foregiveness

Nechamah Liebowitz cites Vayigash
as evidence that Judah had matured
no more the jerk who sold Yosef for cash
a chastened mensch, who now would keep his word.
Set up, that he might sin yet none would know
just as he'd sinned before in callow youth
afflicting Jacob with heartbreak and woe
this time, for Benjamin he tells the truth.
Glad metamorphosis, he's now a man
deserving Joe's forgiveness and support
and Joe in turn sustains them as he can
'though not before they've squirmed before the court.
Teshuvah remade Judah fit to rule,
when Onan's widow took her judge to school.

emergent

Stand by! the snide riposte that you deserve
will take some time to formulate just right
to cut you to the quick and strike a nerve
if rushed, would neither titillate nor bite
but now that I have paused, the fevers wane
perhaps you hadn't meant to give offense
and I'd be rash to lash out, causing pain
imputing malice from mere ignorance
instead, I won't sound clever, but stand mute
or turn to probe what lay behind your word
restraining now the sharp-edged tongue of youth
mayhap you hadn't meant the barb I'd heard
we look less clever, but more wise with years
to cultivate more bonds and fewer tears

two wings of the Bankers' Party

a DNC beholden to the few
wants someone who's more pliant to their will
who'll do what WallStreet bankers tell him to
they'd brush Bernie aside, and cling to Bill
but he's served twice, and cannot run again
and has to hide behind his smiling wife
as if high birth could make her president
or unify a party prone to strife
the media snub Sanders and his wing
who dream that votes should matter more than bucks
but they know billionaires control the king
directing whom he loves, and whom he fucks

we've read "How Nations Fail", but haven't learned
in stifling Bernie, our best hope is burned

oligarchy

a DNC beholden to the few
wants someone who's more pliant to their will
who'll do what WallStreet bankers tell him to
they'd shove Bernie aside, and cling to Bill
but he's run twice, and cannot run again
and has to hide behind his smiling wife
as if high birth could make her president
or unify a party prone to strife
the media snub Sanders and his wing
who dream that votes should matter more than bucks
but they know billionaires control the king
directing whom he loves, and whom he fucks

we've read "How Nations Fail" but haven't learned
in stifling Bernie, our best hope is burned

...what is required of thee

the prophet Jonah tried to tell HaShem

imperfect Man can never satisfy

but God insisting that he preach to them

wants more that they repent than that they die

and so he was dispatched to Ninevah

by way of Tarshish and the fish's gut

to warn the people of Assyria

to open wide their hearts, 'though his was shut

sincere teshuvah satisfies our b'rit

the ritual is only mnemonic

to clothe the naked and salve wounded feet

earns merit more than starving yourself sick

but sulking Jonah languished in his booth

less willing than the kine to grasp this truth

above the law

How long had Feinstein played James Clapper's whore

enabling spies she's paid to oversee?

to serve her voters seemed a dreadful bore

for one of such exalted dignity

but now they've spied on her! should we feign shock?

their files hold dirt on all, both low and high

who might by law have put them in the dock

to pass down sentence on their many crimes

who watches over the custodians

when oversight's struck blind, and sov'reigns kneel

when Rights refract through Orwellian lens

and PATRIOT's just code for "tyranny"

don't despair yet, let's fight for what we sang

at least until we've seen torturers hang

2016

America keeps shambling towards the brink

as if democracy were too much work

demanding spectacle, no time to think

we need a leader, but swoon for a jerk

Dick Cheney preaches we're exceptional

and shouldn't stoop to obey puny laws

while talking head hold voters in their thrall

selling the hairdo, down-playing the cause

can Bernie save us from the OnePercent

reclaiming power to the common mass

who've known what working and what scrimping meant

like FDR a "traitor to his class"

while Hillary stays married to Wallstreet

a Democratic win is still defeat