Ratzinger

pope Benedict's own brother squelched the noise
that must have echoed in the rectory
of choirmaster initiated boys
into the ways of their iniquity
from Regensburg to Rome the axis ran
a fam'ly quick to wield the Church's might
more fixed on loving boys than Love of Man
coercing what would never stand the light
omerta's a key virtue of the mob
to cover crimes and call it piety
but Bishops claim to do a higher job
than hiding from the See what all can see
the Vatican, to clean up years of shit
like California, hired a Jesuit

origin of species

no teleology lays out the traits
that dinosaurs' descendants manifest
but as each generation met its fate
a slightly different one sprang from its nest
blind algorithms opt for what's most fit
among the variations in each brood
no absolutes, just who's the best of it
who's fated to be sire, who to be food
selected for an aptitude to sing
and skills at dodging crocodiles and snakes
in time the process gave dinosaurs wings
but not for an Intelligence's sake
thus albatross and penguin both emerge
to sing their scaly ancestor's slow dirge

military/industrial complex

Dick Cheney saw an opportunity
to seize the oil resources of Iraq
when Saudis blow the Trade Center to scree
it isn't their home country we attack
two trillion dollars might have done much good
addressing problems back here in the States
but Rumsfeld showed what our Armed Forces could
do to the regime all good Bushes hate
when Sykes-Picot drew borders with no heart
they dreamed their empires got to pull the strings
now civil war tears all their plans apart
and ev'ry petty sheikh wants to be king
Democracy's not nurtured by the gun
it's only through the schools that hearts are won

shallow

when Marco Rubio steps out in heels
he begs for what his dumbest rivals get
unless you're short you can't know how it feels
to be the guy the cute girls all forget
Americans swoon for a guy who's tall
and never reckon he might be a fool
then slam the media if he should fall
like shoddy workmen quick to blame their tool
there's no one in the GOP ClownCar
of stature fit to be our president
and even if we set a lower bar
this can't be what our Founding Fathers meant
on merit, Bernie takes it by a mile
unless their judged on swimsuit, hair and smile

family calling

pope Benedict's own brother squelched the noise
that must have echoed in the rectory
as choirmasters initiated boys
into the ways of their iniquity
from Regensburg to Rome the axis ran
a fam'ly quick to wield the Church's might
more fixed on love of boys than Love of Man
coercing what would never stand the light
Omerta's a key virtue of the mob
obedient to any boss who's strong
but Bishops claim to serve a higher job
that hiding from the See what all see's wrong
the Vatican, to clean up years of shit
like California, hired a Jesuit

the problem of consciousness

Aristotelian teleology
presuming ends then making up a cause
kept Europe rapt for twenty centuries
despite what seemed irreparable flaws
Spinoza made the case (and so got shunned)
by those too frightened to think such a thought
that we should start with how the thing's begun
and reason from what is to find the ought
but Heisenberg tossed cause away as well
and knocked the clockwork cosmos to the ground
an edifice that spanned Heaven and Hell
constructed on foundations so unsound
we're left in so absurd a universe
to contemplate if consciousness is curse

scale

a thornbush burning makes no spectacle
to hold a trembling nation rapt in awe
but starting intimate was suitable
to turn Moshe to study what he saw
explosive wonders mesmerize a crowd
and get the multitude into the street
but revelation need not be so loud
to reach a  humble shepherd on bare feet
against the cosmos we're the merest blip
asserting we're creation's lofty goal
a species on a diva's ego-trip
insisting ours must be the starring role
a still small voice that's only in your head
is all the hint you'll get that God's not dead