feckless

five times, our Congress voted to make war
a meager tally over all these years
it's not our legislators who are more
inclined to launch us in that vale of tears
executives see opportunity
to rally fresh-faced youths around their flags
then practice their ersatz sanctimony
when one in five comes home in body-bags
but manufacturers wax fat on arms
and markets multiply when there is strife
their own sons aren't in the path of harm
let someone else's boy pay with his life
since "Schechter Poultry" they can't delegate
but neither do they deign to legislate

viral fad

the salivary gland is target two
if rabies virus is to propagate
but first, to co-opt what its victims do
the CNS is where we cogitate
slow stages, up the axon to the brain
infection festers like a creeping tide
each neuron in the slow transmission chain
left DNA bread-crumbs before they died
whole neural pathways picked out in stark red
for those who read the antibody signs
as nerve-cells become crippled, if not dead
a mapping tool for brains, if not for minds
Louis Pasteur's vaccine's still pretty cool
but his pest's now nerve-mapper's trendy tool

rumors II

Trump's spreading rumors about Clinton's health
that have no basis in reality
but questioning his claims to untold wealth
sparks outrage from his loyal cottery

unfounded rumors are as good as facts
when no one's gonna check your wildest claim
they take the Donald's word that he pays tax
(and if he didn't, Hillary's to blame)
his own brain tumor's probably benign
an indolent fat mass between his ears
that hasn't given any hint or sign
that he won't last a couple of more years
by his age, FDR was in the ground
but Donald's looking--relatively--sound

carbuncle

this abscess that is Trump needs to be lanced
the pus and bigotry scrubbed out and burned
this demagogue that holds his mob entranced
discarded like a rotten fish you'd spurn

but journalism's rapier has grown blunt
the rabble's trained to view it with distrust
they only tune in for the circus stunts
the Fourth Estate's dissolving into rust
time was, it took real skill to hold a crowd
and arguments that formed a policy
but scared White men like tough guys to get loud
defending privilege as "Liberty"
but now, "our" DNC choose a dull tool
to purge our nation of this noxious fool

debridement stings

this abscess that is Trump needs to be lanced
the pus and bigotry all scrubbed away
this demagogue that holds his mob entranced
can't stand forever on his feet of clay
but journalism's rapier has grown blunt
the rabble's trained to view it with distrust
they only tune in for the circus stunts
the Fourth Estate's dissolving into rust
time was, it took real skill to hold a crowd
and arguments that formed a policy
but scared White men like tough guys to get loud
defending privilege as "Liberty"
"our" DNC's selected a dull tool
to purge our nation of this noxious fool

Raygun's legacy

The poorly-educated love the clown
whose little words and even smaller hands
incite them to tear the whole system down
in terms a working-dog would understand.
"The government's the problem" Reagan crowed
and maybe he believed the words he spoke.
At least that's what the teleprompter showed
and no one told the geezer that's a joke.
Since Gingrich, not a lick of work gets done
throughout the calendar, or 'round the clock
unless you pay to play in Washington
the nation's business stalls out in gridlock.
A vote for Trump's a vote for what can't work
but some still seem enamored of the jerk.

Cyrano

if Cyrano loved Christian, none can say
it wasn't one of Edmond Rostand's themes
the literary guidelines of his day
precluded any whiff of such  queer themes
the three-way conversation in the night
beneath the balcony was surely chaste
it's when her beau had climbed up to that height
her chaperone must light a lamp in haste
a poet's poet, high above the herd
exalted language in all its effects
as if two souls can only meet in words
discounting youthful beauty and hot sex
still stuck on Christian, mourning what was dead
she never took her one true love to bed