old pro

Zarif could teach a Hogwart's class, or five

on how to get a price below a 'steal'

and leave the merchant grateful he's alive

and only lost his garment in the deal.

This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?

Potomac Swamp

Trump promised that he'd only "hire the best"
and laughed that some believe the crap he'll say.
Each Secretary's feathering his nest;
Scott Pruitt brought the swamp to EPA.
To run casinos, yet report a loss
Trump must have slept through ev'ry business class
A feckless haggler, and a useless boss;
It's foolish to do business with this ass.
No lessons taken from four bankruptcies;
he finds them less engrossing than his comb.
Mistaking shake-downs for high policy
the most corrupt--at least--since Teapot Dome.
Most losers (four times over!) would have quit
but Donald's most at home neck-deep in shit.

big league

Iran's Zarif denies he backs Assad
they're merely hand-in-hand against the threat
of al-Baghdadi, who insists that God
won't hear except from ISIL's minaret.
This man Trump thinks he'll out-negotiate
could sell a snowball to an Eskimo.
The egotistic fool, convinced he's great
has no idea how badly this could go.
At ease in half a dozen worldly tongues
each ambiguity's a chosen tool.
Where Trump can't finish sentences in one
a master haggler, picked on by a fool.
What madness drives this puerile orange brat
to try to scam a black-belt diplomat?

the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office

In case of death, or disability
the Twenty-fifth amendment has a plan
to lend a government stability
despite the frailties of mortal man.
Melania may channel Donald's will
like Edith did, when Woodrow had his stroke.
She's as respected on Capitol Hill,
and more importantly, by David Koch.
But ratifying we redressed that flaw;
we're not at leisure to extemporize
what's set--if not in stone, at least in law
increasingly, seems cut to Donald's size.
The VP's desk is where it's got to start
by now, Mike Pence must know that text by heart.

green star

Hans Bethe sketched a catalytic wheel
by which four protons form one common core
one carbon-neutral drive for all that's real
but mass grows ever less, and never more

Two positrons--tout suite--obliterate.
So--net--it's only x-rays get set free.
Disorder somewhere's got to compensate;
those photons bear a ton of entropy.
A stellar system, while it lasts, perhaps.
But comes a day there's no more fuel to spend
no nuclei survive the big collapse
it's gravity triumphant in the end.
Her spouse may speculate, but can't know why
a physicist gapes slack-jawed at the sky.

worldly justice

Keith Davidson chose to cooperate;
Mike Cohen must believe he'll testify
to prosecutors of the Fed, or State
and leave him dangling on the line, to dry.
The Loyalty Trump's lawyers owe their man
amounts to less that what that fool believes.
A mercenary pack, not kin nor clan
one mustn't trust in honor among thieves.
Bob Mueller means to learn just what Keith saw
and why McDougal wasn't free to speak.
A rearguard in defiance of the law
find he's without a paddle, up a creek.
He'll squeeze each smaller fish for what it's worth.
No felon long evades Bob on this Earth.

solar drive

Hans Bethe sketched a catalytic ring
by which four protons fused to noble gas
one carbon-neutral drive for everything
at the expense of what's no longer mass.
Two positrons--tout suite--obliterate.
So--net--it's only x-rays get set free.
Disorder somewhere's got to compensate;
those photons bear a ton of entropy.
A stellar system, while it lasts, perhaps.
But comes a day there's no more fuel to spend
no nuclei survive the big collapse
it's gravity triumphant in the end.
Her spouse may speculate, but can't know why
a physicist gapes slack-jawed at the sky.

dirt

Why Rupert Murdoch keeps Sean Hannity
defies a BlueState view of common sense,
provoking the same incredulity
as glitzy Don in bed with dour Mike Pence.
But Rupert lives to tease his son, and heir
while James aspires to sweeping clean the bench.
The geezer pays to show he does not care
another dog's been buying off his wench.
A timely death could let the youngsters choose
a more professional, and less uncouth
face holding down the primetime on FoxNews
less loyal to the Mercers, more to Truth.
A mogul's self-indulgent nasty whim
won't end until the cold earth's closed on him.

best served cold

Mitt Romney's shopping for a Senate seat,
from which to steer the party's coming phase.
McConnell's foundering with Trump's defeat,
as Special Teams trot out for final plays.
The Lower Chamber must initiate
to draft the allegations of High Crimes.
But then, the Senate can adjudicate,
and Mitt could suit up in the nick of time.
Six  years ago--the memory still galls--
the White House proved a rung beyond his reach.
If--in the interim--he's grown some balls,
he's cleverly positioned to impeach.
The passion he's so lacking on the stump
may yet be harnessed to evict a Trump.

nexus of scandal

Sean Hannity defended Michael Cohen
as if we should take umbrage at the raid
without admitting to a  quid pro quo
strange lawyer! who's advice is free,  unpaid.
A sycophant to money, more than class
devoid as much of brains, as he's of heart
A specialist in the gold-plated ass
who wants the silence of a  certain tart.
The Murdochs canned O'Reilly for no more;
his sponsors recognized their product stank.
A pundit buying off yesterday's whore
won't long fill his accounts in that Swiss bank.
Each day, another scandal rocks Trump's throne
his lawyer needs more lawyers of his own.

big Jim

James Comey deems this president unfit
but never dreamed the Orange Fool would win.
And takes no credit for the world of shit
our proud republic's swiftly sinking in.
Investigating Clinton was routine;
what didn't warrant charges, should not leak.
But Comey fed the RightWing noise machine
that left both major parties up this creek.
His colleague, Mueller's tasked with making sense
in retrospect, of what just seems insane
to hand the Oval Office to Mike Pence
by meddling in the Hillary campaign.
A lifelong enemy of all things 'mob'
Jim's sworn to help Bob Mueller slay this job.

conflicted

Jon Huntsman deconflicted our attack
lest Russians chip a nail without due cause.
But no one trusts that Trump will have his back
contemptuous of diplomats, and laws.
Obama was too prudent to commit
to proxy war, with no good end in sight.
But Trump--unthinking--wades into that shit
expecting Fox will trumpet that he's right.
binSalman, and Macron think we should stay
'though no one has conceived an exit plan.
Assad seems disinclined to quit the fray.
If anybody's winning, it's Iran.
Not quite a policy, just bombs, and words.
And no one advocates for murdered Kurds.

machinery of justice

By flipping Cohen, Mueller could win big
Trump's staunchest Senate allies must admit
to mutely ride this sinking orange pig
must drown their party in his sea of shit.
Trump has no power to forgive State crimes,
so Schneiderman holds levers Mueller lacks.
Conspirators are facing real, hard time
regardless that the POTUS "has their backs".
The castles he was selling, all were smoke;
he's bound for Leavenworth, not opulence.
the fools invested in this sordid joke
must liquidate their futures for mere Pence.
It's Bob, not Vlad, whom Donald has to fear
TIME Magazine's next Person of the Year.

the arrogance

The fossils and ephemera compete
to waste each minute of each Senate day.
The transcript's kept--we're promised it's complete 
to show they've really nothing much to say.
Now, Vitter has refused to testify
why anyone should seat her on the bench.
Perhaps she feels she's way too pure to lie
but some detect her master's sulfur stench.
"The government's the problem!" Reagan brayed.
Subverting it's a virtue in his cult.
the finest plans our Founding Fathers laid
require a White House run by an adult.
The House is poised to flip (the Senate, too)
November bodes a tidal waves of Blue.

coward

Paul Ryan's reputation's built on gas;
he's no grand strategist, to think deep thoughts.
The economics he pulls out his ass
comport with what the season's donors bought.
But now, he's quit, retired at forty-eight
invertebrate crawled back beneath his rock.
While others sweat to make this country great
he'll never have to punch another clock.
Without a spine, he never took a stand; 
however money spoke, he'd never balk.
His legacy's been written in dry sand;
no evidence he ever walked the walk.
Whatever hopes Wisconsin vest in him,
his finest effort's all saved for the gym.

brinks

The Mullahs sent the Quds brigade to Homs
projecting power closer to Riyadh.
But likewise, within range of hostile bombs;
fourteen more shaheedin drew close to God.
For Bibi, four near-neighbors are enough
those know they'd bear the cost of an attack.
To take a Persian pawn just shows he's tough
and no one wants to be the next Iraq.
'Though Putin's miffed he hadn't seen the plan
Israelis knew no Russian blood'd be spilled.
They tracked his mercenaries to the man.
No one of any notice would be killed.
A proxy war heats up in the Levant,
as Trump throws every switch he's told he can't.

cornered

Trump's lawyer claims the money was his own;
his client didn't know, and didn't pay.
So if there's been a crime, it's his, alone
to make the Stormy story go away.
Attorney/Client privilege is moot
'cause Trump swears this transpired behind his back.
The payment at the heart of this dispute,
might have been just an unmarked paper sack.
Bob Mueller passed this off; he toes the line;
Trump's private data never crossed his hands.
But now, if someone fires Rod Rosenstein,
the firer's liable likewise to be canned.
Hell hath no client worse than Donald Trump
whom any lawyer's well-advised to dump.

justice deferred

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 thugs,

Assad's whole family hangs, and the world shrugs.

visions

Isaiah shows the Lord on high, enthroned
grew bored of choirs of Angels singing praise
and judging it not good to be alone,
created one more world, to pass the days.
the One who offers bad, as well as good
presiding over Day, no less than Night
who brooks no rival in His neighborhood
the Author both of Darkness, and of Light.
More prophets sang us each their proper song;
Hoshea still embraced his faithless wife.
A dozen voices riffing on what's wrong
polyphonous guides to a righteous life.
Ezekiel's whole revelation's odd;
his bicycles join in, extolling God.

fifteen minutes of fame

One hangry vegan, strapped for revenue
confirmed what we'd concluded long before.
To gun down engineer-staff at YouTube
neurotic dame forgot we're not at war.
The videos she thought would change the world
were algorithmicly deemed indiscreet
by filters set to guard our boys, and girls,
who don't need abs of steel, but thrive on meat.
The right to bear a musket, sword, or knife
should not apply where moral growth's gone bad.
There's more than protein missing from her life;
it shouldn't take a court to judge she's mad.
Adults don't bring small arms to business fights
nor murder humans over livestock's rights.

yesterday's darling

If Trump loves Pruitt like he loved Mike Flynn,
it won't be long before he's likewise fired.
Trump's only (mostly) loyal to close kin,
and kissing Donald's ass, a tool gets tired.
The Cabinet's a never-ceasing churn;
New confirmation hearings never rest.
They'll plead with Mueller, pairwise, or in turn,
to be replaced by someone Trump deems "best".
Italians know this downward arc full well;
the writing's none too subtle on the wall.
Corrupt administrations doomed to Hell
may bribe the media, but can't not fall.
No loyalty vouchsafes his staunch oldguards;
Bob Mueller's blowing down this house of cards.

formal constraints

One hundred forty syllables suffice
for those who'll spend the effort, and the time
to choose each word with effort (not with dice)
within constraints of meter, and of rhyme.
Communication takes two of a kind
whose inner lexicons contrive to synch
but certainty that there's another mind
rests more on faith, than arguments one'd think.
Elizabethan sonnets set one norm
for Dryden, Shakespeare, Coleridge, and Donne.
Ideas run wild, while hewing to the form.
But some seem unconvinced this could be fun.
Some other life, I may be one of those
content to dream in monochrome, and prose.

what lies beneath

The mumbo-jumbo Robert Mercer sells
can't reconcile his claims of grand results
the maths beneath the whistles, and the bells
betray that his veneer conceals a cult.
Practitioners of Nixon's dirty tricks
stoke files like Hoover's, fat with kompromat.
While facile charms of Alexander Nix
let clients lie about just what they've bought.
Bob Mueller knows the statutes, and they're clear;
campaigns are circumscribed in space, and time
if strategy's made anywhere but here
this may be yet another Trumpish crime.
From Michigan to Kenya, and Nepal,
an empire of deception's poised to fall.

grow up

ad-hominem attacks on David Hogg
may yet cost Ingraham her FauxNews gig
enabler to her puerile demagogue
betrays which one's in service to the pig.
The Parkland students haven't compromised;
no donors veto what they get to say
'though Laura's made a living selling lies,
old donors are now pushing her away.
A generation shattering taboos
is unintimidated by her snark.
They're wise to bottle-blondes, and bogus news
and toothless bitches valued for their bark.
A bully targeting this gawky teen
may learn Americans are done with 'mean'.