magnum est res tacere

Longs centuries, the Brits loved what they've had
content to cite tradition, day by day.
Still, written constitutions ain't so bad
if they'd but deign to try the Yankees' way.
The haystack-headed clown of Downing Street
runs roughshod over Opposition faint.
His code of conduct's grossly incomplete
reliant on his fictive self-restraint.
But in the crisis, wise heads ought to pause.
What court dares intercede where there's no crime?
"great cases" we're reminded "make bad laws"
Yet innovation's urgent at this time.
should Britain--by great luck--survive this clown
the cure for such an ill's worth writing down.

parlous times

This latest antic in the BoJo show
might be a hoot if stakes were not so high.
He dared to ask his sov'reign to prorogue
without a guarantee that she'd comply.
Her Majesty signed off, they'll be on break
until October's run full half its course.
Scant opportunity to fix mistakes
as Britain's prospects sag from bad to worse.
Were Corbyn less unpopular by half,
this present Parliament would boot the clown.
But Corbyn as Prime Minister's a laugh;
the multi-party system's broken down.
Yanks dared the world to top Trump's flair to fail;
the British gamely answered "hold my ale".

urp II

Methanogens detox ungulates' gut
by stripping hydrogen out of the chyme,
that forms when fermentation's firmly shut
from oxygen (if only for a time).
What's once produced is belched into the air
to trap IR--'though UV shines right through.
A threat to which we're slow to grow aware
as we poach in our man-made greenhouse stew.
A million years of symbiotic bliss
recycling cellulose into prime meat
could make a sterile Venus out of this
blue planet as it traps more of our heat.
Our steak in worlds to come's ever more dear
if we must buy it with our atmosphere.

Pass the Torch II

Joe Biden's neurologically too old;
no voter who's awake should find this strange.
Our current crises need somebody bold
to navigate in seas of ceaseless change.
Liz Warren brings the vigor, and a plan
to teach, to practice law, to save the world...
Miami's shown us who's the better man
'though Trump may underestimate the "girl".
Two dozen others get their say, of course
Kamala vivisected Joe in style!
But soon, it's time to step down and endorse
the one who'll bear the torch the final mile.
The 2020 ballot fits just two;
Liz Warren's turn on top's long over-due.

pirate king

Macron holds Bolsonaro to his word;
the Amazon must photosynthesize.
To scorch the planet's lungs is just absurd;
without the rainforest, our species dies.
Such conflagration's more than law allows
whole tribes are perishing among their trees.
But ranchers, eager to export cheap cows
would liquidate a word's patrimony.
Pariah nation, shut out in the cold
no European's gonna buy its beef.
Their trade agreement's getting put on 'hold'
until Brazil repents and ousts this thief.
The human species' running out of time
for fascist who see profit in such crime.

Ekev III

transactional theology's a crock;
God's not a butler, coddling your desire.
No human logic--much less Mr. Spock--
finds Springtime rains in goats consigned to fire.
Societies of angels need no rules;
Karl Marx explained the state itself away.
But to accommodate both saints and fools,
we still need codes, and people must obey.
When Job got tzurres that he'd never earned,
compounded by three friends who thought they're wise
God scoffed at what these three thought they had learned;
their victim-blaming schemes he labeled "lies".
Adults who spurn Ekev's stark quid-pro-quo
when raising children, still profess it's so.

Ekev

The quid-pro-quo of Deuteronomy
dissatisfied Job's author, long ago.
No purpose and no teleology
explains why innocent kids suffer so.
First-person testimony from on High
confirms our hero's righteous in all facts.
False friends seek reassurance in their lies
who--were they honest--ought to have his back.
To bring his sons, flocks, herds, back from the dead
strains one's credulity--it's more than odd.
But what's canonical can't be unsaid;
within the b'rit, we're stuck explaining God.
So Jews must re-interpret static words
imbuing sense into this life absurd.

June 12th

When Jimi Hendrix strode up to the plate
and Richard Nixon caught on bended knee
Dock Ellis smirked. 'Cause to hallucinate
is pretty much the point of LSD.
Opposing coaches envy what he took.
No pattern's manifest for them to find
in any scuttlebutt, or scouting book
for pitchers operating out of mind.
Four walks, no hits, no runs; the game was won.
the batters live forever with the shame.
The counter-culture changed how things are done
and what it even means to "play the game".
"The hardest feat in sports" to get a hit
when Dock's atop the mound, and he is lit.

Oresteia

Orestes saw his duty, and proved true;
Elektra's orphaned by her brother's hand.
Good kids stood up to do what they must do
to purge the regicide taint from the land.
the House of Atreus plays out its fate.
Thyestes' heir shirked Troy; he would not go
to prove to Trojans Agamemnon's great;
Aegysthos skulked at home to lay him low.
The code of honor's clear, but can't preclude
eradication of the family.
Athena's gonna have to end this feud
once young Orestes lays it on her knee.
Foundations just societies build on
must reach past clan to form Leviathan.

He Loved His Mother II

Jocasta bade her husband come to bed
and grant his kingly burdens eight hours' pass.
Let sextons wash and bury the plague's dead;
gravedigging's not for one of royal class.
Teiresias advised him toss aside
rash vows to nail his predecessor's bane.
And not to look too closely at his bride
but grew defensive rather than explain.
His parents tossed their child out, long ago
but Fate's decrees are not so lightly ducked.
Unknowingly, he'd laid his father low;
The queen discovers she's been doubly fucked.
He fled from Corinth to evade this thing
but Thebes was destined for its sightless king.

He loved his mother

Jocasta bade her husband come to bed
and toss aside  his burdens 'til the morn.
Let sextons wash and bury the plague's dead;
gravedigging's not for one so noble born.
Teiresias advised him toss aside
rash vows to nail his predecessor's bane.
And not to look too closely at his bride
but grew defensive rather than explain.
His parents tossed their child out, long ago
but Fate's decrees are not so lightly ducked.
Unknowingly, he'd laid his father low;
The queen discovers she's been doubly fucked.
He fled from Corinth to evade this thing
but Thebes was destined for its sightless king.

Loose Lips II

Joe Biden took the senate floor to speak
with perfect faith he'd find something to say.
Without a breath, he'd blather on all week
and too much content just gets in the way.
But video preserves his ev'ry word
to echo awkwardly across the years
a vapid argument he knew absurd
would throw a wrench into Obama's gears.
McConnell took the "Biden Rule" to heart
and swore no nomination will advance;
a confirmation doomed to never start
however perfect,  never got a chance.
Mitch seized Joe's precedent and deemed it firm
to grant Obama 3/5 of a term

witness, tampered

'Though Jeffrey Epstein offered to post bail
to savor some last hours of liberty,
the judge remanded him to rot in jail.
Fake passports signaled this perp's poised to flee.
Nobody knows where all his money's from
nor how much he might shortly owe the court.
'Though Justice may be blind, She's not that dumb
not everyone will bend whom he'd extort.
Since Roy Cohn died, Trump's never made a friend;
it's decades since his mentor passed away.
His means secure him his romantic end;
some girls, he forced; but more would play for pay.
Now Epstein found it easier to die
than stand beneath the sun and testify.

the next war

Narendra Modi pandered to the mob
revoking Article 370.
Imputing Nehru'd done a shoddy job
midwifing India to unity.
A demographic tidal wave of funds
would disenfranchise Muslims where they dwell.
A revolution without using guns
could make of paradise a living Hell.
A constitution ought to guarantee
the rights of everyone, however few
against the whims of the majority;
what's wrong, the government must never do.
This rivalry's too useful to abate;
this war won't be confined to real estate.

El Paso

Ted Cruz is up in arms; Trump crossed a line
imputing Texans ain't all of his class.
El Paso's victims ought not be maligned
but such a stubby-fingered orange ass.
The Brandenburg Test leaves a lot of space
within the code, it's legal to incite
deplorables to wage a war on race...
as long as they don't fire that shot tonight.
O'Rourke's campaign looked moribund, or dead
until these shootings fluffed his stock, a bit.
He sure looks upright next to lying Ted
the Cuban version of robotic Mitt.
A party with no room for an adult
is now a xenophobic, fascist cult.

push-back

Ted Cruz is up in arms; Trump crossed a line
imputing Texans ain't all of his class.
El Paso's victims ought not be maligned
but such a stubby-fingered orange ass.
Alberta's Senator saw a hot mic
a vacancy his ego can't abide.
Although he's not the sort a Texan'd like
he'd be a fool to not stroke their fierce pride.
Abe Lincoln's party's gotten commandeered;
no principles are left for which it stands.
The "factions" that our Founding Fathers feared
gave awesome powers to this awful man.
A party with no room for an adult
is now a xenophobic, fascist cult.

Exceptional!

A figure no one loves bestrides the world
convinced he's just as sexy as can be.
The guy who's always paid to get the girl
could doom us--man and beast--to World War III.
The cameras show him loving Kim's charade;
he's such a whore for free publicity.
This amateur wrecks years of work on Trade
 for  photo-ops along the  DMZ.
Across the pond, the BoJo Show's a bust;
his BREXIT project's dead in Parliament.
But Corbyn's Opposition earns scant trust;
no leader holds the Britons' confidence.
Like anti-Globalists who've gone before
these clowns seem bent on launching a new war.

allegiances

The Trump administration shows disdain
for California, and the whole WestCoast.
When only Democrats are into trains
our high-speed-rail initiative is toast.
For Russian forestfires, Trump offers aid
but Californians hear another tune.
Where Spring's green grasslands lose their sheen and fade
Trump sends the victims prayers, and rakes, and brooms.
Unless your state's declared a "battleground"
Trump's strategists won't send a single cent.
He'll shed no tear to burn it to the ground:
if you're not Red, he's not your president.
The hyper-partisan Newt Gingrich dreamed
is even more horrific than he'd seemed.

exceptional

Recursions gave mishnaic rabbis pause;
such questions without answers just seemed wrong!
They sought a cosmos run by causal laws.
And so, they posit the first pair of tongs.
Created erev shabbos the first Week
to be discovered by a BronzeAge sage.
Full 14 billion years, word didn't leak
'til they're appropriate to Mankind's age.
Ten miracles, the text enumerates
that scientists are helpless to explain.
The manna, talking ass, or Korach's fate...
the best logicians spend their ink in vain.
Balaam's ass kept exalted company;
Jews hate exceptions to causality.

"friends"

'Though Jeffrey Epstein offered to post bail
to savor some last hours of liberty,
the judge remanded him to rot in jail.
Fake passports signaled this perp's poised to flee.
Nobody knows where all his money's from
nor how much he might shortly owe the court.
'Though Justice may be blind, She's not that dumb
not everyone will bend whom he'd extort.
Since Roy Cohn died, Trump's never made a friend;
it's decades since his mentor passed away.
His means secure him his romantic end;
some girls, he forced; but more would play for pay.
Jeff's not too proud to cop a plea and squeal;
no love for Trump will bar him from this deal.

justice delayed

Pelosi's not slow-walking--she adjures--
investigations Congress says it needs.
The power of the gavel's firmly hers;
nobody commandeers tonight's new-feeds.
The House is duty-bound to counteract
Executives amok, despite the cost.
No DoJ will serve her up the facts;
left to Bill Barr, the Truth gets wholly lost.
But Nancy's ego's second to no man's.
No upstart's yet unhorsed her in the joust.
She'll guard her office, flog her donors' brands.
'Til she goes feet-first, she won't quit the House.
"Ambition must be made to counter-act...:
Jame's Madison's brave concept's not yet fact.