useless

Melania explains, as best she can
how "little shrubbery makes house look big"
but grooming just confirms, she's got no man
her Trumpty-Dumpty's quite the porkless pig.
The insecurities that plagued his youth
a hundred analysts can't lay to rest.
His compensations shield him from the truth
within his world, whatever's his, is "best!"
Finasteride impedes his bald-spot's spread
but saps libido from his  porcine life
it's Hannity that holds him rapt in bed;
his ego one-by-one squeezed out each wife.
No satisfaction came with this brass ring;
he'd rather golf than play at being king.

Fat-head

Cartoonists' shorthand for unbridled graft
comedians make mileage on Trump's butt
as corpulent as William Howard Taft,
what's bigly presidential is his gut.
His attributes are hidden from Trump's eyes;
without a mirror, he can't see his balls.
His sycophants just amplify the lies,
four solipsistic echo-chamber walls.
Pure myelin's supposed to insulate,
but there's no signal coming down those nerves.
Trump's never really had to cogitate;
from birth, he's had far more than he deserves.
Convinced he's a rare genius without peers,
Trump's quick to trust the fat between his ears.

new! improved!

Melania's cheekbones don't seem to fit
where they've been grafted on Kellyanne's face.
Her surgeon's working on some scary shit
transplanting features wholly out of place.
He thinks himself the Chosen One of God,
a new Picasso for the latter days
disdainful that you'd call his artwork "odd"
as Kellyanne embarks her cubist phase.
Next month, a shorter nose, a fuller lip...
a laundry list of things to dart and tuck
kaleidoscopic visage--acid trip!
But under the facade, the brains still suck.
Titanium implants? Or carbon mesh?
What lies beneath her painted, undead flesh?

Eulogy

Obama'll give McCain a eulogy;
the two had grown to know each other well.
Among the issues on which they agree
the current president should go to Hell.
Prince Harry snubbed him on the wedding list
invoking Peleus as precedent.
His day he won't share with that egoist;
the orange clown will never be a gent.
Pariah in the diplomatic world
in seven decades never made a friend
without a fee, he's never got a girl;
there'll be no words of praise at his own end.
McCain's passed on; let others fight the fight.
We wish him godspeed into that good night.

egoist in chief

Perceiving Trump's invested in the talks,
Kim preens and struts the role of a nuke-State
humiliating Trump until he balks.
Onlookers strain to tell which one is "great".
As diplomat, our president's unfit
no bound'ry marks what's personal as space
imagined slights provoke a childish fit;
he's less appalled by war, than losing face.
Dire perils each new twitter storm forebodes
as Trump's confabulations wax more wild
who'd trust a nation's nuclear launch-codes
to twitchy, stubby digits of this child?
Yet still, we dare to hope that Singapore
won't nudge us into a Korean war.

Will Rodgers knew

Bharara could be Cuomo's next AG,
unless he's thought to like deBlasio.
This Democratic tragicomedy
could drop the brass ring in the to-and-fro.
The discipline Republicans expect
Pelosi covets in her DINO heart.
But her ideas of whom we should elect
are tearing old allegiances apart.
The egos Madison hoped to enroll
to yoke our servants to the public will
are manifestly so out of control
a hundred factions claim Capitol Hill.
Trump's cronies may have scored an unearned chance
'cause Schneiderman can't keep it in his pants.

Espionage Act

binSalman says his buddy, Jared shared
the names of princes likely to dispute
his claim, who'd press their cases, if they dared
if he would not pre-empt, and prosecute.
A toddler proud to wave his shiny toy
must not be given heavy armament;
no way Trump's son-in-law should still enjoy
the sensitive IP of government.
Two heirs to privilege, convinced they're hot,
conspiring how they'll make the world their own,
as if they'd earned the influence they've got,
and Destiny intends them for the throne.
Twin comic footnotes, in the eyes of Time,
believe they're heroes in their own wee minds.

Know thyself

The heroism Trump claims for his own
in Florida, protecting innocent
school-children's nothing that he's ever shown
before, or in his time as president.
A guy who leaves his wife out in the rain
and shuns the guest who's bleeding on his floor
now claims he'd rush the perp like G.I. Jane
but swoons if anyone should mention gore.
He trusts that few perceive the void within
while selling them the candidate he ain't.
As shallow as his orange-tinted skin
achieved by crushing Cheetohs into paint.
No self-reflection mars Trump's sleep at night;
he brings no competence, and less insight

I try like Hell to hide that bald spot

A glimpse of candor, with that flash of pate
as Trump embarked on wind-swept AirForceOne
belies his fervent claim that his hair's great,
deflating pompadour so stiffly done.
The trademarked orange tonsure Bozo claimed
can be repurposed--for a license fee.
Orangutanish mop, by hairspray tamed,
that had been clownish, now's just parody.
A fragile ego, tied to thinning hair
and sycophants won't speak an honest word.
His Chief of Staff would have to grow a pair
to tell his boss that bouffant's so absurd.
A more secure man'd learn to wear a hat;
no sleight of comb can dignify this brat.

unfit

The "bigger button" swelling Trump with pride
could devastate all forms of life on Earth
obsessed with attributes huge, long, or wide
tomorrow, he'll expound upon his girth.
The  missiles that could lay a mountain flat
are poised for launch, in whimsy, or in ire.
A childish president, ill-read, and fat
should not be given guns, or bombs, or fire.
By contrast, Kim Jong Un looks fit, and wise
intent to make Korea more secure
the war of words 'twixt two such fonts of lies
could end the world tomorrow--no one's sure.
The spat the ends all hopes of global peace
should not be over which brat's more obese.

Warmbier

when Dennis Rodman's Kim Jong Un's state guest
the banquets would turn the most jaded head
imported delicassies! Fresh! The best!
the centerpiece is comatose, not dead
a Useful Idiot without a peer
whose name insures attention on the news
he'll toast his host and match him beer for beer
but graciously make sure that Kim can't lose
distracting from a planet on the brink
his spectacle could tune world tensions down
the Trumpsters love a circus and don't think
Korea's runner-up for "scary clown"
three narcissistic children share the stage
no one of whom behaves like half his age

Ozymandias

I met a pompous ass with stubby hands
who screamed, you've got to trust in me alone
abandon law, and hark to my command
you're sunk unless you set me on a throne
the proletariat don't understand
they're  fool enough to credit what I've said
I'm only in it for the girls and bling
but Breitbart publishes the lies they're fed
and on his Twitter-feed these words appear:
my name's Narcissus, thrall to shiny things
for democratic values, I don't care.
Nothing besides remains. 'Round his toupé
orangutanish mop of orange hair
the GOP's collapsing in decay

dumb show

if Donald were a man, he'd run the show
dictating legislation off to Mitch
not let the Constitution tell him 'no'
nor let Steve Bannon ride him like a bitch
beneath the bluster, Trump's so insecure
he lets the price-tag dictate what's fine art
he loves his wife 'cause others drool for her
and she assures him nightly that he's smart
an empty man, constructed of pretense
must live with fear we'll notice he's a fraud
forever worrying his tool, Mike Pence
is making time backstage with his hot baud
this emperor struts naked on the stage
as if he were the wonder of the age

Rasputin

Dick Cheney spoke against the Muslim ban
like Mattis, Kelly, and Mike Pence as well.
But Bannon goaded Trump to be a man
and tell the sissies they could go to Hell.
Why should a new Crusade  provoke alarms?
Just crush the Orient to serve the West!
It's good for donors who export the arms
and he's attentive to their least behest.
I barely care which of the two's to blame
if Trump has any clear thoughts of his own;
who ever wrote it, the result's the same.
I'm frightened by the tool behind throne.
We'll have to haul dual tyrants into court
to cut their reign of outrages off short.

Trumpelthinskin

Trump seems compelled to self-mythologize
as if assertions build reality
but journalists who shine light on his lies
are strictly kept outside his coterie
by his account, the sun shines when he speaks
'though all the audience is getting soaked
it doesn't take a source of inside leaks
to see he doesn't know whereof he spoke
a skin so thin's no barrier at all
against the awkward facts slung from all sides
the sniper who long crouched behind a wall
now takes high office, with no place to hide
an egoist consumed with looking big
can't bear to think the world knows he's a pig

fifteen minutes

new Ozymandias bestrides the stage
America's elected potentate
a surfer on the wave of unschooled rage
convinced his ev'ry brain-fart smells just great
Trump seems to think that what we need's a king
to slap his name on ventures everywhere
like Vegas, only with a lot more bling
and constitutionalists taste despair
Reince Priebus hails him as the Chosen One
who'll fill our Treasury, and pay off debt
but those who study deals the Donald's done
will understand he hopes the banks forget
his honeymoon will burn out in a flash
when even DeutscheBank wants cold, hard cash

Loser! II

the world tunes in to watch the Donald lose
the shiniest brass ring he's ever sought
the date draws nigh when voters get to choose
the polls--though compromised--have not been bought
Karl Rove believed Ohio'd been suborned
but counter-hackers unpicked all his picks
this season, we're forearmed because forewarned
and hypervigilant to dirty tricks
reality won't bend to his demands
he'll run a distant second to the girl
his fragile ego's in his stubby hands
his handlers are so anxious, they may hurl
a vulgar loser on the global stage
bawls petulantly in his puerile rage

Loser!

the world's excited to watch Donald lose
the shiniest brass ring he's ever sought
the date draws nigh when voters get to choose
the polls--though compromised--have not been bought
Karl Rove believed Ohio'd been suborned
but counter-hackers unpicked all his picks
this season, we're forearmed because forewarned
and hypervigilant to dirty tricks
reality won't bend to his demands
he'll run a distant second to the girl
his fragile ego's in his stubby hands
his handlers are so anxious, they may hurl
a vulgar loser on the global stage
bawls petulantly in his puerile rage

Wittgenstein's poker

proud edifice of language built on sand
presumes that there's an Other who will read
or one, at least, who's apt to understand
the thoughts to which our words intend to lead
that tongues can sketch what could not ever be
seems not to bother ordinary folks
who trust your qualia and mine agree
the ambiguities, they use for jokes
like ants constructing tunnels, we persist
as if mere speech could ever make it clear
compulsively, we're each a Sisyphus
portraying to the void the world in here
each solipsist constructs a universe
from blocks as apt to bless as they're to curse

hubris

Demosthenes beat Sparta with his mind
exploiting Sphacteria's weed-clogged ditch
he took their soldiers roughly from behind
exultant hegemon to Sparta's bitch
Athenians gained glory in this game
and should have offered peace, if they'd been wise
to capitalize Sparta's day of shame
to be preeminent in Greece's eyes
such opportunities don't come again
they over-reached attacking Syracuse
at vast expense in silver, ships, and men
a pointless foreign battlefield to lose
as neatly as an ancient story can
Thucydides foretold our Vietnam