allegory

one wicked witch is most sincerely dead
at once the fight is joined to claim her shoes
that twister dropped a farm-house on her head
in settlement for her life's karmic dues
toute-suite her sister-monster must arise
as sure as Reagan's succeeded by Bush
to give away what he can't privatize
to pauper many but make his life cush
an allegory about FDR
and arcane monetary policy
invites interpretations near and far
by those who'll see what they prefer to see
to fill in what's left vacant on the page
invites midrashim from both fool and sage

reflections

C-symmetry sets anti-matter's bounds
it must behave like ordinary stuff
yet here on Earth it's been so rarely found
that characterization has been tough
bad novelists feel free to speculate
about a cosmos where all seems reversed
but which is "positive" and which its mate
is just a matter of which got named first
except neutrinos there are all "spin right"
while here they spin like the left-handed do
no measurement of length or width or height
could reassure that you're the real you
all other tests, that world would freely pass
although you're stranded through the Looking Glass

universal machine

John Searle corrupts the youth and beams with pride
but not the way that Socrates endorsed
instead of teaching them to spread minds wide
he sneers at concepts from beyond his course
"machines can't have intelligence per se"
'cuz their components are determinate
and he's too adamant to ever sway
although his pleading gets more desperate
as brain can conjure mind through ion gates
a solidstate machine can do as well
the physics doesn't care what John Searle hates
nor that he's earned a special place in Hell
pretending that he knows what machines can't
it takes a fool to pay to hear him rant

Compromise

a red-state democrat has got no voice
Electors are awarded all-or-none
the winner need not be the People's choice
'til we reform the way this contest's run
the College tilts the game towards the small states
who feared Virginians held them by the throat
so rural counties get to dominate
their urban neighbors who tally more votes
each step made sense, 'tho there's no grand design
solutions Darwin would love more than Locke
high principles and sentiments refined
got sold in pieces on the auction block
each generation buys into the deal
'tho each time 'round, their franchise feels less real

for show

manipulating image is the art
of gaining influence to have your way
while issues and ideas pull us apart
the winner strains to float above that fray
for Hillary, the future's looking up
a camera held throat-high is a sin
'tho wiser, she no longer looks a pup
and trusts that shadows sketch a single chin
the talking heads obsess on Bernie's hair
as if--like Samson's--it contains his vim
instead of issue about which we care
they'd rather plan a new wardrobe for him
the Media wax fat while we all fight
and couldn't give a damn about what's right

a dangerous man

like Mussolini, Searle spell-binds the class
to contradict him, one would sound uncouth
whatever nonsense spews out of his ass
is held by broad consensus to be truth
he sets the grounds on which the game is played
and by decree, rules what's beyond the fence
whatever progress computers have made
he smugly deems is not "intelligence"
charisma clouds discourse where logic fails
dry arguments suffice where the truth's clear
a slick delivery can sell the tale
where on the merits there's no substance there
he thinks he's Socrates, corrupting youth
but Searle can't give a rat's ass for the truth      

whose tools

an Internet-of-Things would be a boon
to spies who don't care for your privacy
by putting microphones in ev'ry room
they'd mock the notion of Land of the Free
if George III commanded such a tool
the Colonies would still by in his fist
no matter how unjust might be his rule
there'd be no way the People could resist
"Leviathan" taught us we need a State
to keep our baser passions well in hand
but still left room that we could legislate
some Civil Liberties throughout the Land
once SkyNet's integrated in each home
our dreams of Liberty collapse like foam