technical difficulties

Mick Jagger's mitral valve no longer seats;
what should surge one-way sloshes to-and-fro.
'though myocardium's not missing beats,
Jack Flash can't jump with diastole so low.
Replacement parts, of plastic, or of pork,
are on the shelf and at the surgeons' choice.
Just as sir Mick gets healthcare in New York,
vast resources attend a rich man's voice.
Keith Richards stops to wish his brother well;
a lifetime they've been yoked, through thick, and thin.
Not ready to slough off this mortal shell,
the tour's on pause without his glimmer twin.
To miss one concert's date's a trifling loss;
this Stone's too busy to be gath'ring moss.

stones

Keith Richards almost seems immune to death
'though passing years have winnowed down his friends.
The gin, and heroin, and coke, and meth...
for lesser mortals, spelled an early end.
Subdural hematoma gave a scare
Hans Brinker's father's old pathology.
They had to drill to vent the pressure there
when Keith came down the coconut palm tree.
Mick jogs a million miles to stay so svelte
while Keith's a lot more laid back, for his part.
He feasts, and sometime buys a longer belt;
he's not the one laid up to patch a heart.
The tour's on hold until the band's back, whole;
no subset of the Stones seems moved to roll.

technical delays

Mick Jagger's mitral valve no longer seats
what should surge one way sloshes to and fro.
'though myocardium's not missing beats,
Jack Flash can't jump with diastole so low.
Spare parts of plastic, or recycled pork
can reset entropy's slow steady rot.
sir Mick gets top shelf care when in New York;
they'll leave no ragged edge on which to clot.
But Keith is like a fixture of the stage
what would have killed ten men just gets him high.
Las Vegas wrote him off at half this age
but neither glimmer twin seems like to die.
That one show's cancelled's not too great a loss
these Stones ain't ready yet to gather moss.

fish or cut bait

The Europeans told Theresa May
at any time, she's welcome to retract
her BREXIT letter, but she can't delay
she's dithered far too long, it's time to act.
Bob Mercer spent a wad to engineer
the semblance of a nationalist surge.
And pensioners turned out to vote their fear
that Britons and the Muslim horde might merge.
But integration works for younger Brits
and bankers know it's cold for those outside.
They love to hit the slopes at St. Moritz,
and don't mean Brighton when they bask sea-side.
Kant's European Project wins a round
as BREXITEERs' pet project's going down

Square Deal

O'Rourke brings elevated tone, and poise;
it's substance that his presentations lack.
Once voters look beyond the charm and noise,
he won't stand out from 2020's pack.
Ms. Clinton ran a vacuous campaign;
as next-in-line, she felt it can't be tough. 
But she can't sell us Bill's "I feel your pain",
and being just not-Trump was not enough.
A new Ted Roosevelt is over-due
to give our Workers dignity and voice.
McCarthy's dead, we're primed for something new.
Liz Warren's running as the people's choice.
"Each generation" Jefferson foretold
must innovate, or shrivel in the cold.

Pekudei

The author hereinafter known as "P"
would set the Temple ritual in stone
asserting he's the sole authority
as if at Sinai, he'd been there alone.
But Torah texts preserve another voice;
our Patriarchs did sacrifice their way.
A Jew must endlessly confront this choice
if he reads ev'ry verse of Pekudei.
Nadav and Abihu ad lib their role
presuming Moshe'd set the precedent.
But cohanim are zealots for control,
insisting they know what God surely meant.
It's perilous for priests to innovate
if they don't wish to share the fatling's fate.

secrets

His father urged Mike Cohen to reject
Trump's tainted money and accept his shame.
That gonif's no one honest men respect;
to do his business soils the Cohen name.
Elijah Cummings branded his a "snitch"
who airs his capo's dealings to the court.
Inside, it doesn't matter he'd been rich;
his prison life look nasty, brutish, short.
What's left, that he's still eager to conceal
that blocked his bid for full immunity?
The Southern District dangled the full deal
but still, he's blocking for Sean Hannity.
It's less than clear what all of this will mean
as Trump confronts his wannabe John Dean