not likable enough

each day he wakes, each morning it's the same
his highest talent's to alienate
without a friend or ally to his name 
the senate rallies against him in hate
strange herald for God's kingdom here on Earth
unbending to the rulings of our courts
unlooked for--a Canadian by birth--
he'd be more charming if he had more warts
the party's factions exploding apart
without a centre competent to hold
two candidates with not a single heart
whose only value shared is lust for gold
unless the GOP's intent to lose
it's futile to close ranks behind Ted Cruz       

callous

Katehi doused the kids with pepper spray
who dared align themselves with OCCUPY
she told her cops to make them go away
by irritating nose and throat and eye
the video went viral and went big
the force was grossly disproportionate
the rent-a-cop derided as a pig
and chancellor responsible for it
and now she'd caught obscuring her own tracks
Orwellian control of what has been
the hubris to proclaim what's not a fact
slammed by Napolitano as a sin
a dire example none should emulate
debased an office sworn to educate

human scale II

'though Sophocles saw Fates in everything
Euripides lays all of it on Man
the meanest servant and the proudest king
must lay and execute his own life-plan
a subtle midrash on Homeric texts

dismissive of the creeds of ages past

inevitable as cause and effects

the tragedy's implicit in the cast
a humanist before we had the word
for whom the action all comes from within
unint'rested in what he deems absurd
to blame a deity for mortal's sin
a treasure from the Periclean age
laid bare the human psyche on the stage    

the human scale

'though Sophocles blames Fates for everything
Euripides lays all of it on Man
the meanest servant and the proudest king
must lay and execute his own life-plan
the Golden Age of yore provides his themes
but all the drama's on the human scale
there's no heroic aura to his schemes
and not much room for gods to shape his tale
a humanist before we had the word
for whom the action all comes from within
unint'rested in what he deems absurd
to blame a deity for mortal's sin
a treasure from the Periclean age
explored the human psyche on the stage    

the long game

the Senate was supposed to lend her cred
but Hillary's campaign bombed in '08
and so she joined the Cabinet instead
to get some Press while she was forced to wait
her chairman's now the head of DNC
the SuperDelegates are all lined up
she's dotted every 'i' and crossed each 't'
her arm's outstretched to claim the trophy cup
who dreamt the People nursed another plan
and rather than embrace the status quo
they'd rally to a rumpled, balding man
who doesn't care which way the fashions blow
the coronation plans have hit a glitch
the peasants show no love for WallStreet's bitch

why is this week different?

one week per year, each Jew eats like a priest

no leaven is permitted in his bread

no braising liquid complements the beast

he's got to roast it whole from hoof to head

with staff in hand and sandals on our feet

we pantomime a meal consumed in haste

but stomachs are imploring us to cheat

before the seder gets to our first taste

before we eat, we dwell on lice and blood

and culminate with Pharaoh and his troop

all drowned because their wheels stuck fast in mud

and only then proceed to eat our soup

our sacred play assigns each kid a part

but leaves us to debate hard Pharaoh's heart

evolving hero

in Ithaka, Penelope must guard
against the suitors eating through her stock
while half the gods colluded to retard
the hero on his tropic prison rock
unlike Achilles, he got out alive
when Menelaos sailed home with his whore
he deemed the greatest good was to survive
and wend home to his family from war
Peleides shone bright, but too soon died
and never saw his heir grown to a man
to stand in close formation by his side
each generation hewing to the plan
Odysseus, by epic's end has won
the joy to stand in battle with his son