who counts

Emanuel proved ineffectual
coercing Congress to Obama's will.
It's cash, not threats that grants a player pull;
Chicago's games don't play Capitol Hill.
His vision of a world post-partisan
relied on folks to whom such things appeal
But Gingrich coached his choir in unison.
Barack was never gonna get a deal.
The senator from Hartford played his role,
defeating his own party by a hair.
His donors own his soul, and kept control
of what Americans "choose" in healthcare.
The Universal Care the world enjoys
can't buck the tide of Donors' cash and noise.

decline

Trump whines America's no longer great
and shirks our customary global role
espousing politics of fear, and hate
this limbic president lacks self-control.
The Germans lead the world in Human Rights
and Xi JinPing sets policy on Trade.
But Trump's still on the playground, picking fights
to prove to daddy that he's not afraid.
Our century of influence was fun
when we could fight our wars across the seas
but  after what our voters gone and done
our proud republic's sinking to her knees.
The orange president and VP pale
just illustrate anew Why Nations Fail.

Chayye Sarah III

Rebecca's heavy lifting at the well
showed Eliezer this must be the one
a coded way for his lord's God to tell
him here's the bride to bring his master's son.
Yitzhak's been silent, since we saw him, bound
expecting that his father'd take his life.
He's not to travel, tethered to the ground
but providence must bring him the right wife.
His father looms heroic in his eyes;
his sons will seek adventure in the world.
but Yitzhak's less the player, than the prize
still trusting dad will get him the right girl.
Reluctant actor on his own life's stage, 
we never see him wholly come of age.

vayeitze II

When Jacob emigrated towards Haran
Rebecca sent him fleeing for his life
his brother's bent on vengeance for the con
let Isaac think he's gone to meet a wife.
The man who'd lurked in camp, now works outside
his only shelter's heaven's starry dome
but nights are warmer with his double bride.
Without a  house, he yet contrives a home.
The stolen blessing never seems to work;
his uncle cheats him every time he can.
A score of years in service to that jerk
grew callouses all over our "smooth man".
Yeshuran, who'd been crooked can go straight
when first he's overcome his brother's hate.

cracks

Bob Mercer's washed his hands of Bannon's man
and Adelson's disgusted with Roy Moore
big donors are allergic to the Klan;
they don't align with Trump's White racist core.
The pedophile that preys on teenaged girls
displays no token of his villain's part
no comic opera mustache that he twirls
to flag his lack of empathy, and heart.
McConnell figures he can spare one seat
but needs to show Kentucky he's upright.
A candidate so damaged should be beat
(at least if his opponent's also White).
The Senate Democrats are on a roll
but still need two more seats, to take control.

revenge

Hariri's back, Beirut can speculate
what had allayed the fear that made him quit.
Hezbollah's still a martial pseudo-state
that keeps a list of enemies to hit.
Assad--who whacked Rafiq--is still at large.
It takes no genius to connect the dots.
but now, his capo Putin's taken charge
Bashar may not be free to call the shots.
Saad, himself, may answer to Riyadh;
the Lebanese arrangement's byzantine
its linkages are only known to God
our spies do what they can, from what they glean.
Assad's a fool to stick to the old tune
Hariri thinks himself the star of 'Dune'.

famous for 15 minutes

binSalman struts his hour upon the stage
as if the kingdom just awaits his plan
so confidant that--at his tender age--
the world acknowledges that he's the man.
His cousins weigh his slender resume
and mark both Syria and Yemen red.
Those ventures manifestly did not pay
unless you monetize the heaps of dead.
binMuqrin's helicopter got shot down
all hands were lost in empty seas of sand.
But throngs of cousins still could claim the crown;
it's nearly bottomless, this royal band.
King Salman's old, and evidently ill
with regal legions to contest his will

power play

binSalman treats his office like a toy,
to kill one rival, and beat others down.
Appalling powers to vest in a boy
who's next in line to bear the Saudi crown.
Mansour--we think--perceived his cousin's plan
and so, was marked as one who had to die.
His pilot sleeps beside him in the sand;
their helicopter fell out of the sky.
ARAMCO's IPO's been cast in doubt
the public trusts him less than his close kin
who're smuggling the ryals they've gathered out;
investors aren't pumping money in.
Too eager to establish a great name,
he's lost sight of the purpose of the game.

post-Mugabe

Mugabe's party's showing him the door
but he's still disinclined to quit this race.
He likes his chances in a civil war
and never showed George Washington's good grace.
A revolutionary gone to seed
too often clings to power by diktat.
No longer servant to the People's need,
the aging Comrade's now the autocrat.
The neighbors know a coup's bad precedent
the military brass must know their role
if they can overthrow a president,
they may not need a vote to take control.
A revolution's an unruly thing
too many officers want to be king.

Powerbroker

Mugabe's out, four decades past his prime.
The people sniff the air of liberty.
His revolution, frozen out of time
forgot Zimbabweans yearn to be free.
The generals insist they've staged no "coup"
Their fight is only in the public's cause
by rooting out corruption by "the few"
they'd reinstate a government of laws.
George Washington achieved what he'd aspired
to do. His battles had been fought, and won
eight years in office, then he just retired.
A gracious exit when his role was done.
Mugabe's legacy's now cast in doubt
his dowager's been bested in a rout.

high stakes

binSalman feared a coup was in the cards
but figured he'd forestall it by his wits.
He placed his royal cousins under guards
as non-consensual guests at the Ritz.
Democracy's not fostered by the gun.
He's seized their assets, not their loyalty.
His claim's unsure as Salman's youngest son;
most princes can post more securities.
Aramco's IPO is looking grim
as Saudis smuggle assets out the door.
The kings economists can't lie to him;
the nation's wealth's increasingly off-shore.
The odds are long for such a petro-state,
that bets its fortune on one gambler's fate.

one wheel in the ditch

Republicans repudiate Roy Moore
he's not the man to hold Jeff Sessions' seat.
The prospect of him preaching from the Floor
in full Klan panoply, with hood, and sheet,
has Senators aghast. He's not with us!
We're loyal, but he's not what we had meant.
That creep belongs on Billy Bush's bus.
It's hard enough to back our president.
One Predator-in-Chief's a lot to hide;
he left his prints on Miss Teen USA.
We'll have to shove this Good Old Boy aside.
Pray Luther strange can make him go away.
No party loyalty like days of yore
the GOP's engaged in civil war.

Diplomats

Trump "never said" that Kim is short, and fat
although his twitter-log attests he had.
Embarrassingly, our chief "diplomat"
is less than competent, and may be mad.
The dotard North Koreans love to tease
can't tell the nightly news from "Game of Thrones".
The broadest farce, and crassest parodies
routinely go too high to catch his tone.
The jab that's age-appropriate at ten,
--a bit of snark to even an old score--
when traded by these nuclear-armed men,
could set our planet on a path to war.
The tiff that ends the last hope for World Peace
should not be over which brat's more obese.

Game of Thrones

binSalman's cousins found he was unfit
and judged Mansour would make the better king.
binMuqrin's helicopter took the hit
and aviation fails, without a wing.
The Yemen quagmire has no end in sight
yet Lebanon's a place he might prevail
fourth times the charm, to prove his army's might
but nothing he's launched yet has failed to fail.
An autocrat the Kushners'd recognize
has gathered all State powers in his mitts
dissent's dismissed--officially--as "lies"
for dissidents: Free Lodging at the Ritz!
So many princes! It's not clear just who
must save Arabia through a new coup.

changes

leaves skitter on the duckpond's frozen face
the trees re-clad in snow before they're bare
the seasons whirl at an abnormal pace
it's Winter before Autumn's fully here.
the GulfStream wavers, Iceland holds its breath
without it, what could keep the cold at bay
can geothermal spare them from slow death
if heat's transported somewhere far away?
More moisture's carried in the atmosphere
as heat's trapped by exhausts from car, and cow
old vegetation patterns, year by year,
seem ill-adapted to the here-and-now.
Trump still thinks Climate Change may be a hoax; 
his talking points are written by the Kochs.

Times change

Since Robert Frost, the poets' realm's grown small
their library's contracted to one shelf.
Where Milton sang of Eden, and the Fall,
the Modern's world's no bigger than the self.
Miranda craved an Art that's got more range
let haiku-masters keep theirs neat, and terse.
While others whine, he'll engineer the change;
this generation's primed for rhyming verse.
Millennia, t'was poets ruled the stage,
from ribald comic highs, to tragic lows.
His Hamilton's the wonder of the age,
eclipsing treatments done in plodding prose.
Each year, some forms gain favor, some forms lose.
Tomorrow, something new may please the Muse.

...some to abhorrence

Saad Hariri knows Assad full well
'though justice in this world is looking bleak.
Bashar deserves a special place in Hell
for blowing up Prime Minister Rafik.
'Though Mehlis nailed his assets to the wall
the Syrians demur to give a hoot
The playing-field is theirs, as is the ball,
from Kurdistan to beaches in Beirut.
The Russians grant him Syria, alone
with military hardware, not just words.
He'll live another season on the throne
and spend it murdering n-thousand Kurds.

 The day that Putin leaves, and takes his gang,
we'll shrug to see Assad's whole family hang.

changing fashions

Since Robert Frost, the poets' realm's grown small
their library's contracted to one shelf.
Where Milton sang of Eden, and the Fall,
the Modern's world's no bigger than herself.
Miranda craved an Art that's got more range
let haiku-masters keep theirs neat, and terse.
While others whine, he'll engineer the change;
this generation's primed for rhyming verse.
Millennia, t'was poets ruled the stage,
from ribald comic highs, to tragic lows.
His Hamilton's the wonder of the age,
eclipsing treatments done in plodding prose.
Each year, some forms gain favor, some forms lose.
Who knows what offerings may please the Muse?

Vayera P

When Tantalus served up his only son
Olympus shuddered at the very thought.
That's not how sacrifices should be done;
the favors of the gods were not so bought.
They resurrected Pelops to a tee;
Poseidon loved the lad, from toe to head.
Who--for his part--expressed his piety
performing nightly in His water-bed.
The text of Genesis reworked the plot,
and Gospel writers made it something new.
One God replaced the whole Olympic lot.
This pagan Greek's recast as pious Jew.
The angel staying Abraham's raised knife,
renewed a pagan myth to vibrant life.