lesser son of greater sires

the tracks of theropods lead straight to birds
unbroken lineage of DNA
if "dinosaurs" are gone, that's merely words
they flit among us to this very day
the Alvarezes found Iridium
that's otherwise uncommon in Earth's crust
and speculated where it had come from
to mark the K-T bound'ry in the dust
few specialists were up to such a test
most species went extinct, but some made do
when worlds collapse, an opportunist's best
positioned to transmit its genome through

a kingly line's diminished much, of late
T. Rex's heir lies roasted on my plate

incidental

investigations of the Russian mob
caught Donald's phone-calls incidentally
the FBI was doing its own job
but stumbled onto global treachery
the case they'd worked long years to document
of rubles laundered, and influence bought
was complicated by this president
a bigger criminal than they had sought.
Whose hands are clean, whom no one could besmirch?
Who'd risk their reputation on such rocks?
In all our Senate, there's not one Frank Church
and none could fill the shoes of Archie Cox.
The world's appalled at Spicer's daily gaffes
but through the whole debacle, Putin laughs.

Hume II

Hume knew there's none to watch Descartes' stage-set
homunculi recurse in futile chains.
Two hundred years before a neural-net
he grasped the problems such a thing explains.
No test will prove the soul John Searle long sought
there's nothing indivisible to find
determinate as digits 'one' and 'nought'
dumb parts add up to constitute a mind.
As sure as Turing's universal host
there is no little man behind the screen
Searle hunts in vain for his Cartesian ghost
for want of faith in Darwin's wet machine.
The consciousness that tells me that "je suis"

emerges as an abstract entity

Give me but a place to stand...

Hume knew there's none to watch Descartes' stage-set
homunculi recurse in futile chains
two hundred years before a neural-net
he grasped the problems such a thing explains.
No test will prove the soul John Searle long sought
there's nothing indivisible to find
determinate as digits 'one' and 'nought'
dumb parts add up to constitute a mind.
As sure as Turing's universal host
there is no little man behind the screen
Searle hunts in vain for his Cartesian ghost
for want of faith in Darwin's wet machine.
The consciousness that tells me I'm a fact
'though reified, remains a thing abstract.

stepwise

the tracks of theropods lead straight to birds
unbroken lineage of DNA
if "dinosaurs" are gone, that's merely words
they flit among us to this very day
the Alvarezes found Iridium
that's otherwise uncommon in Earth's crust
and speculated where it had come from
to mark the K-T bound'ry in the dust
few specialists were up to such a test
most species went extinct, but some made do
when worlds collapse, an opportunist's best
positioned to transmit its genome through
that turkey fed and slaughtered to your specs
shares ancestors in common with T. Rex

res cogitans

sir Francis Crick spent decades chasing "mind"
a physicist outstanding in his mode
while Dennett claim's there's no such thing to find
we're emulators, running Darwin's code.
Emergent properties that fooled Descartes
in Dennett's view, may not exist at all.
To reify a "mind" like "brain", or "heart"
kept theorists pent in a fictive wall.
Each unit neuron seems determinate
a switch that throws as ions go, and  come 
but what emerges in the aggregate
subjectively, seem more than naught-or-one.
'Though Consciousness assures me that "je suis"
that anchor's dangling in the deep blue sea.

sad schemer

Flynn offered Gulen's head up on a plate,
to prove his fealty to Erdogan.
three stars can't hide that he's still second-rate

but thinks himself a mafiosa don.
No oath of office, no morality
sets bound upon the loony schemes he'll plot.
He's unconcerned with illegality
if there's a sleazy fortune to be got.
No vetting winnowed chaff out of this wheat;
team Trump repackaged swamp and called it "wine".
Corruption from the top-down's now complete. 
But Breitbart tells the rank and file it's fine.
Now if we were to extradite Flynn's boss
democracy would count in no big loss

schemer

Flynn offered Gulen's head up in a box,
a token for his patron, Erdogan.
A Keystone cop, whose head's all full of rocks
conceives himself a mafiosa don.
No oath of office, no morality
sets bound upon the loony schemes he'll plot.
He's unconcerned with illegality
if there's a sleazy fortune to be got.
No vetting winnowed chaff out of this wheat;
team Trump repackaged swamp and called it "wine".
Corruption from the top-down's now complete. 
And Breitbart tells the rank and file it's fine.
But if we were to extradite Flynn's boss
democracy would count in no big loss

squalid

Each passing week, Trump's wits degenerate;
he can't remember where his thoughts began.
His fixed conviction that he's doing great
sustains him ('though he doesn't have a plan).
The labor nominee he failed to vet
was pulled from confirmation amid strife.
The fifty-one votes that he couldn't get
were sympathetic to his battered wife.
The media gave Puzder zero press
a small debacle in Trump's tale of woe.
Domestic battery's a trifling mess
when ethic standards have been set so low.
A nation tired of such incompetence
is finding less to hate about Mike Pence

Why not?

Causality's a figment in your head
the meta-tool on which the rest depend
inhabiting a "now" to which "past" "led".
We're over-quick to think we comprehend.
Frail daisy-chain links 'after' to 'before',
induction builds the cosmos we discern
but we delude ourselves to think it's more
than Turing's robot feigning it can 'learn'.
Imputing agency avoids some threats;
what rustles in the grass might be a beast.
Darwinian selection pays those bets
who flees the quickest get devoured the least.
It's human to presume that we are wise
but most of what we 'know' are our own lies.

nefarious

Bharara's witness got the chance to fly
defenestrated by the FSB
determined that he mustn't testify
to Putin's meddling in democracy
a vast collusion to give Trump the job
of bigly international extent
was executed by the Russian mob
lest Hillary might be our president
our grand republic's wounded, but not dead
here's "the abyss, from which there's not return"
so few Americans grasped what Church said
or--if they heard--yet failed withal to learn
unceasing vigilance must be the cost
if our democracy's not to be lost

CHANGE!

the status quo has served the Clintons well
they've joined the Ruling Class' moneyed ranks
no matter it's a marriage made in Hell
they've hitched their wagon to the biggest banks
Piketty warned us of this downward slope
as capital's ingathered to the Few
as Bernie fades, so fades the People's hope
that we may share the nation's bounty, too
real wages don't reflect the market's gain
that bankers divy in the bonus pool
while Bill assures us that he feels our pain
his wife serves Wallstreet as its faithful tool
some cheered; a woman fin'lly got her turn
but this one truly never felt the Bern        

Nikolai Gorokhov

defenestration by the Russian mob
dropped Preet Bharara's witness on his head
if Putin's fingerprints are on the job
who knows where prosecution might have led
obstructing justice 'compassed Nixon's fall
among his crimes, the easiest to test
if Ford had not absolved him of them all
he would have gone to prison with the rest
from Moscow to New York, their couriers
turned bags of Rubles into real estate
vast fortunes blown on gems and furriers
distinguish petty criminals from great
Trump's taken that portfolio from Preet
but his corruption trial's still incomplete

ghost in the machine

John Searle's essentialism is his bind
he'll never find that last homunculus
he'd rather keep the student body blind
than cede he's been the wrongest one of us
Dan Dennett knows the parts comprise the whole
the only way to mind is through the brain
what Searle can't find is nothing but a soul
to search for which through science is insane
Spinoza saw for everything, one cause
what's immaterial's not our concern
the marvel is that Nature's bound by laws
that humans--with due diligence--can learn
the cosmos is less spooky that it seems
demystified by culture built of memes

something completely different

a candidate increasingly deranged
ran roughshod over all the GOP
the disempowered clamored for a change
and something better for their progeny
the demagogue our Founders prophesized
defaults on principal and interest due
and doubles down when caught in his own lies
to play the same tired scam on someone new
the Media begin to find their voice
that hadn't played this role since Watergate
but once we tallied up November's choice
electoral remorse came way too late
the 25th Amendment smiles on Pence
once we acknowledge Trump's incompetence

Leader of the Free World

the Chancellor pulls back, feigns she's aloof
Trump's acting like his hand might be defiled
disdaining to extend his stubby hoof
and sniggering like a small-minded child
old treaties presidents had signed before
don't int'rest him if they don't bear his name
but if he starts his own, signature war
the world's last fifteen minutes seal his fame
so Party elders cast their eyes on Pence
Creationism seems a harmless cult
to rescue us from Trump's incompetence
at least they're pretty sure he's an adult
we'll have to test Amendment 25
if we're to get through four more years alive

contingent opportunity

Eukaryotes were swift to radiate
exploiting niches no archaean can
where complex organisms dominate

they dabbled in all sorts of body plan
Precambrian! a world before the jaw
or teeth, but somehow predator and prey
obeyed the evolutionary law
the winners passed their genes down to this day
whole phyla flourished, but were doomed to fail
genetic innovations all laid waste
remembered only in the Burgess shale
uncounted others gone without a trace
'til mitochondria were brought in-house

one can't conceive a grouse, a mouse, a louse

pants on fire

if Trump had any honor, we could talk
but banks learned, he'll default on any loan
he placed a distant second in New York
where voters know he's not one of our own
a bullshit artist with no expertise
except to prey on others' innocence
a symptom of our media's disease
who'll have his victims praying for Mike Pence
he charges that Obama tapped his phone
but then denies he really meant that word
his private lexicon is his, alone
to think he really meant it is absurd
a narcissist who can't bear being wrong
may face impeachment charges ere too long

anthill

uncomprehending cogs in his machine
Trump's soldiers proved that they were competent
empowering this stubby, crass, obscene
satiric cartoon of a 'president'
no vision to constrain what he might say
he'll contradict himself without a pause
and fire a judge who might stand in his way
insisting on some quaint old ethics laws
did Bannon draft the plan? or did Mike Pence?
that threatens to bring our republic down
one seeks in vain for an intelligence
that gave our Ship of State to this sad clown
no matter what conspiracists opine
what failed here is Intelligent Design

multicellularity

Eukaryotes were swift to radiate
exploiting niches no archaean can
before that asteroid foreclosed their fate
they dabbled in all sorts of body
Precambrian! a world before the jaw
or teeth, but somehow predator and prey
obeyed the evolutionary law
the winners passed their genes down to this day
whole phyla flourished, but were doomed to fail
genetic innovations all laid waste
remembered only in the Burgess shale
uncounted others gone without a trace
'til mitochondria were brought in-house

one can't conceive a pterosaur, or louse

Wonderful Life

Eukaryotes were swift to radiate
exploiting niches no archaean can
before that asteroid foreclosed their fate
they dabbled in all sorts of body
Precambrian! a world before the jaw
or teeth, but somehow predator and prey
obeyed the evolutionary law
the winners passed their genes down to this day
whole phyla flourished, but were doomed to fail
genetic innovations all laid waste
remembered only in the Burgess shale
uncounted others gone without a trace
'til mitochondria were brought inside
horizons were just millimeter-wide

fluid dynamics

terrain that water hewed constrains air, too
two fluids in the grip of gravity
inexorable as the morning dew
as catabatic winds flow toward the sea
leave aerostats to those who like to drink
inert as paint-splats on the morning sky
dynamic pilots work with lift and sink
the buoyancy's not ours, but we get high
if bits of Dacron on aluminum
empower us to quit the Earth and soar
what new technologies are yet to come
to give us few this one dimension more
while farmers till the valleys by their sweat
a mountain pilot knows there's more to get

status quo

a candidate wed to the status quo
hoped it's enough she's not the other guy
her focus groups assured her that it's so
it's in the bag, she need not even try
eight years elapsed in which the big banks grew
and we're still on the hook if they should fail
but her constituents were the rich Few
for whom a "penthouse" doesn't mean a jail
until November, anxieties mount
'though she nipped Sanders, riding his dark horse
as California readjusts the count
unbendingly, she grimly stayed the course
content the voters had no place to turn
she gave no hint she understands the Bern

tempus fugit

the Second Law decrees our flow's one-way
we can't undo the thing that has been done
at best, we'll make the best of every day
but youth's too often wasted on the young
Achilles never counted thirty years
his corpse--save one small puncture--was pristine
but aging athletes suffer tendon tears
if we keep skiing when we're no more teens
live fast! die young! the world will sing your song
most glorious of all the sons of Greece
but such a candle must flame out ere long
and fits in poorly when the world's at peace
to guard our worn-down knees and aging back
we can't keep chasing kids down double black

beyond the Pale

a candidate who truly seems deranged
ran roughshod over all the GOP
the disempowered clamored for a change
and something better for their progeny
the demagogue our Founders prophesized
defaults on principal and interest due
and doubles down when caught in his own lies
to play the same tired scam on someone new
the Fourth Estate begins to find its voice
that hadn't played this role since Watergate
but once we tallied up November's choice
electoral remorse came way too late
the 25th Amendment works for Pence
once we wise up to Trump's incompetence

heavy

forever falling toward our lambent star
our tides alone acknowledge its vast pull
the lunar mass is not nearly as far
but heaps the oceans up when new, and full
the sum of sine curves, in and out of phase
one morning boats float less, one morning more
and seasides watch the come and go of waves
retreating and advancing on the shore
ten thousand generations didn't get
the simple law concealed in Nature's text
what Newton taught, what schoolboy could forget
the algorithm that makes forms complex
one inverse-square law, cosmic in its reach
keeps minds engaged while gazing at a beach

nemo liber est qui corpore servit

all blood's diverted, as if by a switch
instead of flowing upwards to his brain
the pheromones emitted by one bitch
have driven this old frat-brother insane
a primate's mostly driven by his eyes
but now, the helm's been ceded to the nose
when once the trouser-snake is on the rise
hydraulics rule; it's pressure, checks, and flows
the hair befitting an orangutan
looks frankly silly on our demagogue
although he wears the suits of a grown man
he lacks the moral scruples of a dog
Enlightenment's reprised as parody
a slave to his own body thinks he's free

what lies beneath

despite Jules Verne, the g-field zeroes out
when at the center of a planet's sphere
as airless as the depths of space, no doubt
although the pressure's vastly greater there
but were it hollow, there's no up, no down
no bias to say how to orient
no force marks wall from ceiling, or from ground
the local space-time's perfectly unbent
our biosphere's a scant film on Earth's crust
the deepest-diving whale, and highest bat
can navigate in full implicit trust
that "up" is up, and 'X' and 'Y' lie flat
what anaerobes our core and mantle hold
I'll leave to fiction and to Thomas Gold

brat

campaigning's great but what's up with this gig?
a government's a dreary thing to run
the ClownCar kept it live, and loud and big
but signing Bannon's Orders' not much fun
it seemed the greatest, shiniest brass ring
as he was raised on versions films portray
a glitzy sort of nuclear-armed king
whose enemies get whacked by Michael Bay
now Donald's bored,  and wants another toy
let Bannon run the office day to day
this petulant, uncultured preppie boy
can hear his tee-time calling him to play
if Congress were to finally show some sense
we'd gladly trade this fool in for mere Pence

Terumah

sir Isaac Newton saw the Cosmic scheme
reflected in the tabernacle's plan
a microcosm subtler than it'd seem
as represented to a Bronze-Age man
the candelabrum, sure as Kepler's laws
must correspond to heavens moving spheres
and all of it point to a Primal Cause
as ineluctable as trains of gears
the last redactor deemed  Leviticus
should grace the center of our pentateuch
once revelation capped our exodus
chiasmic structure to our holy book
of all our gripping tales, these seem the least
methinks that last redactor was a priest

latent

the snow retreats, a dormant world's revealed
a thousand mittens that were lost are found
old spores can germinate in woods and field
impatient in the slowly-warming ground
mycelia seem barely to grow old
'though fruiting bodies wither in the night
the life of what we sneeringly call 'mold'
is mostly underground and out of sight
instead of chlorophyl, strange alkaloids
distinguish fungi from the standard crops
and some are worth as much avoirdupois
as gold--if you can get them past the cops
although his colleagues mutters he was odd
Allegro knew that 'shrooms had shown him God

release

a leader whom the folk can't ridicule
is one the German populace reject
it's only in his role as public's tool
a minister's deemed worthy of respect
a healthy psyche can't keep rage repressed
each Winter, citizens give feelings vent
one week of Fasching, everything's expressed
and swept up penitently during Lent
this year, Trump's countenance is everywhere
all Europe's fascinated by his threat
it's only overseas that one could dare
to flirt with what no German can forget
one month 'til Easter, fascism's in reach
high season that our Congress should impeach