vicious circle

James Fallows warned, our wars will never end
as long as senators exempt their sons.
Mis-named department, once used to defend,

now fears its budget shrinks with conflicts won.

Tax-dollars circulate through lobbyists

to buy the senators who authorize

consigning more lives to the war-god's fist.

Lord Ares gets his cut each time one dies.

As K-Street glitters with retired Brass

we make sure Congress buys the latest arms.
Their motives are peculiar to their class;

society at large absorbs the harm.

Ike heard the death-throes of our government

in those colluding to sell armaments.

Christmas

The shortest day's behind; Dark's tenure's torn
as--sinusoidally--we exit Night.
The Newtons celebrate; a child's been born
who'll teach the world a new regard for Light.
The Renaissance was slow to cross the sea
Great Britain's sundered from the continent.
But no one boasts a brighter prodigy,
the shining lamp of the Enlightenment.

In all his age, outshining kings for fame

not for his bloodlines, but what he could do.

The Earth and stars will never be the same
sir Isaac bade us see the world anew.

Each child's potential--who can name its worth?
Great things unfolded from this Winter birth.

Damned

The Ghost of Christmas Future woke Bill Barr
to teach abuse of office has a cost.
A zealous advocate can go too far

in representing such a crooked boss.

If Hunter's been evasive on his tax,
The IRS will find him in due course.
Not innuendo, but established facts
established by a court, wield proper force.
A second tenure at the DoJ

where once, he'd sheltered shipments to Iran
defaults to scandal at a later day
the constant lawyer, to a different man.

Too late to save his name, Bill Barr's now quit
smeared for posterity in all Trump's shit.

rounding the mark

At perihelion, doomed to tip away
Our Northern hemisphere feels starved for light.
The Winter solstice ticks our shortest day;
It's drinking season on this longest night.
Spinoza's clockwork cosmos calls the dance;
elliptically, we're whirled from far to near.
No least detail is left to random chance;
each step's foretold within the solar sphere.
Beginning Winter as we round the mark
We flock to ski resort, or skating rink.
The party season peaks when all is dark;
we've learned it's bad to sit alone and drink.
It's complicated, living on this ball! 
For now, we bid good riddance to this Fall.

Timid

Bill Clinton ditched the GreatSociety;
pursuing banker donors on WallStreet.
Deregulation turned the pirates free
and Trump made their ascendancy complete.
Joe Biden wants this trend to hang on "hold"
This isn't how we played it in his youth!

But nothing in his nature tends towards bold;

he won't offend big donors with the truth.

Obama won't let CHANGE be pushed aside;

we can't be satisfied with ways of yore.
Proclivity to smile and let it ride

would melt the poles and lead to civil war.

An age that needs another FDR
finds Joe concerned that we would go too far.

Filming Police Brutality

Macron foresees a rematch with LePen

and duly trims his sails for last year's fight
as if what worked before must work again.
His policies skew ever to the Right.
A banker once, remains a banker still
He trusts police to always have his back
When videos attest it's cops that kill
he'd shoot the messenger who brings such facts.

Parisians pry up cobbles from the streets
they've toppled four republics; what's one more?
undaunted by the teargas and les flics

they won't be passive victims in this war.
French Workers take up arms; they got the clue
and won't be subjugated to the Few.

middling

The competence team Biden brings to bear

is welcome after four years of clown-show.
Each comes with evidence they truly care
We can't endure for long at status quo.

The fervor Bernie brought is in retreat
Joe isn't comfortable with change, per se.
But somehow, he's encompassed Trump's defeat
without enunciating a new way.
Austerians will preach a tightened belt
to a make a mis-spent budget somehow do.
This world in crisis needs a Roosevelt

to claw back power from the moneyed few.
Bold leadership would be too much to ask
At least they seem to understand their task.