feckless

five times, our Congress voted to make war
a meager tally over all these years
it's not our legislators who are more
inclined to launch us in that vale of tears
executives see opportunity
to rally fresh-faced youths around their flags
then practice their ersatz sanctimony
when one in five comes home in body-bags
but manufacturers wax fat on arms
and markets multiply when there is strife
their own sons aren't in the path of harm
let someone else's boy pay with his life
since "Schechter Poultry" they can't delegate
but neither do they deign to legislate

viral fad

the salivary gland is target two
if rabies virus is to propagate
but first, to co-opt what its victims do
the CNS is where we cogitate
slow stages, up the axon to the brain
infection festers like a creeping tide
each neuron in the slow transmission chain
left DNA bread-crumbs before they died
whole neural pathways picked out in stark red
for those who read the antibody signs
as nerve-cells become crippled, if not dead
a mapping tool for brains, if not for minds
Louis Pasteur's vaccine's still pretty cool
but his pest's now nerve-mapper's trendy tool

rumors II

Trump's spreading rumors about Clinton's health
that have no basis in reality
but questioning his claims to untold wealth
sparks outrage from his loyal cottery

unfounded rumors are as good as facts
when no one's gonna check your wildest claim
they take the Donald's word that he pays tax
(and if he didn't, Hillary's to blame)
his own brain tumor's probably benign
an indolent fat mass between his ears
that hasn't given any hint or sign
that he won't last a couple of more years
by his age, FDR was in the ground
but Donald's looking--relatively--sound

carbuncle

this abscess that is Trump needs to be lanced
the pus and bigotry scrubbed out and burned
this demagogue that holds his mob entranced
discarded like a rotten fish you'd spurn

but journalism's rapier has grown blunt
the rabble's trained to view it with distrust
they only tune in for the circus stunts
the Fourth Estate's dissolving into rust
time was, it took real skill to hold a crowd
and arguments that formed a policy
but scared White men like tough guys to get loud
defending privilege as "Liberty"
but now, "our" DNC choose a dull tool
to purge our nation of this noxious fool

debridement stings

this abscess that is Trump needs to be lanced
the pus and bigotry all scrubbed away
this demagogue that holds his mob entranced
can't stand forever on his feet of clay
but journalism's rapier has grown blunt
the rabble's trained to view it with distrust
they only tune in for the circus stunts
the Fourth Estate's dissolving into rust
time was, it took real skill to hold a crowd
and arguments that formed a policy
but scared White men like tough guys to get loud
defending privilege as "Liberty"
"our" DNC's selected a dull tool
to purge our nation of this noxious fool

Raygun's legacy

The poorly-educated love the clown
whose little words and even smaller hands
incite them to tear the whole system down
in terms a working-dog would understand.
"The government's the problem" Reagan crowed
and maybe he believed the words he spoke.
At least that's what the teleprompter showed
and no one told the geezer that's a joke.
Since Gingrich, not a lick of work gets done
throughout the calendar, or 'round the clock
unless you pay to play in Washington
the nation's business stalls out in gridlock.
A vote for Trump's a vote for what can't work
but some still seem enamored of the jerk.

Cyrano

if Cyrano loved Christian, none can say
it wasn't one of Edmond Rostand's themes
the literary guidelines of his day
precluded any whiff of such  queer themes
the three-way conversation in the night
beneath the balcony was surely chaste
it's when her beau had climbed up to that height
her chaperone must light a lamp in haste
a poet's poet, high above the herd
exalted language in all its effects
as if two souls can only meet in words
discounting youthful beauty and hot sex
still stuck on Christian, mourning what was dead
she never took her one true love to bed

Ameritrice

the Appennines shrugged off the quaint hill-town
a thousand years of masonry is dust
like time accelerated, all falls down
as tremors rearrange the local crust
the Shaker of the Earth sleeps fitfully
and isn't limited to his sea-bed
each episode in the orogeny
sets Church Bells ringing as they toll the dead
as Europe's rammed by Africa's long arm
the Alps uplift and Italy subducts
what's built in stone is in the path of harm
and government seismologists get fucked
Eternal City on transient hills
can't duck geology, and all its ills

newts unlimited

neoteny keeps dogs big-eyed and cute
adults retain a suite of puppy traits
a bit like an adult Mexican newt
with awesome powers to regenerate
an axolotl keeps its stem-cells primed
to differentiate from stem to stern
what other vertebrates keep strictly time-
-delimited to embryonic term
what limits cancers, if it's not Hayflick?
do they senesce or bask in endless youth?
we who face death with Time's each tock and tick
look to amphibians to glimpse this truth
the surgeons who sweat blood to graft a hand
have much biology to understand

mighty in repentance

Bathsheba's bath looked down on folks below
but David still commanded the high ground
he liked what he could see from scalp to toe
and asked that--if she's free--she should stop 'round
her marriage proved a small impediment
Uriah was a boy-scout in all things
a faithful servant to his government
did nothing to alienate the king
a death in battle covered the king's tracks
but Nathan's office was inside the tower
no royal status was above attacks
for his adulterous abuse of power
the misbegotten died without a name
but Shlomo owed his mother his throne-claim

archetype

the dwarves of MiddleEarth share traits with Jews
intent on getting back what had been theirs
the Land once Promised had been theirs to lose
but throughout time, they're still its rightful heirs
the Golden Hills of Zion live in song
'though in a tongue that few can understand
the embers of ambition ages long
glow for the conquest of their fathers' land
for Tolkien, strength lay in diversity
free Peoples joining to resist the Dark
and character shone in adversity
and not while playing skittles in the park
a yearning for a  better World to Come
betrays where Thorin Oakenshield came from

meddlers

phytophthera wrought sudden death to oaks
a cousin of the great potato blight
that fell so hard on rural Irish folks
that half the population took to flight
potatoes' generation time is brief
we can't just plant resistant cultivars
replacing a whole forest come to grief
with laboratory seedlings grown in jars
as spores, they travel light upon the breeze
like rotifers amok on a rampage
the best hope if we're gonna save our trees
may be to find a therapeutic 'phage
the human stain's a plague upon the Earth
destroying species ere we know their worth

interconnected

phytophthera wrought sudden death to oaks
a cousin of the great potato blight
that fell so hard on rural Irish folks
that half the population took to flight
potatoes' generation time is brief
we can't just plant resistant cultivars
replacing a whole forest come to grief
with laboratory seedlings grown in jars
as spores, they travel light upon the breeze
like rotifers amok on a rampage
the best hope if we're gonna save our trees
may be to find a therapeutic 'phage
anthropogenic change afflicts the Earth
destroying species ere we know their worth

rumors

Trump's spreading rumors about Clinton's health
that have no basis in reality
but questioning his claims to untold wealth
get stonewalled as Blue State effrontery
unfounded rumors are as good as facts
when no one's gonna check your wildest claim
they take the Donald's word that he pays tax
(and if he didn't, Hillary's to blame)
his own brain tumor's probably benign
an indolent fat mass between his ears
that hasn't given any hint or sign
that he won't last a couple of more years
by his age, FDR was in the ground
but Donald's looking--relatively--sound

oily logic

the benefits of skim-milk are obscure
unseen in epidemiology
but those who like to take their snake-oil pure
insist their dairy products be fat-free
inflammatory lipids are the fad
that set our leukocytes on the wrong tracks
so eating herring's good, but beef is bad
and some go vegan, shunning flesh for flax
instead, they load their diets up with soy
and look for miracles in mounds of kale
and shun a nutrient that might give joy
and swig fermented tea instead of ale
but salad's not the stuff of which we dream
in sleep we fantasize about ice-cream

contorted

the tumor on Trump's brain might have been missed
if they'd relied on ordinary tools
but he presented his ass to be kissed
to keep his wee hand clean, and taunt the fools
exceptional in more than just his wealth
and flexible in more than just his creed
some yogi taught him stretching's good for health
and his weak spine contorts like a slim reed
the orange clown who sells the mob sham class
who'll peddle any lie the crowd will buy
has lodged his head so far up his own ass
he can't tell up from down, or mud from sky
the cancer that could save the GOP
was only found on colonoscopy

hope

haTikvah sang Israelis' theme of hope
emerging from a genocidal war
but now they seem enamored of the dope
who says things can't be like they were before
his brother--whom they loved--ain't coming back
they trusted that he truly walked the walk
but Bibi wants Obama to attack   
glib talker who just mimes the role of 'hawk'
 a Jewish State must live Mishpat Echat
and can't claim veto on what neighbors do
this Occupation can't be--and is not--
compatible with being a good Jew
while negative campaigning's all the rage
both Trump and Bibi sing from the same page    

ouroboros

the tumor on Trump's brain might have been missed
if they'd relied on ordinary tools
but he presented his ass to be kissed
in gesture of the fealty of fools
exceptional in more than just his wealth
and flexible in more than just his creed
some yogi taught him flexion's good for health
and his weak spine contorts like a slim reed
the orange clown who sells the mob sham class
who'll peddle any lie the crowd will buy
has lodged his head so far up his own ass
he can't tell up from down, or mud from sky
the cancer that could save the GOP
was only found on colonoscopy

unwoven rainbows

atomic spectra bar-code distant stars
to keep the inventory of the gods
their chemistry's the same, both near and far
(unless it's anti-matter 'gainst all odds)
Ed Hubble showed the farther ones look red
no matter which direction one might scan
where astronauts are never gonna tread
they're all receding from the gaze of man
the subtle deltas quantum states allow
affirm that they're invariant with space
and constants measured in the here-and-now
can still be trusted in that far-off place
since Newton picked apart the rays of light
we've found new eyes to probe the depths of night

and for my next trick...

to monetize his presidential bid
the Donald needs a pulpit on the air
where he'll be free to josh or lie or kid
and sycophants adore his bozo hair
the White House doesn't have the sort of bling
to hold his focus once out of the race
he'd rather fantasize that he's a king
than heal the party he's lead to disgrace
can Hannity and Limbaugh own that stage?
how big's the audience they'd have to share?
will ears grow numb when three clowns rant and rage?
how much hypocrisy's too much to bear?
three One Percenters taunting the elite
boast silver tongues, but crumbly clay for feet

sin city

a splendid ruin, half-sunk in the sand
LasVegas will amaze an age to come
who'll seek in vain a way to understand
where such outrageous monuments came from
a Mountain Village pitched to lower tastes
a narcissist's dream-vision in concrete
grand architecture optimized for waste
rots bleaching in the South Nevada heat
where nothing's made and only service jobs
lived off conventioneers, and johns, and marks
where justice was administered by mobs
no mere blindfold, but fully in the dark
a game in which the house must always win
sustained a house of cards all built on sin

realpolitik

for Hegel, genocide defines a "win"
where none survives, there's no one to accuse
life's victors can't be too concerned with sin
where stakes are lethal if they were to lose
morality's the refuge of the weak
who'd bind the strong in self-imposed restraint
perversely finding virtue in the meek
misrepresenting martyrs to be saints
a feral world's the prize for one who's strong
as innocent as Nature sketched by Hobbes
unless if fails, no violence is wrong
and justice is administered by mobs
no higher goal than keeping death deferred
permits no meaning in this life absurd

a prophet without honor

when Liebowitz held Israel to account
a prophet without honor in his land
he'd rather Jordan keep the Temple Mount
we didn't need such tzurres on our hands
the Occupation takes a daily toll
on kids fresh-graduated from High School
corrosive to the nation's will and soul
perpetuating a new empire's will
no prospect of an end as years grind past
indignities just breed more violence
the territories he's have swapped back fast
now seem a prison hemmed in by the fence
ben Gurion signed the deal to form Two States
where Bibi drags his feet 'til it's too late

shtick

Trump let it slip that he gets quid pro quo
among his wild ad hominem attacks
that regulators bend for donors' dough
and mayors court them by foregoing tax
the rest, he makes up as he goes along
improvisations from his stock of barm
and dares the media to prove he's wrong
for daring to display what he calls "charm"
debating Clinton's a whole 'nuther game
of deficits and revenues and tax
his repertoire of jokes and slurs and blame
is unsupported by the published facts
the wonk talks past his rhetoric of rage
combating her discomfort on the stage

history of failures

Trump rides his latest enterprise to drown
joint logo rings his name with elephants
this time, he'll bring the Grand Old Party down
and everybody sees it but Mike Pence
the "king of debt" reneges without a qualm
on loans that others pay in sweat and blood
he's not mature enough to have the bomb
that might blast all this world to glowing mud
a rout could give the House to Democrats
and Senate seats are in the mixture, too
if turnout's low, Republican fat cats
could see our Congress wholly tinted Blue
Zach Taylor ushered Whigs off the world stage
this clown could turn the GOP's last page

bad things happen

John Calvin preached prosperity on Earth
reflected God's immeasurable grace
so it's enough to weigh a bloke's net-worth
to judge if he be virtuous or base
but those who'd argue God resides within
remake their world with quotidian acts
instead of a religion built on sin
they build their heaven fact by sweaty fact
were faith enough, one would be free to lie
and cheat and murder kith and kin and wife
repenting in the moment ere he'd die
erasing all the malfeasance of life
predestination ditches quid pro quo
but heaps a Hell of guilt on those below

legion

sympatric speciation makes no sense
for lake Nyassa's cichlid repertoire
were it one pool, gene-mixing's too intense
what's now one lake was myriad before
each drought estranged genes in the sundry ponds
where local challenges chose fittest traits
without invoking any magic wands
constraining fishy choices of a mate
wet years now bridged the archipelago
and reunited cousins to compete
most cycles, net diversity will grow
'though most are merely something new to eat
hydrology's retold in fins and scales
for those with eyes to read the fishes' tales

relativity III

the laws of Newton just approximate
the special case where space-time's nearly flat
but Albert Einstein dared to formulate

the broader rules regardless where one's at

subjectively, a century's ticked past
since he first published relativity
coordinates can't but conform to mass
attested by the path of Mercury

no rail embankment's constant as a rock
by which to calibrate measuring sticks
and now Lorentz has smashed our very clock
the rest can change and only 'c' is fixed
yet fuzziness still dogs the smallest size
until we know if gravity's quantized

delta document II

Picasso boasted that great artists steal
they build on pilings in beholders' heads
it fails as Art if it can't make you feel
what's too abstract lies on the canvas, dead
communication needs a common tongue
a basis-set of shared experience
that makes saliva flow when bells get rung
or else it's just opaque, not merely dense
our common culture primes us to  receive
the painter's or the poet's offering
we take to heart what they'd have us believe
without the need to spell out everything
relentlessly, this edifice of words
builds on what those long gone wrote, said, and heard

delta document

Picasso boasted that great artists steal
relying on what's in beholders' heads
it fails as Art if it can't make you feel
what's too abstract lies on the canvas, dead
communication needs a common tongue
a basis-set of shared experience
that makes saliva flow when bells get rung
or else it's just opaque, not merely dense
our common culture primes us to  receive
the painter's or the poet's offering
we take to heart what they'd have us believe
without the need to spell out everything
relentlessly, this edifice of words
builds on what those long gone wrote, said, and heard

Romantic

didactic poetry left Shelley cold
aspiring to inspire, not inculcate
his images in readers' minds unfold
that from a preacher have to chafe and grate
Blake's gnosticism in Romantic dress
taught Christ betrayed by Paul and books of rules
his allegoric gods chained in duress
the creed of life, and love, bled dry in schools.
His revolution calls for death to kings
proclaiming liberty throughout the land
that Happy Day of which the prophet sings
--if we'd but lift our eyes--is near at hand.
He died too young, as every schoolboy learns
but through dark years, his dream of Freedom burns

Romantic

didactic poetry left Shelley cold
aspiring to inspire, not inculcate
his images in readers' minds unfold
that from a preacher have to chafe and grate
Blake's gnosticism in Romantic dress
taught Christ betrayed by Paul and books of rules
his allegoric gods chained in duress
the creed of life and love bled dry in schools
his revolution calls for death to kings
proclaiming liberty throughout the land
that Happy Day of which the prophet sings
--if we'd but lift our eyes--is near at hand
he died too young, as every schoolboy learns
but through dark years, his dream of Freedom burns

paper tiger

artisanal TP will fool some folk
who'll buy whatever Rush says is the rage
but Berners know that ticket is a joke
no better than an old Sears-Roebuck page
the orange clown sells a mirage of class
to angry Whites of woeful self-esteem
who don't know even how to wipe their ass
but roar approval of their fav'rite team
a demagogue who fronts for the elite
won't even give the little people thanks
relieves himself in public on Main Street
and never blush to blame it on the banks
the poorly-educated who've got sense
won't waste a paper ballot on Trump-Pence

roll on

basaltic palisades hem waters in
Columbia traverses the Palouse
a dry state's fever-dream of sapphire gin
illuminating cities with its juice
mere yards away, high desert's all around
no drop's distracted from the distant sea
blue garter cinched around a  world of brown
where water's scant but solar comes for free
while Portland dreams of such a sunny day
in John Day, all the leaves are Pleistocene
a landscape all composed in brown and grey
strains to remember  vistas painted green
from Great White North to hipsters, high to low
the ever-changing river's waters flow

aggrieved II

Apollo nailed his boyfriend from behind

and Achilleus took it rather illy

Peleides went quite out of his mind

competing with a greater power's willy

he'd long-since reconciled to his own fate

to die still full of spunk, but live in song

yet never dreamed that he'd live to cremate

sweet Patrocles who could do nothing wrong

too proud to bow to Phoebus as his boss

he took down Hektor, then shrugged off his life

the hero humanized through grievous loss

he lost his zest for catamite, or wife

such grief bled all the pleasure from his world

let Agamemnon keep the stolen girl

aggrieved

Apollo tapped his boyfriend from behind
and Achilleus took it rather ill
Peleides went quite out of his mind
confronted with a greater power's will
he'd long-since reconciled to his own fate
to die unwithered but live on in song
yet never dreamed that he'd cremate his mate
sweet Patrocles who could do nothing wrong
too proud to bow to Phoebus as his boss
he took down Hektor, then shrugged off his life
the hero humanized through grievous loss
he lost his zest for war, or love, or wife
such grief bled all the pleasure from his world
let Agamemnon keep the stolen girl

electron transport

the last electron splits dioxygen
when ox-phos stocks the store of ATP
it's obligate for aerobes such as men
but there're more options lower on the tree
reducing water, sulfate, CO2
depending on their phylum and their class
Archaea would thrive on a witch's brew
but bloat a mammal's gut with noxious gas
methanogens are doing what they must
to spare us hydrogen's toxicity
and some like thermite can reduce mere rust
microbes engaging in metallurgy
you've seen one vertebrate you've seen them all
diversity's the province of the small

wastelands

Las Vegas will astonish tourist hordes
who'll grasp for logic nowhere to be found
facilities for potentates and lords
half sunken in the sandy desert ground
corrupt incentives nurtured the cash-flow
sustaining the illusion of good jobs
the theft of water from far Mexico
diverted floods of green into the mob
let archaeologists sift through the bones
and ersatz gems and boats in disrepair
where now the desert sandstorm thrums and moans
that there should once have been a city here
a waste of money on comedic scale
will stand an age-long cautionary tale

big game

assassinating Trump would make no sense
as long as he's devoid of self-control
if he were on the ticket-top, Mike Pence
could out-perform the big guy at the polls
for Hillary, this ought to be a cinch
a technicolor nightmare for Karl Rove
if she were half as charming as the Grinch
Republicans would take her side in droves
but she looks awkward parrying attacks
and slurs like Donald shovels out wholesale
a wonkish recitation of dry facts
beside the Orange One looks wan and pale
two less-loved candidates have never run
so many ache to mark our ballots "none"

negative campaign

if Trump's too prissy to shake voters' hands
it's hard to see what keeps him in the race
his platform sways on ever-shifting sands
and everything he's built is in poor taste
the orange spokesman for inchoate rage
contributes nothing on War, Peace, or Health
yet he's the posterchild of a sick age
when merit is presumed to track with wealth.
This should be cake had she makes no mistakes
but lawyerly evasions mar her speech
she lacks Bill's charm to cover what is fake
and losing this one's always within reach
two less loved candidates have never run
so many ache to mark their ballots "none"

shallow

since Washington, we like our leaders tall
as if they'd hand down wisdom from on high
confusing politics with basketball
too often we elect the taller guy
out pageants don't revolve on Peace and War
nor on the proper powers of the State
we don't debate what revenue is for
but trust each smiling charmer with our fate
when pointing out a lie is deemed uncouth
the public cheers for teams, not policies
our "journalists" rate balance above Truth
and let a candidate score points on sleaze
until our grassroots learn to organize
elites co-opt our parties with their lies

end game

as mad as Lear, Trump rages at the sky
as if injustice wounds his lofty soul
and thousands gobble down his every lie
conspiring to endow him with control
the Dunning/Kruger posterchild writ big
he boasts of what he doesn't  understand
and they--in protest--back this fascist pig
to hold the highest office in the land
Progressives rate this season "dire" to "grim"
at best, this fascist fad's a passing storm
for now, we'll vote for anyone but him
defying what must not become the norm
the demagogue our Funding Fathers feared
could bring Apocalypse on us, now, here

unfounded

Trump's role in NAMBLA's yet to be explained
and whether his donations should be taxed
the fees he paid, the favors he obtained
we can't move forward 'til we get the facts
those people are the worst! and should be marked
the voting public needs to understand
what public figures pay for in the dark
and why he's always washing his wee hands
iniquity's just gross and must be stopped
a leader can't be sitting on the fence
the Orange One insists that he's on top
but who's the bottom when it's not Mike Pence?
when innuendo's driving whom one picks
we're hitting bottom in our politics

truthiness

recanting claims Obama formed IS
the Donald swears he hadn't really lied
reporters failed to recognize his jest
(which proves they're working for the other side)
the facts be damned! what matters is the show
that keeps attention focused on his face
we've yet to find a stratagem so low
that Trump would not deploy it in this race
without experience, he runs on trust
but those who've known him warns that's a mistake
the projects that he's vouched for all go bust
and he shows all the scruples of a snake
for Hillary this ought to be a cinch
were she just half a charming as the Grinch

Relativity II

subjectively, a century's ticked past
since Einstein published relativity
coordinates can't but conform to mass
attested by the path of Mercury
the laws of Newton just approximate
the special case where space-time's nearly flat
but Albert Einstein dared to formulate
the broader rules regardless where one's at
a rippling mollusc undergirds his grid
in non-Euclidean geometry
complexity can no longer stay hid
in contemplating space-time at high 'g'
no rail embankment's constant as a rock
by which to calibrate measuring sticks
and now Lorentz has smashed our very clock
the rest can change and only 'c' is fixed
yet fuzziness still dogs the smallest size
until we know if gravity's quantized

relativity

the parabolic arc of my dropped book
becomes a line in 'nuther ref'rence frame
when what I see depends on how I look
it takes some thought to see that they're the same
Minkowsky tosses even that bedrock
and Gauss would liberate us from the plane
Lorentz deprives us of our very clock
and leaves it all for Einstein to explain
coordinates can't but conform to mass
and Newton just described a special case
a neighborhood devoid of even gas
a Galilean inter-stellar waste
we celebrate what we can dimly see
a hundred years* of relativity


*in my subjective reference frame

cupping

What octopus signed Michael Phelps' back

and left its calling-card all down his arm?

How many other suffered such attack

and was there more than superficial harm?

A lifetime, they've been honing their technique

and fear one race might turn on happenstance;

one top performance at their very peak

is too important to be left to chance!

Competitors will grasp for any edge

they've long since shaved off all their body hair.

And now the purplish blots of hemorrhage

accessorize their minimal swimwear.

Where one can't carry talismans for luck

they bear stigmata of the cups that suck.

breaking up is hard to do

if they deem Donald Trump incompetent
the RNC could float another name
forestalling the explosion, they could vent
the outrage that might overturn the game
but Donald doesn't take rejection well
and might resolve to take the system down
the whole machine's on a fasttrack to Hell
for having hitched its wagon to this clown
the Whigs embraced Zach Taylor and their doom
'though rich, he wasn't fit to play the role
and Lincoln's party grew to fill the room
a victory more Pyrrhic than it's droll
Republicans close-focused on the fray
risk pissing their whole voter-base away

demagogue

Trump jeers he'll quit and burn the system down
a loser without dignity nor class
the Gingrich revolution made this clown
the pachydermic party's red-cheeked ass
democracy needs everyone in play
to listen and assess, not merely talk
the poorly educated love his bray
no matter that he doesn't walk the walk
Buchanan let dissension fulminate
where nothing got resolved, all points were sore
he'd barely left when it would culminate
in five grim years of bloody civil war
two candidates invested in the rift
while our republic's rudderless, adrift

action potential

continua impinge on eye and ear
but nerves transduce at once from A-to-D
and so it's only quanta that we hear
no less than it's by photons that we see
to propagate one trips an ion-gate
and only then does anything get done
there's no smooth curve for one to integrate
the increments are never less than one
yet minds construct "reality" out there
and I suppose the same goes for a bat
'though theirs is built from echoes in the air
announcing just exactly where food's at
brains conjure mind like oysters conjure pearl
and nothing's magic here despite John Searle

the movement

since OCCUPY, Progressives make a scene
espousing values Teddy Roosevelt pitched
that flickered briefly under Howard Dean
before he bowed and tossed them in the ditch
where Howard stands depends on where he sits
as Chair of the machine, he changed his view
advancing rights for all proved a tough fit
in conversations driven by the Few
they're uninspired by Hillary's campaign
solicitous to foster Wall Street's trust
and fear she'll send their values down the drain
when Jamie Dimon murmurs that she must
defeating Donald's no more than a start
resuscitating our republic's heart

loose cannon

the Wrath of Khan may yet lay Donald low
for disrespecting one of our war dead
attacking grieving parents' a low blow
regardless if your state be Blue or Red
Trump's latest tantrum scares the RNC
our veterans (plus kin) form a large bloc
they're less inclined to shower sympathy
on him than on the immigrants he mocks
both Mitt and Newt judge Trump's beyond the Pale
and isn't gonna mobilize the base
contenders up and down the slate could fail
if they ride Donald's coattails in this race
a party graced with neither head nor heart
is decades over-due to fall apart

loose cannon

the Wrath of Khan may yet lay Donald low
for disrespecting one of our war dead
attacking grieving parents' a low blow
regardless if your state be Blue or Red
Trump's latest tantrum scares the RNC
our veterans (plus kin) form a large bloc
they're less inclined to shower sympathy
on him than on the immigrants he mocks
both Mitt and Newt judge Trump's beyond the Pale
and isn't gonna mobilize the base
contenders up and down the slate could fail
if they ride Donald's coattails in this race
a party graced with neither head nor heart
is decades over-due to fall apart

bum rap

for many readers, "poetry" means rhyme
and meter's not a matter of concern
manipulation of our breath and time
seems too abstruse and nothing they should learn
Miranda bucks the tide (or "swims upstream"?)
his Hamilton's the wonder of the age
as if he'd dare each rapping fool to dream
that he might captivate tomorrow's stage
starvation's the more common poet's fate
the public hates to think, and doesn't read
we teach out children literature's great
but all incentives reinforce brute greed
they've barely time to scan the morning's news
and spare no thought to gratify the Muse

stuck

the Donald co-opted the Right's machine
and Clinton took it for the other side
the one's a charmless wonk, the other's mean
but they share donor lists and sinful pride
the menu's fixed; it's one of just these two
and neither's representing you and me
each candidate speaks for the wealthy few
who purchase access with each speaker's fee
we'll miss Barack, eight years now seems too short
while Mitch scored points by running out the clock
but if he takes a seat on our High Court
Progressive issues are back on the dock
'til Snowden comes of age to top the bill
we'll have no champion for the Public Will

sound and fury

Barack Obama ripped Trump a new ass
for screwing workers who'd built his estate
more evidence the blowhard's got no class
and thinks oppressing others makes him "great"
a bouffant fascist playing to the crowd
who read his posture, not his policy
who love to roar along when he gets loud
mistaking lawlessness for Liberty
degraded politics of taunts and noise
there's no advantage gained through sober thought
a brawl too childish for most highschool boys
in which one's mocked if he has not been bought
but 2020, Ed Snowden's of age
to run on issues, rather than on rage

gone

the circus cast-offs squat in vacant tracts
that automation rendered obsolete
when miners by the thousands got the ax
half Tonopah was turned out in the street
a destination only for the few
who spend their Summers carving up the sky
a ghost-towns heyday many years past due
that hasn't shown the sense to wholly die
there's room to disagree on what it's worth
this dusty wide spot on a desert road
gas station at the tail-end of the earth
where cars are written off if they get towed
now pray your driver gets you to camp base
you've worked so hard to reach this awful place