Joe Biden didn't want to draw 'red lines'
in Ukraine like Obama'd done before
in Syria, but tripped his own landmines,
enticing Putin to wage halfway war.
Monroe'd been wrong to stake a hemisphere
once we'd cast off Brittania's sea-girt throne.
As hegemon among our smaller peers,
it's not our place to chart their course alone.
The Baltics read the threat, and rush in aid
as if Ukraine'd joined NATO long before,
before the Russians stage another raid
in what they coyly still won't name a"war".
The seaside kingdom Putin's namesake staked
is just the first this Czar-manqué would take.
Mark Meadows has demurred to take this fall;
Trump's chief-of-staff knows who dispatched that mob.
As perps are stood against the pock-marked wall,
to lie for Trump's no longer this pawn's job.
The party that had crushed the racist South
to share our country's blessings with all men,
surrendered meekly to the ass' mouth
who wants to blame the darker-skinned again.
Our nation's known this tribal strife before;
if Meadows is to turn us from that path,
and spare America new civil war,
he'll have to face Trump's minions, and their wrath.
Self-rule requires we each play the adult
and marginalized those who'd lead a cult.
Joe Manchin stopped Joe Biden's program cold
reflecting how his biggest donors feel.
Two Joes stood up, but one of them looks bold;
the other's way too quick to cut a deal.
For Biden, compromise is statecraft's soul;
no bedrock undergirds him that won't bend.
But Manchin's adamant; he stands for Coal.
His vote's not one on which we can depend.
To flip the Senate would have taken more;
a 50/50 split breaks for the rich.
While Biden haggles with this small-town whore,
our fair republic's heading for the ditch.
As midterms loom, McConnell's feeling good;
he's bought a Manchin in prime neighborhood.
"A time for boldness!" sounds good on the stump;
Joe Biden's writers craft a handsome phrase.
And--for our part--we meant to move past Trump;
four years was too much chaos, and malaise.
Still, boldness isn't Biden's stock in trade
He works hard being just 'one of the guys'.
When plans and policies have to be made,
there's nothing on which he won't compromise.
Liz Warren had laid out what must be done;
in text, and verse, she offered us her plan.
A year's gone by, and Joe's barely begun;
To do this job, she'd be the better man.
The calendar leaves not a lot of room;
too much remains undone, as midterms loom.
Judge Schroeder gave Kyle Rittenhouse a gift
dismissing charges of "illegal gun".
It's not been proven he was taking grift
but this ain't how a good courthouse is run.
Black robes exalt the judge from common folk;
in office, he speaks for the very State.
But in Kenosha, justice is a joke;
he's advocating for this reprobate.
A hundred years, "discretion's" served the Klan
selecting whom it is we'll prosecute.
This adolescent posing as a man
gets special dispensation, 'cause he's cute.
Two men lie dead, a third's been gravely maimed;
were their assailant black, 'twere not the same.
The propaganda Putin's patsies print
with passing years, meets less responsive ears.
through Medvedev, he scammed another stint
But few would want him back for four more years.
Most Russians with the means, gave up and fled
like Lenin, fuming in his Finnish home.
Those who remained have somehow wound up dead.
This empire's run by Vlad, and Vlad alone.
The sanctions Trumpski was installed to lift
outlived him, and might even get enhanced.
Joe Biden hasn't offered such a gift,
This Petro-Baron may have lost his chance.
Joe Goebbel's methods come as no surprise;
there's power to be gained, purveying lies.
Corruption was Liz Warren's trademark theme
But Biden staked this season in the sun.
The darling of the never-Trump machine
is unperturbed that nothing's getting done.
Save Warren--bankers underwrite them all
and Carried Interest loophole serves their cause.
Two parties--nominal--both in their thrall
are never gonna fix these stupid laws.
No Independent voice can seize that mic;
the oligarchs know who's not in their debt.
We're "free to choose" among the few they like
but votes are null and void, outside that set.
"A time for boldness" sounds good on the stump
but not enough has changed since we ditched Trump.
To teach Americans to wear a mask
so others need not be hospitalized,
has manifestly been too much to ask;
they're blithely unconcerned who lives, who dies.
As if a government should have no role
in advocating for the Public Health,
where corporations wield the real control
and all that truly matters is their wealth.
In Milton Friedman's narrow universe
morality's accorded zero weight.
Infecting innocents is no way worse
than dancing badly on a second date.
When money's the sole measure of what's real
it's inefficiency to care, or feel.
The puppy chasing shadows on the beach
of butterflies above him on the wing
cares nothing they're forever out of reach;
the pure pursuit for him's the only thing.
The surfers catching waves to let them go
don't dream that they'd possess the ones they caught.
Exulting in the endless ebb, and flow
the goal is not a thing that can be bought.
The tide rolls in, and everything's erased;
tabula rasa for another night.
Romantic liaisons so hotly chased
are only memories in the new light.
"All's transience" we're taught, but so few learn
to ride the wave with grace, while it's our turn.
