Miketz

The Pharaoh's sommelier resumed his post
forgetting Joseph in his dismal plight
until--reminded by the baker's ghost--
he elevates our hero to the light.
Another change of clothes, another role
to guarantee there's bread when there's no rain
exalted migrant, settled in control
when all the nation's wealth is stored in grain.
To reconcile the family's on his head,
while clinching Egypt in his liegelord's hand.
The favored son they'd long presumed was dead
must mask his machinations as "God's plan".
The brothers he's not rushing to forgive
now grovel for the bread by which they live.

Intelligent design

For sprinting, we rise up digitigrade
the longer lever multiplies our pace
a transformation of the way we're made
surprising game that hadn't seen us race.
A gut too long for flesh, too short for plants
and sweaty, hairless skin that radiates
requires technology for making pants
and hats to limit heat-loss from our pates.
A compromise design a team might pitch
no wise Designer's write the spec just so
obliged to carve a non-existent niche
where biomes had filled up an age ago.
No God formed in the likeness of a man
would sign His name to such a stupid plan.

grab-bag

Ted Cruz snuck fetal personhood aboard
outrageous subterfuge by dark of night
no proper piece of any tax accord
but meat to his supporters on the Right.
McConnell's bill--unread--came to the floor
the lobbyists who wrote it stayed off-screen.
A party loyal to the Mercers' whore
fell into line for what they'd never seen.
Murkowski, Flake, and Collins each got bought
to reach the reconciliation round.
The scraps of pork that they'd so fondly sought
can't fix a bill so radically unsound.
Our nation's future's underneath the ax
to spare the Kochs a piddling bit of tax.

no longer unspoken

Al Franken quit, Roy Moore pretends he's fine
what women say--to him's--of no concern
to Democrats, they're both across the line.
Republicans see nothing here to learn.
Since Women's Suffrage, nothing's been more clear
one party's hoping they'll just go away.
It's coming to a head this coming year,
both Houses of our Congress are in play.
The mantle almost fell upon Mike Pence
when Trump was taped on Access Hollywood.
But Trumpsters weren't balanced on the fence;
they just don't care their guy grabbed what he could.
Trump still insists that none of it's his fault
but knives are out for sexual assault.

low flight

Cast off the surly bonds of gravity;
embrace the joy awaiting us on high.
It's not enough to live life in 2-D
when once you've realized we're meant to fly.
A kite's a pretty minimal machine
a bargain, amortized on so much fun.
And as a sport, it's almost wholly green;
convection's driven--gratis--by the sun.
Uncircumscribed by stadium, or court,
with little but the wind for us to hear.
Apotheosis in the realm of sport!
We're only bounded by the atmosphere.
A pleasure long beyond the reach of kings
belongs to anyone who'll take to wings.

vayeshev

and Jacob settled, thinking he was done
two names, and thirteen children seemed enough
Our focus turns now to his best-loved son
for whom the family saga's getting rough.
The Leah clan resented Jacob's love
reserved for Joseph and the younger wife.
Where others got a hug, he got a shove
and then conspiracy against his life.
Maturity's late-dawning on these guys.
Their father learns his eldest boy's a creep.
While they repay his trust by spinning lies
as if their brother were not theirs to keep.
Paternity took Judah back to school
to forge the soul of one who's fit to rule.

ya know?

Holistic types disdain to analyze
like seeing doesn't need them to mentate.
A world--not in the mind--but in the eyes
would leave the spirit free to meditate.
As if reality were common fare,
plunked down upon the plank at which we dined
full-formed, and uncontentiously "out there"
and not constructed in each thinker's mind.
Descartes made clear, four centuries ago
this murky matter of "reality"
how precious little one can strictly know
despite our fondest quest for certainty.
For bedrock rules on which all life depends,
reductionism's how one comprehends.