Time's up

Dick's bargain with the Devil's due at last;
no cardiologist butts in, this time.
There's Hell to pay in earnest for his past
and nothing to extenuate his crime.
Unbounded by conventions, or constraints
contemptuous of morals, and of laws
Geneva, he dismissed as merely "quaint"
and tramples on our treaties, clause by clause.
One vote for Kamala can't expiate
his decades waging Class War from above.
Abe Lincoln's party's sold on Greed, and Hate.
despite the Scripture's stark command to love.
His sulfur stench may take years to dispel
For now, we're much relieved that he's in Hell.

may his name be erased

There's silence, where encomia would be;
Dick Cheney'sv legacy's embarrassment.
Five trillion blown on wars lost overseas;
at home, a more intrusive government.
The principles he'd brayed he holds so
dear,
fell silent once there's power in his hand.
entrenching power by purveying fear
moved power from the People to one man.
To preach that torture isn't always wrong
as long as it gains power for the Few/
perverted what it had meant to be strong,
obscuring what real men would never do.
For years, I prayed that any flag half-mast
would signal--finally--Dick's age is past.

The Greater Threat

Dick Cheney shot his lawyer in the face;
the victim hastened to apologize.
To drink with Vice spills honor on the base!
And surgeons think he won't lose both his eyes.
In lieu of politics, it's tribal war
where no dishonesty's accounted "sin".
Like autocrats have often done before,
Trump tears the heavens down, to claim a "win".
The deference Republicans bestow,
to Democrats, smells of idolatry.
However low their nominee might go,
they'll"stand" by him--is"standing's" on one's knees.
When even Cheney's playing the adult,
Americans link arms against Trump's cult.

who's responsible?

At thirty-seven, Cheney should have died;

 that heart-attack was dealt to lay him low.
Blasphemous cardiologists defied
God's will, as if it's they declare what's so.
Since then, the consequences have been dire,
each sign from Heaven answered with more war.
unChristian nation marching towards the Fire,
Has long forgotten what we're founded for.
If masks express unfaith in the Divine,
Dick Cheney should slake Krakatoa's thirst!
America's not going to be fine,
If we go on electing the plumb worst.
The "logic" of the faux religious Fringe
Must make the thinking few rebel and cringe.

the State of Nature

Obama dug us out of 'Cheney's Slump'
but still was subject to the Right's attacks.
That fringe embrace the moron Donald Trump
who can't forgive the sin of being Black.
Discounting wisdom coming from a face
that doesn't need vacation to look tan,
Trump's cultists' politics revolve on race;
they disregard the merits of the man.
"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.
Leviathan can spare us Nature's ills
it's Trumpty-Dumpty's insouciance that kills.

run down the colors

Two years, James Mattis managed to persist
explaining to an audience of one:
diplomacy's ill-served by hissy-fits;
what's wrought in wrath is rarely rightly done.
He knows how badly Powell's name got used
by Cheney and that Cabinet of tools.
And swore he'd be the only one to choose
when it was time to quit this ship of fools.
A lonely voice for clear Intelligence,
the last adult to hold Trump's gilded leash.
Not even Conway clings to faith in Pence
if Congress found the gumption to impeach.
MadDog has pulled the ripcord, bid farewell.
Last rearguard's down! We're in the jaws of Hell.

Rasputin

Dick Cheney spoke against the Muslim ban
like Mattis, Kelly, and Mike Pence as well.
But Bannon goaded Trump to be a man
and tell the sissies they could go to Hell.
Why should a new Crusade  provoke alarms?
Just crush the Orient to serve the West!
It's good for donors who export the arms
and he's attentive to their least behest.
I barely care which of the two's to blame
if Trump has any clear thoughts of his own;
who ever wrote it, the result's the same.
I'm frightened by the tool behind throne.
We'll have to haul dual tyrants into court
to cut their reign of outrages off short.

pay no attention to the screams behind the curtain

at Nuremberg, we set a precedent
that guilt inheres from top to bottom, all
the sender no less than the killer sent
should get stood side by side, against the wall
but Dubya reckoned torture's not like that
just hire a lawyer who'll say it's okay
the crimes go into a magician's hat
and--with some MumboJumbo--go away
accountability's for little folk
who view their government with pious awe
but Cheney treated treaties like a joke
conducting policy above the law
post-partisan Obama let it slide
so bit by bit, our proud republic died

is my blood more red than his?

five Acts of God befell Dick Cheney's heart
His will made manifest to those with eyes
the punctuality of each crash-cart
made all the difference who lives or dies
our sons and brothers die on foreign sands
or rehabilitate at the VA
mere pawns in Vice's bloodless undead hands
enlisted men just serve without a say
the resources expended on Dick's life
have consequences year by bloody year
sustaining one who profits from world strife
has sundered millions from all they held dear   
no Benthamite would sign a deal so odd
impious cardiologists play God     

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