Olam haBah

the "Open Secret" Wolfson won't explain
is there for those with sitzfleisch to discern.
Vain author! treats his readers with disdain
defying them to persevere and learn.
The deuteronomistic quid pro quo
describes a world where justice pure gets done
a fiction, where perhaps we'd like to go
but manifestly foreign to this one.
The Book of Daniel innovates reward
that no one heard at Sinai where we stood
a stiff-necked people took commandment hard
expecting blessings (were we to be good).
The spark is consubstantial with the Whole;
Our God's the integral of human soul.

Disaster

To waive the Jones Act, Trump's unhesitant
when Texans or Floridians want help
but Puerto Ricans have no president;
he thinks those islanders eat poi, and kelp.
No part in what he thinks would make us "great"
too healthy-looking for his orange tribe
restoring services would have to wait
until he get a kickback, or a bribe.
What profit's in it, if a foreign boat
alleviates their suffering, or loss
'til Puerto Ricans get the right to vote
they're barely citizens to the big boss.
An island sinking in a sea of debt
is something Donald wishes we'd forget.

Russo III

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick employed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment; laws that ban it must be void.
Allegiance is a farce, if it's coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

Russo II

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick displayed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment against laws that might be made.
Allegiance is a farce, if it's coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

Russo

Symbolic speech, like Kaepernick displayed
enjoys robust protection by the First
Amendment against laws that might be made.
A pledge of loyalty can't be coerced.
But in the workplace, laxer rules obtain; 
employment can depend on staying mute.
The contract's all about mutual gain
and Management wins when there's a dispute.
A lot of teams could use his good right arm
but none dare face Trump's tantrums and his ire
while Donald warns attendance would take harm
if Colin were the quarterback they'd hire.
Trump wants Black athletes quiet in their place
but still pretends he didn't run on race.

Vayera M

The voice of God? Or some demonic wraith?
commanded Avraham to bind his son
where Reason balked, he carried on, on Faith
although his seed's invested in this one.
He'd saved his nephew from the fiery rout,
but dared not go to bat for his sole heir.
It took a Shakespeare to ennoble doubt
and lay a hero's vacillations bare.
The man who charged his Maker to be just
won't stay his own hand when the task is hard.
The skepticism tempering Hume's trust
discarded by the mystic Kierkergaard.
But who of us'd endorse the zealot's zeal
without assurances what he'd heard's real?

container for the thing contained

A seamless task, when masons laid the wall
no corner where a side abuts a side.
A single surface circumscribes the hall;
the Oval Office leaves no place to hide.
E pluribus, aspiring to be one
who build each other, rather than compete
but knowing the job's never wholly done
a metaphor in plaster, made concrete.
The staatsbund Kant had hoped would end all war
inspired a league of thirteen colonies
but we've lost sight of what this Union's for
our parties brook no higher loyalties.
Among the stuff Trump threatens to tear down
enlightenment's experimental crown

broken tripod

Tripartite government, as sketched by Locke,
presumes adults fulfill their proper roles
but our democracy's put on the block;
big donors outbid citizens, and polls.
Since Buckley v. Valeo, it's gone wild,
 a "right' to buy high office guaranteed!
All culminating in this orange child
whose only principle's his endless greed.
Our First Amendment guards symbolic speech
for Kaepernick, as surely as for Kochs.
But now, the ante's wholly out of reach
no voice is given to the common folks.
A legislature failing at its job
sold off our proud republic to the mob.

bluffing

Just fifty votes'd suffice to reconcile
this version to the one the House has passed.
But Democrats ain't gonna cross that aisle,
and senator Murkowski's standing fast.
Trump needs a token victory to show;
Republicans nurse doubts he's one of theirs.
The easy wins he promised long ago
look empty as Atlantic City shares.
A charlatan needs sense enough to quit
and try to find another sort of job
before the marks catch on he's peddling shit
and he gets torn to pieces by the mob.
A smarter politician'd blow this town
before his house of cards comes tumbling down.

Arms Race

Seismometers show Kim makes more than noise
he's bought technology from Russia's past
an adolescent with a grown-up's toys
thinks WorldWar III could be a total blast.
The dotard on his far-off Yankee throne
perceives it as a personal offense
his manhood shrinks with each Pyongyang nosecone
contesting out death-cult predominance.
Sage diplomats recoil to hear the twain
trade threats like little boys raised on a farm.
It's not apparent either one's quite sane
but each is armed to bear for grievous harm.
Our world's beleaguered by contempt for truth
as much in dotage as in reckless youth.

Vayera N

The voice of God? Or some demonic wraith?
commanded Avraham to bind his son
where Reason balked, he carried on, on Faith
although his seed's invested in this one.
He'd saved his nephew from the fiery rout,
but dared not go to bat for his sole heir.
It took a Shakespeare to ennoble doubt
and lay a hero's vacillations bare.
The man who charged his Maker to play fair
won't stay his own hand when the task is hard.
The skepticism Hume would bring to bear's
discarded by the mystic Kierkergaard.
But who of us'd endorse the zealot's zeal
without assurances what he'd heard's real?

Jonah

Three days asea, without a brig, or barque,
once he'd been jettisoned to quell the gale
pent up, like Noah's livestock in the dark,
dour Jonah had no mate to share the whale.
Unwilling to defy God face to face
but shirking his commission as a Jew,
seems disappointed sinners could find grace
Assyrians deserve God's mercy, too.
An angry man, who'd thrill to see them burn
chose ringside seats from which to watch the show,
seemed disappointed strangers' hearts should turn
more pious than his kin who ought to know.
Once called, no prophet ever slips God's leash,
be he in Nineveh, or in Tarshish.

sapphire

a whisker grown of Al₂O₃
stays just as gracile as it's getting long
anisotropic growth in just one-D
but on that axis, it's ungodly strong.
Molecularly, it's a whole new class
from aggregates one might pull off the shelf
its strength per weight surpasses fiberglass
each bond aligned with load, all by itself
the homolytic bond strength's hard to beat
aluminates adhere both snug, and fast
a fancy aggregate used in concrete
resistant to an earthquake, or bomb-blast
composites tough as abalone shell
might yet survive when Earth's been made a Hell

Sharky's end II

The snares of logic Saruman deployed
when Fangorn'd pent him up in Orthanc's tower
by light of day, were easy to avoid
mixed company had bled them of their power.
King Theoden remembered Hama's fate
who fell defended Rohan, and his liege,
his mutilated body at the gate
the last atrocity of Helm's Deep's siege.
'Twas Wormtongue, did for Sharky, in the end.
His last companion in an ill-spent life
a beaten cur's untrusty as a friend
and rhetoric's no proof against a knife.
Deranged arch-mage aspired to be a king
corrupted by long study of the Ring.

Sharky's end

The snares of logic Saruman deployed
when Fangorn'd pent him up in Orthanc's tower
by light of day, were easy to avoid
mixed company had bled them of their power.
And Theoden remembered Hama's fate
who fell defended Rohan, and his liege,
his mutilated body at the gate
the last atrocity of Helm's Deep's siege.
'Twas Wormtongue, did for Sharky, in the end.
His last companion in an ill-spent life
a beaten cur's untrusty as a friend
and rhetoric's no proof against a knife.
Defrocked ex-wizard tried to con a king
corrupted by long study of the Ring.

Tanur Akhnai

"It's not in Heaven!" Joshua replied
we rule with the majority in court
the canon's closed, and duly sanctified,
so Eliezer's case was cut off short.
What's supernatural is of no note.
And God himself can't sway the argument.
The rabbis here-assembled get to vote
and points are scored on Torah precedent.
And yet,  where there's no chesed, justice fails.
To excommunicate a sage is bad.
The grievance festers, with all that entails
when Eliezer davens shachrit, mad.
Asserting dominance left one man dead
although he'd been the council's rightful head.

the Lady of the Golden Woods

When Feanor forsook the utmost West
Galadriel came with him, on a lark
Ungoliant had killed Yavanna's best
and even Arda's dreary in the dark.
The Doom of Mandos, and the ice-choked wrack
were nothing to the Noldor in their rage
their oath precluded ever going back
('though she'd get a reprieve in the Fourth Age).
A quest too great to prosecute themselves
might yet prevail, in league with upstart men
a humbling lesson for the haughty elves
was studied age-long in Lothlorien.
An elvish queen, as graceful as she's wise
was more than met an errant Hobbit's eyes.

Nitzavim

What rabbi Eliezer ruled was clean
Gamaliel's camp burned, just to be sure
harsh Martinet as the Yeshiva's dean
he'd overrule haShem to judge what's pure.
Akiva volunteered to bear the news
they'd not confer in council, anymore
hereafter, sussing out the laws for Jews
would be informal, always out of door.
New answers must be found in the old Book
by those who bring their questions with new eyes
a whole technology of how to look
and which conclusion they can authorize
The Talmud's harsh on those who'd bear a grudge
where there's no chesed, there's no valid Judge

Fourth Age

Galadriel came East with Feanor
the golden West had come to feel too strait
she craved experience, not merely lore
defying Mandos to embrace her fate.
A demi-goddess in the world of men
she came, with passing ages, to feel torn
the world grew old, outside Lothlorien
and maybe she grew bored of Celeborn.
The hobbits' plight evoked her distant youth
before Ungoliant devoured the light
although she'd gazed unblinking at the truth
the fate of mankind's hidden from her sight.
She gave the emerald to the mortal king
and went home Westward, with her elven ring.

What Happened

post-mortem, Clinton mulls her failed campaigns
if only Bernie'd called a sooner halt!
Page after tiresome page, her book complains
that everyone but Hillary's at fault.
The deal cut with Obama came to naught
and him so suave and gracious really hurts.
The many SuperDelegates she'd bought
all failed to serve her up her just deserts.
The policies she dared not advocate
set Sanders' Independent crowds afire
she offered only pablum 'til too late
and Bannon won it low, while she went higher.
Dry talking points could never make us feel
we crave a Roosevelt, and a New Deal

Beren

The stars wheeled over Beren, unremarked
as Luthien danced on the forest green
a timeless interval, shared in the dark
the hero captive to his elfin queen
her disapproving father posed a test
intending it would cost her swain his life
but Melian perceived his merit best
a worthy son-in-law for such a wife.
The silmaril they prized from Morgoth's crown
was holier than any wolf could stand
the two made common cause with Huan, the hound
to bring her brideprice in his severed hand.
Love's undeterred by class, or age, or race
in Tolkien's MiddleEarth, or anyplace.

timeless

The Tolkien trilogy leaves worlds unsaid
cosmology goes wholly unexplained
we only learned, once JRR laid dead
what publisher and author had disdained.
But posthumously, Chris reploughed that  field
exposing what laid buried to the light
whole cultures and their biases revealed
now readers 'round the globe thrill to their plight.
Grand myths, inscribed on vellum, clay, or wax
transcend the mere historian's dry art
announcing truths, transcending puny facts
that resonate directly in the heart.
The glories of a long-forgotten age
evoked by static ink on fragile page.

Discovery

the cairns of dog shit Amundsen emplaced
led Robert Falcon Scott to the South Pole
it seems--in retrospect--an epic waste
to come in second at that Austral goal.
But tragedy, for Scott, lay still ahead
for want of for want of biscuits, mutton, or white rice
before they got to camp, his team was dead
entombed forever on the windswept ice.
That Scott was brilliant, all his team attest
a testament to Britain, and to class
it baffled them, that he'd be second-best
or that Norwegians thought him such an ass.
Experience counts more, and breeding, less
to map the void without a GPS

beta blockers

When beta-adrenergic signals stop,
synuclein expression compensates
although systolic pressure's quick to drop,
grey Lewys body gunk accumulates.
Substantia nigra's killed off year by year
asymptomatic 'til it's almost dead
until the tremors suddenly appear
and dopa must come in PO, instead.
'Though anti-hypertensives quell stage-fright
they take a toll within our CNS
musicians damping down their "fight or flight"
can compromise their motor fine finesse.
Such pharmacology's a parlous art
to balance risk, and salve to head, and heart.

Red Line

Barbuda and St. Martin took the hit
as Irma, thunderously came ashore.
Trump's mansion on the latter's blown to shit;
it isn't fit for livestock anymore.
Next, Mar a Lago's in the whirlwind's path
Trump's corporation stands to take a loss
his title can't avert the tempest's wrath
the atmosphere acknowledges no boss.
He's safe; insurers won't contest his claim.
They want his favor in the healthcare fight.
No matter what the cost, they'll find no blame
remuneration's easy if you're White.
But island neighbors' equity's cast down
in Hartford, no one loves you, if you're Brown.

agnus dei

Australians want the world to eat more lamb
and filmed an ad to boost their market odds
especially with people who shun ham
this product boasts endorsement from the gods.
Denunciation's swift, and it's complete
from Hindus leaping to defend Ganesh
their god would never stoop to eating meat;
it's blasphemous to use Him selling flesh.
Mohammed phones it in, but stays off-screen
depicting him sparked riots for the Danes
and likewise, God-the-Father goes unseen
they're careful whom their contract-work profanes.
Apologies ensue, but in the end
the cult of Mammon's damned-sure to offend.

it's golden!

Steele's dossier's more prurient than hot
material that no one needs to see
the GRU's collected kompromat
was not to be disseminated free.
Trump tried to claim the whole thing was a bluff
but women verified that they'd been paid
like bridge, in which an elegant cross-ruff
takes many tricks before the ace is played.
Mike Pence pretends he doesn't know this guy
refusing meals unless they're with his wife
But Kaine got him repeatedly to lie
he's chained to Trumpty-Dumpty now for life.
It's time that we  impeach, then face what's next.
At least, let's argue policy, not sex.

insular

This week in Bangladesh dwarfs Texans' loss
the county's at sea-level, built on mud
but somehow, International RedCross
seems wholly focused on the Houston flood
four hundred cable channels, who can choose
for special-market sectors of all sorts
no two Americans agree what's news
'though hearts all beat as one for broadcast sports.
Yet no report arrives from past our shores
we're told the viewing public just don't care
we only go abroad when waging wars
attention doesn't linger over there.
When "foreigner" defaults to mean a foe
it's hard to love the neighbor you don't know.

Ki Tetzei II

Elisha ben Abuyah watched a son
chase off a mother bird to raid her nest
and quipped he'd get reward for what he'd done
obedient to his old man's behest.
Dual mitzvot surely marked him for long life;
it's inexplicable he'd be cut short.
But this boy died, and never knew a wife.
Elisha lost all faith in Heaven's Court.
Meir watched this play out, and yet stayed true,
convinced Truth laid obscured beneath p'shat.
A fundamentalist can't stay a Jew
insisting Torah's something that it's not.
the Deuteronomistic quid pro quo
seemed indefensible as youth smashed, dead
two paths diverged; Elisha couldn't go
the pious route. He hunted proofs instead.
No earthly tally always works out right
the wicked prospers, and the righteous bleeds.
No father could forget this awful sight;
his son got villain's wages for good deeds.
The metaphoric ledger just won't sum
without more columns for the World to Come.

Ki Tetzei

Elisha ben Abuyah watched a lad
ascend a tree to score a free-range meal
obedient to please his hungry dad
dual mitzvot surely meant reward for real
the Deuteronomistic quid pro quo
seemed indefensible as he fell, dead
two paths diverged; Elisha couldn't go
the pious route. He hunted proofs instead.
No earthly tally always works out right
the wicked prospers, and the pious bleeds
no father could forget this awful sight;
he saw no prize for his son's pious deeds.
The metaphoric ledger just won't sum
without more columns for the World to Come.

disorder

The White House memo read: "Do Not Admit
Seb Gorka" 'though he holds a current pass.
We're racked with spasm's 'til we pass this shit;
it's hard enough reporting to one ass.
As Chief of Staff, John Kelly needs a team
where campaign strategists and data geeks
conspire to realize a nation's dream
and not compete to leak the biggest leaks.
It's hard to make a boss who doesn't read
look to the world like he were in command
'though Hillary delivered him the lead
that power's dribbling through his stubby hand.
This general's assignment can't be done; 
with Trump's inauguration, Chaos won.

instability

Convection roils our lower atmosphere
transporting solar energy away
if, at most frequencies the air is clear
not brown like Delhi, Beijing, or LA.
There, photons give it up far overhead
the upper air's no cooler than below
the column luminesces infrared
and what's been heated's got no place to go.
Still, all of it must stratify at night
for lack of insolation, gravity
like Maxwell's demon, sorts them out by height;
the atmosphere grows stable as a sea.
Inversion's normal as the night grows old
but when the soaring's sweet, aloft it's cold