flip-flop

The war-chest Putin stocked by doubtful means/
looked like enough...until his blitzkrieg stalled.
But now, he's calling up cold-war machines,
and even Stalin might have been appalled,
at so much blood spent for so little gain.
Ukrainians prove quite as tough as Finns;
The paper tiger crumples in Ukraine.
Such wars are quick to lose, but not to win;
Trump's realized that Putin's cause is lost.
The empire of the Czars ain't coming back.
As long as Europeans bear the cost,
He won't restrain Ukrainians' attack.
Increasingly, the Kremlin sulks alone,
and darling Vanya's never coming home.

Games

Trump's noticed Putin plays him for a chump
and doesn't bother hiding his disdain
for such an abject sycophant as Trump.
Now, prospects look much better for Ukraine.
Such armaments as Europeans send
they'll make themselves; they'd be great fools to buy
American; we're not trustworthy friends.
Arms-Makers here will find they're high and dry.
A new World Order, shoving us aside
confronts an undead empire of the czars.
They aren't asking us who lives, or dies
We're not the global arbiter of wars.
A ballsy gambit, Putin played and lost
as usual, civilians bear the cost.

value-free

When Secretary Kegsbreath took the stand
he testified what is not classified.
The pictures of what Trump loves in a man!
He faced the centers squarely, sneered, and lied.
The document he'd quoted was'NOFORN'
a designation very few will bear
These clowns treat our security with scorn
and Trumpty doesn't understand, or care.
The culture that had keep our troops secure
since Washington traversed the Delaware
disintegrates when no one can be sure
the Brass are competent, or even care.
The sycophants selected by this clown
are tearing the whole federal state down.

Summer vision

The twilight etches cliffs in stark relief;
a foreground bonsai focuses the scene.
MDMA inclines me toward belief
that someone understands just what I mean.
The atmosphere is scattering the Blue
to stain the cloud-deck many shades of red.
A vignette shared in empathy with you,
and all the moly coursing through our heads.
If I could conjure such a scene in verse,
I wouldn't so despair that I can't draw.
But knowing that I can't, I feel accursed;
no other mind could know quite what I saw.
An isolated mind resents it's plight
preferring to insist we've shared this sight.

What dwells within

ben-Uziel broiled poultry passing by;
for such a peaceful guy, some found that odd.
High-wattage conduit into the sky
three times each day bore orisons to God.
Hillel'd expounded worlds between the words
to find a covert mitzvah to be kind.
His davening posed no such threat to birds;
the God he linked dwelt neatly in his mind.
Our omnipresent God is everywhere
and Hillel's pleased to place the local call.
What others broadcast to the atmosphere
his private chat with God is "still" and "small".
Once we've internalized the Deity
Their miracles are wrought through you, and me.

usurper

"Emergency!" Trump screams, and tries to seize
the power to set tariffs on a whim.
But Congress rules on taxes, coins, and fees
and can't--in good faith--delegate to him.
Courts have affirmed--in our democracy--
that power lies with Congress, as does tax.
They don't subscribe to Trump's "REALITY"
they stand on precedent, and stodgy facts.
Tripartite government's been known to work
while men defend the Legislature's Hill.
But now, with Congress captured by the Jerk
no one's responsive to the People's will.
"Appeal to Heaven"s now what it's about.
In much the way we threw the British out.

thuggery

Another court's found ICE exceeds it's writ
detaining citizens without due cause.
While pundits quibble "quis custodiet..."
these Trumpanzees feel unconstrained by laws. 
Their president can pardon all their crimes
from treason down to trafficking in hemp.
If any one of them is to serve time,
it's only for the days they're in contempt.
Until, of course a new regime prevails
that serves the People, not the banking firms.
Trump's thugs will serve the next four years in jail
if we're allowed legitimate midterms.
Tripartite government is ours to lose,
and lose we will, if these are whom we choose.