cold-read

Trump wants to punish women who abort
then checks in with his handlers, who dissent
it's doctors should be hauled before the court
while she goes free (as long as she repents)
he's making it up as he goes along
and dares the journalists to catch him out
the columnist who dares to show he's wrong
would see his livelihood cast into doubt
the Dunning-Kruger paradigm writ big
the guy can't comprehend that he is dense
although he's just a fascist blow-hard pig
he never thinks to doubt his competence
Americans are taken by his spiel
that hides the emptiness beneath the deal

ulterior

John Erlichman concedes the War on Drugs
was targeting the Hippies and the Blacks
the propaganda painting them as "thugs"
was just the least of Tricky Dick's attacks
he's gone, but Dick's campaign still maims and kills
and feeds the bloated prison industry
their lobbyists infest Capitol Hill
to guard their jobs by writing policy
economies can't run on those in jail
they don't produce and cannot innovate
their swelling ranks explain Why Nations Fail
and most--once out--too soon recidivate
we criminalized booze and paid the price
for making mobsters wealthy on our vice

the quest of the unicorn

Elasmotherium haunts Russians' dreams
although we ate the last one long ago
the unicorn those little girls esteem
bore one straight horn (but not a single toe)
still, shamans dance with smilodons at night
long after we have ceased to be their prey
our minds fill in ancestral inner-sight
when we ingest enough MDMA
the mega-fauna of another age
still graven on the pathways where we think
succumbed to our grand-sires' flint-tipped rampage
and now are--overwhelmingly--extinct
we slew them then and lived to rue it now
who knows--some might be tastier than cow

Divine Right

Authority drives Dante's epic verse
betrayal strikes him as the basest crime
the rights of kings who rule his universe
portrayed as if they're constant over time
Enlightenment throws all that upside-down
where citizens are masters of all things
the deference expected for the Crown
can't bend our knee, now we've thrown off our kings
O brave new world, scaled to Humanity
where ethics bind the high just like the low
new values by which to judge history
don't swerve because a tyrant tells us so
Political Philosophy's a whore
to trust such weak foundations at its core         

trending

her polls are flat, while Bernie's only rise
inevitability slips away
the RedState primaries were Clinton's highs
but New York's delegates are now in play
the WallStreet bankers know she's got their back
and lavish money on her stale campaign
some through the front-door and more through the PAC
by bundlers who know how to make it rain
outside the party, she has scant appeal
while Independents flock to hear the Jew
his "socialism"'s just a new New Deal
they're disenchanted with Kissinger's crew
the more she's known, the less she's seen to fit
a nation wroth with bankers bleeding it

unlikely bedfellows

"to copulate with [Trump]" can't turn Ted's crank
if we believe his statements to the Press
to share a bed seems harder than to wank
and either way, there's bound to be a mess
where Ted comes from, they don't boast trophy wives
they borrow what they need in the igloo
Canadians share all within their hives
and sneer at what our One Percenters do
devoid of substance, it's a schoolyard brawl
and none's the wiser after such debate
instead of honey, Ted's tongue drips with gall
the only value shared is that of hate
"BrokeBack" explored bedfellows on the range
but couldn't touch these two for passing strange         

two Judaisms

re-plotting God, what had been "up" is "in"
there's no One in the sky to keep the books
we're on our own, defining "crime" and "sin"
autonomy's more awesome than it looks
no meddling God intrudes to work His will
eternal laws run steadfast on their tracks
no Devil gets the blame for those who kill
this universe gets by on just the facts
responsibility's an awesome weight
that children shirk as ofen as they can
how grand to be the masters of our fate
if once we'll wear the yoke to be a man
morality comes only from inside
once we've grown up enough to no more hide       

this man

haYetzer Rah led  David off the path
a lusty king whose ethics sometimes bent
but Nathan hit him with the heavens' wrath
and he was man enough to then repent
a funny sort of model sages paint
imperfect in his all-too-human ways
the best of kings was plainly not a saint
his good and bad in equal parts displayed
Uriah's gone; he's most sincerely dead
while David's held up as a paragon
a heinous crime expunged from off his head
(but chaos does ensue among his sons)
how like a god, discerning wrong from right
how like a child, in terror of the night        

pulling teeth

ben Gurion embraced the UN plan
a blueprint for partition and TwoState
explicit when this enterprise began
'though Bibi keeps on putting off the date
no neighbor held a veto at that start
what Truman signed had all he force of Law
but Bibi now puts horse behind the cart
and no one balks him on his logic's flaw
"Peace-First" just mires us in the status quo
while Settlers build obstructions they call "facts"
the future's bleak if that's the way we go
no non-State actor can enforce peace-pacts
'though Yoni's the war-hero the world loved
his brother talks in circles 'til he's shoved         

guns, germs, and steel

where smallpox raged a continent lay bare
a ghastly simulation of "pristine"
for colonists to plant our claimstakes here
it's awkward to explore what that must mean 
whole civilizations beneath our feet
whose heirs would claim what we now call our own
 what title-search can ever be complete
that takes as gift what was--at best--a loan
no Tacitus or Caesar wrote the book
of what we'd now decry as genocides
to sleep at night, we've got to over-look
the grave that our suburban ranch house hides
the only simple claims are Eskimos'
who didn't kill a soul to claim their snow 

party time

the Book of Esther plays out in Galut
its stature in the canon's surely odd
from top to bottom, right down to the root
the Purim story does not mention God
what moved the Rabbis to include this text
while other languish as "apocrypha"
a Baccanal of slaughter, drink, and sex
seems awkward next to sefer Vayikra
a carnival as Winter yields to Spring
to turn rules of decorum upside-down
a day to mock a boss, a prince, a king
and neutralize old acids as we clown
a blow-out celebrates the year's last moon
 with pastries  we'll abjure for Pesach soon         

brotherhood of hate

"close ranks!" Jeb bleats "we've got to back Ted Cruz!"
if Trump is not to hold us by the throat
that orange ape could find a way to lose
to Hillary if put to a fair vote
contested Senate seats could fall away
and Mitch could lose the chair he holds so dear
when states we thought were "safe" go back in play
if our slate's headed by this derriere
the lesser of two evils must be Ted
who's deferential to our donor class
to make this realtor our party's head
would be to show our over-lords our ass
he's not so bad (if you ignore his lies)
at least we all agree whom we despise   

trainwreck

Republicans behold the Trump machine
that used to lavish money on its guys
transformed into a fascist cult obscene
a font now not of dollars, but of lies
inspired to thrust himself onto the stage
instead of hiring someone else's voice
he lashes the electorate to rage
the poorly-educated people's choice
obstructionism's proudest monument
with no accomplishments of which to boast
unfit for any post in government
he struts and brays like Mussolini's ghost
what Gingrich spawned cannot be taken back
two locomotives head-on on one track       

realpolitik

four decades on, the DirtyWar still bleeds
where Kissinger slapped down his cynic's bet
way past what any statecraft strictly needs
endorsing that grim butcher Pinochet
the disappeareds' blood cries out from the earth
accusing those who waxed fat on the crimes
their black-swathed mothers still wait to be heard
'though dwindling with the onward march of Time
like Hegel's, Kissinger's ethics belong
on history's slag-heap, a worthless mess
denying that an action's "right" or "wrong"
set's monsters free to rule the wilderness
no sycophant of Henry's got the right
to plunge the world back into such a night         

masquerade

Trump's Christianity's a flimsy veil
that can't obscure his cult of naked greed
his policies are well beyond the Pale
for anyone adhering to Christ's creed
to share one's clothes with those less fortunate
instead of chasing ever-more excess
forever craving more than he can get
consigns the world to live on ever less
the Whore of Babylon sports orange hair
and brags she'll make our nation super-great
but it's a lie and there's no substance there
the karmic wage of hate is just more hate
a fascist gaily decked out in our flag
content the "Christian" vote is in the bag        

multiverse

if Smolin's right, the multiverse evolves
new universes springing from Black Holes
for ev'ry problem such a theory solves
we find ourselves no closer to our goals
horizons hide far more than we can see
'though 13 billion light-years might seem far
anthropic limits on what just can't be
need not apply beyond that furthest star
the more we learn, more mysteries abound
our hard-won constants might be local flukes
beyond the galaxies that we have found
a thousand life-forms might be eating nukes
improbably, both you and I exist
to mull cosmology as so much grist

dimensions

a tube-within-a-tube presumes 3-D
a gut would cleave a 2-D cell in two
constrained to such dimensionality
for 'in' and 'out' one orifice must do
one 'D' of Time plus three of Space makes four
in which we navigate our conscious lives
but what's a mind to do with seven more
when I can't even visualize five
StringTheory says we're looking at a brane
and hadrons don't deserve so large a role
but SuperSymmetry drives men insane
grad-students swallowed up like by Black Holes
this rabbit-hole could drive one 'round the bend
as guess piles on conjecture without end

internecine

a two-man race pits Trump against Ted Cruz
Republican OldGuard writhes in distress
with either one, their party's apt to lose
and leave them howling in the wilderness
obstructionism brought them to this pass
when voters grasped that no one's got their back
they pledged allegiance to the braying ass
and snubbed the latest Bush heir off the rack
the delegates are pledged for just one round
and then the backroom dealings can begin
they'd rally to a mongrel from the pound
before they'd let these two they so loathe win
the constellations whirl and rearrange
aligning for the Sanders bid and CHANGE

home to roost

Paul Ryan's base could split if Donald balks
but how to keep this jackass in the tent
if he's not nominee, the Donald walks
and Democrats can name a president
obstructionism got them in these straits
their voters want to throw the rascals out
less policies than scapegoats, lies, and hates
could cost them this election in a rout
his posture as the party's intellect
has put Paul Ryan in a sticky spot
the man the rabble seem bent to elect
has made the Speaker's seat abruptly hot
while party bosses play partisan games
our civic system's going down in flames

obstruction

McConnell moans Obama's playing games
to do his job as time is growing short
as if the GOP were not to blame
that we're short-handed on the Supreme Court
since Bork, each confirmation risks a war
where principle's eclipsed by spin and tricks
nostalgia for the way it was before
can't guide reform of broken politics
al-Odah fell outside of the Great Writ
until a higher court said it ain't so
but judging whether Garland's fit to sit
will need a shift in how the blowhards blow
the President "shall nominate"--that's law
however much it sticks in Mitch's craw

In the beginning

Inflation stretched the early cosmos flat
an isotropic slate on which to draw
and fluctuations acted upon that
accreting galaxies from quantum flaws
where Paley saw a deity's firm hand
astronomers perceived that we are free
no blueprint underlies a scheme so grand
the evidence is in the CMB
as gaps get filled, religion's province shrinks
our intellects trade myths for hard-won sense
creation stands revealed to one who thinks
without invoking God's intelligence
John's gospel starts it all with the great Word
but science makes that fable look absurd

storage

the Hydrogen economy's a joke
that makes the chemists wince and roll their eyes
it's perpetrated on the kind of folk
who don't care some must waft into the skies
a greenhouse gas more stark than CO2
that bleeds through steel as if it's barely there
the Miller-Urey primorial brew
is not compatible with breathing air
externalizing the container's weight
directs the gaze to density as fuel
but if one sums all columns on the slate
to claim it comes out "green" you'd be a fool
Aluminum's the high-density bet
but we're not out of Lithium (just yet)

kingdom coming

Dominionists align behind Ted Cruz
who mean to rule God's kingdom here on earth
they'll make no room for Muslims, Sikhs or Jews
who don't accord to Jesus his full worth
at once divine and human in one flesh
a paradigm for how their logic fails
when facts and prejudice demur to mesh
they swallow hook and line from Roger Ailes
their incoherent slogans are unfurled
while mainstream Christians tear their hair and grieve
since Jesus claimed no kingdom in this world
it's hard to puzzle out what they believe
a Holy War on arcane points of creeds
just doesn't seem like what our Country needs

...a failure to communicate

asynchronous control let problems grow
what one chair does, the other countermands
unless his NumberTwo would tell him so
the captain thinks the jumbo's in his hands
the auto-pilot dealt with simple stuff
'til icing took the pitot-tubes off-line
all whited out, conditions more than rough
while watching the altimeter unwind
they think they're diving, rather than at stall
despite the rating some instructor wrote
he doesn't get that pulling back means "fall"
and 'though the captain's right, each gets one vote
AirFrance co-pilot wasn't worth a crap
who kept the stick pinned firmly in his lap

how are the mighty fallen

for Trump, what's best is in the mythic past
a neo-fascist pining over Rome
no planks are solid, no principles fast
(but just you try to take away his comb!)
the cult of personality is all
just "trust me" and don't bother with the law
his rise could mean democracy must fall
"one man, one vote, one time"'s the built-in flaw
the revolution Jefferson endorsed
to pry our Fathers from the despot's hand
spurned and betrayed 'though no one has been forced
we've spawned this monster in our native land
our Constitution's trampled like a rag
by fascists on parade, wrapped in our flag

exceptionalism

el-Sisi's a convenient autocrat
compliant to his Saudi masters' will
a half-domestic military cat
who butchers whom his patrons bid him kill
democracy was nipped off in the bud
for fear their Arab brothers would grow bold
he washed the streets of Cairo down in blood
and hopes the opposition parties fold
hope springs eternal in the human breast
and people everywhere want what we've got
we condescend to tell them what is best
but crush them if they would improve their lot
'til we treat Arabs like they're people, too
no neighborhood is safe to be a Jew

bedfellows

what loathsome toad squats at the Donald's heel
whose donors pulled the plug on campaign loot
aswamp in debt, obliged to cut a deal
Chris Christie gets to lick the Donald's boot
the clever tongue that founded his career
now serves his master's unnatural lust
and once a week, he takes it up the rear
a business-model older than the dust
strange acquisition as Trump's latest toy
he'd never fit into a cabinet
and when the luster's off this Jersey boy
he'll find the Donald's bought a younger pet
Trump loves to bray that he has classy taste
but fine food thrown to Christie's just a waste

Shemini II

the gold menorah's holy through and through
a symbol of  the tabernacle rites
 illuminating, for one vested Jew
the pomp and ceremony at their heights

combustion thereon's just a flame profane
ignited ere the Presence there abode
relit each eventide come sun or rain
to execute the Levitical code
mizbeach gets ignition from on High
that wasn't struck by any mortal hand
the flame the Levites never must let die
the Sanctuary's most enduring brand
distinctive fires the Cohanim arrange
and who's to say which one of them is "strange"       

another voice

a camping trip with dad could do us good
away from mom and flocks and chores and tents
he's got the fire and I've the dry split wood
was I supposed to bring the sacrament?
his promise doesn't make sense in this life
although our little clan has all we need
fulfillment would require I have a wife
to propagate his values and his seed
if I'm to die, how's that supposed to work?
mom's always told me I'm his only one
since he kicked out that woman and her jerk
where's he--so old--to get another son?
we two alone, my old man's flipped his lid
convinced that I'm the sacrificial kid

aish zarah

the gold menorah's holy through and through
a symbol of the tabernacle cult
 illuminating for one vested Jew
exactly what it is that deus vult
combustion thereon's just a flame profane
ignited ere the Presence there abode
relit each eventide come sun or rain
to execute the Levitical code
mizbeach gets ignition from on High
that wasn't struck by any mortal hand
the flame the Levites must never let die
the Sanctuary's most enduring brand
distinctive fires the Cohanim arrange
and who's to say which one of them is "strange"       

pathological II

Trump's minions seem to lack the gag-reflex
they'll swallow junk he feeds them, small or big
so nonchalant of likely ill-effects
like they can't tell he's such a fascist pig
what's unfulfilled that they'd embrace his creed
a xenophobe who marries immigrants
can't offer substance that would meet their needs
like trying to make supper of breath mints
another Donald may yet lurk off-stage
more willing to negotiate, less crass
in touch with more emotions than blind rage
who's merely masquerading as an ass
a monster spawned by Gingrich and his friends
may spell the GOP's unseemly end

Purim

the year's last  moon hangs low above the drink
a gleaming garnish to the bounding brine
it's barely glimpsed before it has to sink
Time's Arrow marked off by this cyclic sign
a final fling, once more to wax and wane
but first a ball of alcohol and masks
before another year swirls down the drain
to clear the desks for Pesach's cleaning tasks
the year churns 'round and we've advanced a pace
the cyclic coupled to the linear
by looking at one or the other face
we make Life's arc seem somewhat friendlier
trajectories make sense when read in tracks
we only get to see them looking back

pathological

Trump's backers seem to lack the gag-reflex
they's swallow any lie, however big
enraptured like he were the god of sex
and not some sort of uncouth fascist pig
what motivates devotion to this clown
what psychic needs were left unsatisfied
a working class that's been so beaten down
subsists on rage when love and hope have died
the poorly-educated love their man
and he returns their sentiments his way
by screwing them in any way he can
unless they bring the means for pay-to-play
a populace so ignorant and crass
that they line up to take it up the ass

reborn II

the compost-bin makes loam from kitchen dregs
whose nutrients make yellow daffodils
and bunnies strain to lay those pastel eggs
as longer days dispel the dark and chill
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
and blossoms blaze where there'd been slush and frost
botanic gems bedeck the hills with bling
to lure a pollinator, damn the cost!
the resurrection's played out by the Earth
Persephone or Mithras fit as well
as Christians' tale of death and then rebirth
and no one needs to ever rot in Hell
let's dance for Easter but dispense with Lent
life's far too short to be so grimly spent       

flights of fancy

across the sea, a footpath paved in gold
leads flights of fancy towards the setting sun
imagination, if not well-controlled
can slip its leash and take off at a run
might not a ship--despite what's oft observed--
keep straight its course, defying gravity
Cartesian grid instead of one that's curved
could ply the whale-road towards infinity
but then the sun's below horizon's mark
and even as the sky sheds its last gleam
the seeming pavement fades into the dark
just as the upper hemisphere's stars teem
the moment's past, the notion seems insane
and just these cryptic verses here remain

who's driving?

a nation in the thrall of its elite
elects whomever pundits say it should
forget the organizers in the street
the media will tell you who is good
democracy requires we never blink
digesting all the issues of the day
republics teeter ever on the brink
when plutocrats have masses in their sway
the media are mirrors of our state
reflecting propaganda back at us
inviting us to meekly delegate
our sovereignty and dumbly ride the bus
but patriots chastise a state gone wrong
and still it's We the People who are strong

reborn

the compost-bin recycles kitchen dregs
to make the loam that nurtures daffodils
and bunnies strain to lay those pastel eggs
as longer days dispel the dark and chill
the monochrome of Winter yields to Spring
and blossoms blaze where there'd been slush and frost
botanic gems bedeck the hills with bling
to lure a pollinator, damn the cost!
the resurrection's played out by the Earth
Persephone or Mithras fit as well
as Christians' tale of death and then rebirth
and no one needs to ever rot in Hell
let's dance for Easter but dispense with Lent
life's far too short to be so grimly spent