ukase

the purge of scientists is just the start
when autocrats establish top-down rule
we take the Stalin precedent to heart
remembering Lysenko was a tool
the science can't be bent to his decree
Karl Rove can't dictate what is, and what's not
Trump's not the master of reality
once off the sound-stage, Arctic's getting hot
twelve million starved to prove Lysenko wrong
crops don't evolve to suit the boss' whim
most botanists had known it all along
but dead men never contradict Trofim
deniers who enjoy the Donald's ear
eschewing Science, put their faith in Fear

disoriented

Joe Stalin's sleight of hand set the world back
while he preached "Left" he implemented Right
now socialists are openly attacked
or treated like they ought to look contrite
Joe kept the revolution's rhetoric
but built a totalitarian state
a Russian people willing to be tricked
built the oppressive cage that Marx would hate
'though Stalin's dead (McCarthy's gone as well!)
yet U.S. politics fail to rebound
illogically bewitched by Stalin's spell
we build on lies as if they're solid ground
'though history's imperfect, it's our guide
without which, we'll be taken for a ride

bad science

Joe Stalin's man Lysenko claimed he knew
what makes one plant to prosper, one to fail
although that's not the way that foodstuffs grew
his peer reviewers died unheard in jail
instruction works in CRISPR, not in genes
mere random walk does Darwin's heavy lift
mutations have no teleology
selection plucks--among the dross--each gift
ten millions died of known science ignored
climate deniers could exceed his toll
to take a corrupt lobby at its word
Republicans in Congress buck the polls
extinction claims all species, fast or slow
but head-in-sand's a stupid way to go