 'really stinks!'
but if we'll never prove one system's best
it's clear that what we've wrought has got its kinks
as long as we must treat Mammon as "speech"
democracy's forever out of reach

Time

'til Harrison's chronometer came through
a sailor on the seas could only know
his latitude but not his longitude
or how much farther he might have to go
the moons of Jupiter can work on land
but they're too rarely glimpsed when one's at sea
the function of a watch's second-hand
is better served by Swiss horology
'til then, sea-routes were mostly laid due-West
to strike a landmark then trace down the coast
and even when one knew where winds were best
he dared not plot a course to get the most
a world with GPS can't realize
what Harrison produced to claim his prize

vayigash II

his brothers can't know Joseph laid the trap
nor even that he isn't lying dead
to set up Benjamin to take the rap
for which Yehuda pleads to serve instead
it's Joseph--playing God--directs this show
and Judah gets to ponder a new pit
to sin again and none need ever know
that as a brother, he'd been so unfit
no restitution can give back the years
elapsed in which the fam'ly was estranged
and yet teshuvah prompts a flood of tears
when each acknowledges the other's changed
with time and life, Yehuda's grown some sense
the shirking putz steps forward as a mensch

Shemot

once off the track, the bush is not consumed
it's time elapsed that grinds all things to ash
the end's foretold, that track leads to his tomb
but insight--when it comes--comes in a flash
in exile, Moses finds what calms the mind
while tending goats, he's moved to go unshod
each straying kid is worth the sweat to find
and finding it, he's face-to-face with God
to meditate and act take diff'rent gears
and shifting seamlessly takes a rare touch
to keep the goal in sight despite all fears
engaging with the merest dab of clutch
tomorrow looms the epic test of wills
but in the present moment, all is still

therapon

when Enkidu discovered sex is fun,
he left his Eden, never to go back.
Cast out like Adam, once the deed was done;
his brother wolves reject him from the pack.
The woman's favors didn't mean a thing;
she'd done for him like any other trick.
But now he's caught the eye of Uruk's king
who's totally enamored of this hick.
As close as Achilleus to his friend,
these two would do what one would never dare.
Sweet partnership that only Death could part,
when Gilgamesh, bereft would taste despair.
A buddy screen-play from a distant age
still plucks the heartstrings with each time-worn page.           

it's all about Donald

Trump's narcissism makes him a poor bet
to hold the codes that could start WWIII
a willingness to forgive and forget
has got to undergird diplomacy
his envoys would be dancing in a cage
not free to bend our path away from  war
'cause his default is flying in a rage
when no one kow-tows as if he's the Czar
a wiser head lets options multiply
so everyone can claim that he has won
partitioning an ever-bigger pie
instead of grabbing all at point of gun
it's not enough that he's got lots of means
we need a mensch and not a knave of Queens

the worst form except for all the rest II

a neo-fascist rages from the stump
that we must gird ourselves with wall and tower
and blindly bind our fates to Donald Trump
beyond the office's accustomed power
complete security cannot be had
'though we betray our ev'ry liberty
it's meaningless to rule what's good or bad
if citizens' decisions are not free
is Wisdom found by polling the unschooled?
might not a well-taught king know what is best?
but rulers serve their interests, not the ruleds'
if they can't be dragged down at our behest
democracy's the poorest form of all
(if you've a better one, gimme a call!)

the worst for except for all the rest

a neo-fascist rages from the stump
that we must gird ourselves with wall and tower
and blindly bind our fates to Donald Trump
beyond the office's accustomed power
complete security cannot be had
'though we betray our ev'ry liberty
it's meaningless to rule what's good or bad
if our deliberations can't be free
is Truth the mean of ev'ry polling set?
might not a well-taught king know what is best?
but rulers tend to grab what they can get
if they can't be dragged down at our behest
democracy's the poorest form of all
(if you've a better one, gimme a call!)

dumb and dumber

the Palin Iowa machine's for Trump
as good a network as one could have found
all tied up in one homey ribboned lump
to turn out rabid voters on the ground
comedians smell blood and pray for change
'cause 'though he aced all metrics on the books
they'd have more fun lampooning "rich and strange"
Obama gave the LateNite wags scant hooks
there's time enough--the two could still part ways--
attention-span was never Palin's suit
she's never worked as hard as Tina Fey
to see a project of such size bear fruit
the GOP's unglued at all the seams
as We the People flock to Bernie's dreams

beshalach II

the God of Exodus cares for His own
and Pharaoh's toast for getting in his path
in caring for his Chosen Jews alone
He manifest less love than tow'ring wrath
the Talmud knows one God who serves for all
so even Pharaoh's kin, if less than kind
'though Egypt's firstborn still must take the fall
theodicy must trouble a Jew's mind
if God is good, who made the Pharaoh bad?
or is an independent Force at play?
no satisfying answer's yet been had
'though seders last until the break of day
however much the goyim find it odd
makhloket's where good Jews encounter God

beshalach

the God of Exodus cares for His own
and Pharaoh's toast for getting in his path
in caring for his Chosen Jews alone
He manifest less love than tow'ring wrath
the Talmud knows one God who serves for all
so even Pharaoh's blood's gotta be red
'though Egypt's firstborn still must take the fall
theodicy wracks pious brains with dread
if God is good, who made the Pharaoh bad?
or is an independent Force at play?
no satisfying answer's yet been had
'though seders last until the break of day
however much the goyim find it odd
makhloket's where good Jews encounter God

geopolitical

extractive industries tore up the West
the landscape's a cartoon of broken health
while foisting all the costs onto the rest
the Few monopolized a nation's wealth
Sistani voiced the wisdom of the East:
a nation's minerals belong to all!
so Rumsfeld heeded him not in the least
but gave his ExxonMobil friends a call
the elements of Eden form the Earth
but fair apportionment has been our bane
none need face penury by right of birth
if Justice were the goal instead of Gain
if planet Earth is not to be Hell-bound
those fossil fuels must be left in the ground

Chaye Sarah

the well-scene found a bride, but lacked a groom,
to shower gifts upon the blushing lass.
Instead, a servant must contract her doom,
and gold attested to the suitor's class.
when Laban put the question in her ear
would she betroth the guy what sent such wealth
Rebecca answered "I'm so out of here!"
and barely pause to wish them all good health.
The hospitality of Laban's tents
had come to feel constrictive at the seams
and she'd been thinking it was time she went
to find the distant husband of her dreams.
For Isaac who could never leave the Land,
a bride fell from her camel to the sand.

Commissar Wasserman Schultz

when Wasserman Schultz slated the debates
she fretted Bernie might shine in their light
so artfully, she matched the playoff dates
when football viewership is at its height
exposure benefits the underdog
and makes it hard to execute her plan
to blur his message as if in a fog
portraying more an ogre than a man
but Bernie's partisans are energized
they'll cut a ski-day short to catch the show
to tabulate all Clinton gaffes and lies
or any line that smacks of a low blow
no coronation ball awaits Her Grace
the People have a champion in this race

Sodhouse

naively waiting for the Folk to rise
the Bundy Circus camps on Sodhouse lane
the triumph that seems certain in their eyes
must surely compensate the passing pain
the "real America" knows they're the just
'though Eastern Liberals write snotty 'blogs
about a bunkhouse steamed up with their lust
and Rick Santorum's fantasies of dogs
how dare the Feds claim title to the grounds
appropriated from the tribe Paiute
declaring grazing to be out of bounds
unless they pay their fees in meek tribute
pent up, they pass long days watching the 'tube
but nights glide swiftly, hastened with free lube

Cruz's game

Ted Cruz casts veiled aspersions on the Jews
attributing Trump's rancor to "New York"
as if it's somehow sinister to choose
a hotdog made of beef and not of pork
at frequencies that only some can hear
he lashes followers into a rage
by fanning politics of hate and fear
his tantrums make George W. look sage
dog-whistle rhetoric plays to his base
but make no tort that one could prosecute
he never quite attacks one's faith or race
but those with ears to hear perceive his roots
a Cuban scoring points on immigrants
is making bank on public ignorance

all froth

Santorum wants you googling his name
to reassure him his bid's not a joke
but he was never really in this game
he's only here as punchline to the joke
enlightenment's the problem in his eyes
when he's not ranting about dogs and kink
inspiring voters to mistrust his lies
when they get uppitty enough to think
until he gets aroused by man-on-dog
he sulks as if he thinks he might get spanked
and shuffling through his speech notes in a fog
he whines in fairness, he'd be higher ranked
as Trump and Christie bellow strut and shout
Santorum's inexorably squeezed out

weighty matters

to mediate all gravity's effects
a particle from mass must perturb all
not merely when they're close enough for sex
or ev'ry time that apples chance to fall
and Symmetry allows its Anti-, too
repelling what it can't annihilate
a counterpart to Kepler's cosmic glue
imbuing everything with mass with weight
or spacetime may just dimple where there's mass
to act on passing light as would a  lens
like cushions take the imprint of an ass
our ref'rence frame itself is that which bends
refining how the universe behaves
our gravity equations may need waves

so free

Lynn Hill free-climbed the Nose of Capitan
where Warren Harding toiled with bolts and tools
surpassing the best done by any man
as if the gods of yesteryear were fools

no etriers or fixed ropes bore her weight
her gear was just protection from a fall
as she surpassed the Valley's climbing greats
in feats of steely fingers on the Wall

if now a soloist forsakes the rope
does he serve progress? Or embrace despair?
in pressing upwards does he misplace hope
departing Mother Earth to tread on air?

his fanbase watches Honnold climb and sighs
but Alex grabs the gusto ere he dies

rock on

I'm afraid this one makes hash of the history

first sun that warms el Capitan each day
must glint on bolt-stubs Royal Robbins chopped
reminders as they slowly rust away
of Harding's ego's size before it popped
but Robbins still relied on climbing aid
repeating the Dawn Wall by Harding's route
until Lynn Hill would  knock it down a grade
all dreams of climbing free there had seemed moot
a woman's hands brought more than strength and knack
to climbs that stumped the masters at that game
to bear her weight in vanishing-thin cracks
would put her muscled Camp-Four mates to shame

if Honnold would now climb it without gear
must we conclude he's wholly without fear?

We the People

the GOP's contenders have no clue
of what the trenches look like from the ranks
when Congress has no time for me and you
who can't contribute millions like the Banks
a government unmoored sits on the Hill
consumed with raising money night and day
that serves the Bankers, not the Public Will
and legislation's strictly pay-to-play
each generation must rebel again
if Thomas Jefferson read things aright
if we're to be a nation of free men
not subjects to the One Percenters' might
republic's ours to lose, or ours to keep
who sows with demogogues will tyrants reap        

Butz

farm subsidies distort economies
one seeks in vain a rhyme or reason why
incentives don't align with any need
'cause government keeps pumping the supply

Earl Butz was told to bring farm votes in line
as if democracy were on the block
Dick Nixon didn't need a grand design
his  tactics were unprincipled, ad hoc

now corporations grow fat on the dole
as fam'ly farmers sell out in distress
each harvest finds them further in the hole
as more and more produce produces less

mechanization changed the face of wealth
and undercut democracy's core health

what's sex for? II

each bdelloid rotifer lives on the brink
because its genes are everywhere the same
the clone as one could quickly go extinct
and abstinence would have to be to blame
the Red Queen's Race is always neck and neck
as pathogens and hosts have to compete
so most ditch half our genes each round of sex
to keep a few contenders in the meet
a mammal unlike them exists in flux
our alleles are--at best--semiconserved
but so are those of whomever he fucks
the fittest--over eons--will be served
but changeless rotifers, windborne like seed
forsook the carnal pleasures of the deed

treacherous

Ashfaq Kayyani played a double game:
Musharref got to be the Head of State
positioned to take almost all the blame
while Army was still Master of State's fate
Haqqani assets still drew salaries
as patron he made sure they were well-armed
our taxes paid for what he gave out free
duplicitous false friend wrought our great harm
assuring us he'd bring bin-Laden's head
as token that we have nothing to fear
as if he were to our best int'rests wed
but sponsored terror strikes into Kashmir
AfPak remains where empires go to die
naive Americans conceive not why

perspective

a thornbush burning makes no spectacle
to hold a trembling nation rapt in awe
but starting intimate was suitable
to turn Moshe to study what he saw
explosive wonders mesmerize a crowd
and get the multitude into the street
but revelation need not be so loud
to reach a  humble shepherd on bare feet
against the cosmos we're the merest blip
asserting we're creation's lofty goal
a species on a diva's ego-trip
insisting ours must be the starring role
a still small voice that's only in your head
is all the hint you'll get that God's not dead

Makhloket

what stiffened Pharaoh's heart against the Jews
was he the object or the actor here
what blame adheres if he's not free to choose
that 'God is just' in this case isn't clear
each seder stirs the family to fight
about a narrative that's long in tooth
but what's a sacred scripture if not right
and how's it sacred if it's not the Truth
the questions animate the seder meal
four cups of wine fan charges to and fro
and 'though the story's old, the passion's real
how much compassion do we owe our foe
the problems stand, too graphic to refute
God's brought into each seder through dispute

coattails

Karl Rove predicts Republicans get shlonged
if Donald Trump's the headline on their slate
that each contested race will turn out wrong
as Bernie and his party dominate
Hispanic voters register in droves
to show their disapproval of Trump's bile
and neither Lee Atwater nor Karl Rove
can pass his noxious substance off as "style"
the Sanders base is energized and fit
believing CHANGE is possible at last
while Hillary's restaging her old skit
it's Bernie for the future, not the past
both White House and still more, Capitol Hill
may yet be made to serve the public will

what's sex for?

the Red Queen's Race exacts a fearsome price
as ev'ry sword as cause spurs shield effects
and ev'ry virtue brings its hidden vice
compelling us to cast our dice at sex
parthenogenesis would rule the day
if not for pathogens and parasites
but if the hosts' genomes were all the same
each plague might devastate them in the night
and so we throw out half our genes each round
and trust the ones we love to do the same
reshuffling makes a deck that's new and sound
to let our kids survive to play the game
our genes live on 'though as their hosts, we die
and Darwin speaks to "how" but never "why"

lonely Ted

some inner demon tells Ted Cruz he's right
and makes him preach it here and everywhere
glib rhetoric but lacking in insight
to why his backers lash out in despair
he kisses babies and they start to cry
as if they smelled a predatory beast
their parents try to shield them from this guy
'cause those who know Ted best respect him least
an ego-drived bid that makes no sense
to be our nation's First Canadian
so confident the electorate's dense
they'd take him for a leader among men
for Cruz, each race achieves the same old end
to snarl through life and never make a friend