the non-solution

Partition, as benGurion signed on
'though not his dream, is nonetheless the deal.
The OneState ship has sailed; that option's gone;
it's over-due successors must get real.
Mizrahi Jews resent what they've been told
is condescension from Ashkenazim.
The Founders' leftist vision leaves them cold;
they fail to see themselves in Herzl's dream.
Their grievance keeps his premiership afloat;
their discipline gives meager numbers heft.
A hundred parties jostling for the vote
attenuate the power of the Left.
The anthem sings about one Jewish soul,
but like most battles, this one's for control.

imperial view

The violence that Muscovy projects
on subjugated peoples near and far
the educated readership rejects.
They're not put there to serve a distant Czar.
If Chechens were as vicious as portrayed,
The Moscow subways would have long gone"boom"
The Kommentariat's been bought and paid
and broadcast into every livingroom.
Kadyrov's the most useful brand of fool
"house-nigger" helping mastah to oppress.
He's not so much a "man", as household tool,
enjoying scraps they've stolen from the rest.
Class-consciousness remains exceeding rare;
and will until the People grow a pair.







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Compose:

Blonds in bondage

Maghrebi pirates held Gibraltar's strait
exacting tribute on those narrowed seas.
Norse traders, when obliged to innovate
linked stream to stream, portaging down through Kyiv.
To Mikkelburgh, a wonder to behold!
Before the world had heard of "Romanovs"
Where smelly wares were parlayed to bright gold
some days it's tusks and pelts, some days it's Slavs.
Until they're baptized, everyone's fair game;
"sold down the river" wasn't metaphor.
'Til Voldemar signed up--at least in name--
to live near rivers was to suffer war.
'Til Africa was featured in the Trade
the working class was signed up, raid by raid.

Meet the new boss II

Joe's handlers would prefer he not campaign;
a scripted coronation's more his style.
So many Senate votes he can't explain
he's got no policy--but sure can smile!
Jay Inslee offered reasoned policy
but voters never warmed up to this man
beholden to no fossil industry.
Liz Warren's well-equipped; and brings a plan!
But donors like the status quo just fine.
And innovation just gives them the trots.
what's yours is mine, they know, and "mine is mine".
And too few voters can connect the dots.
In retrospect, one shouldn't find it strange
the few who wield real power, balk at CHANGE.

testify, sister!

Fiona Hill's a villain to the tribe
who'll never get what makes this country great.
She caught her boss soliciting a bribe
and--by her oath--will not equivocate.
The immigrants who've made this land their own
(not Gorka, but the likes of Dr. Hill)
won't bow to Trumpty on his tin-plate throne
and rain contempt on sycophants who will.
A land where class won't limit where she'll go,
where accent won't define a woman's place;
should not be sullied with Trump's quid pro quo,
or Pence's thinly veiled appeals to race.
No man of woman born can bring him down,
But Hill's the fitting bane of Trumpty-clown.

tropical parasite

Mugabe's widow wakes to mounting dread
there's none to take her shopping, anymore.
A million in Harare want her dead;
perhaps it's wise to relocate offshore.
There's always Paris where she'll make the scene
beyond the reach of Mnangagwa's cops.
And they'll pretend her filthy lucre's clean
if she'll but patronize the proper shops.
The dowager withdraws to count her loot
above the fray of speeches, ballots, knives...
content that no one's gonna prosecute,
while commoners make shift to just survive.
As onerous as British overlords
kleptocracy proved too much to afford.

duty

Liz Warren deems that Congress must impeach
but--for her part--she's mounting a campaign.
Let others wring their hands, and strut, and preach;
her calling's to reform, not to complain.
His cavalcade of crimes leaves many numb;
corruption over-tops all precedent.
Few dreamt the voting public was so dumb
to make this preening brat "our" president.
That fickle public lurches Left, then Right.
Obama scared the oligarchic clique.
But should the Speaker fight the People's fight,
we'd prosecute this venal orange freak.
The rule of law's not lightly to be waived
if our republic's somehow to be saved.

Game on!

Her DNA bears out Liz Warren's claim:
her forebears got here many moons ago.
Millenia before Columbus came;
she's not the one we call "Pinocchio".
Trump's folk fled Europe's wars, and poverty.
His mother braved the seas when but a lass
intent on seeking opportunity
to serve a family of higher class.
The race of 2020 pits these twain
in earnest combat for a nation's soul.
She speaks for us, while he fails to explain
why plutocrats should exercise control.
KnowNothing Nativists are on the spot;
to stick with Trump's to vote for what he's not.

without representation

McMorris Rodgers lives in Washington
but not the state--she only knows D.C.
and how the yucky sausage-making's done
but not what citizens believe, and need.
Three independent branches was the plan
but Congress shirked its rightful given role.
This government's in orbit of one man
a tyrant wielding absolute control.
She stokes Trump's politics of baseless rage
at immigrants, contemptuous of facts.
But votes against our cries or living wage,
deluded by the Norquist war on tax.
A woman bought and paid by Management
contemptuously scorns constituents.

judicial temperament

McGahn's been charged to straitly circumscribe
the witness list, if not what each can say.
It isn't "tampering" where there's no bribe;
a clever lawyer tends to get his way.
The Powell memo called for stealth attacks
that--when it leaked--were damned as really crass.
But once confirmed, he needn't face such facts,
ensconced for life within his ruling class.
The due regard that Garland never saw
McConnell lends this one appearance sake.
Although the date's for him to set by law
he'll pause to salve the conscience of Jeff Flake.
We've bought a week in which the FBI's
investigation documents Brett's lies.

arriviste

The White House plans are something to behold
now Trump's determined to redecorate
mahogany all overlaid with gold
reflected in bright chrome and silverplate.
The bathtub that accommodated Taft
must stretch for Donald's ego, gut, and wig
to float  his rubber duckies, tug, and raft
Trump needs one that's superlatively big.
Acceptance that this parvenue long chased
recedes, however earnestly it's sought
three wives learned not to laugh at his poor taste
but settled for the stuff their virtue bought.
No gilt of glitz can substitute for class;
the face we show the world's this bloated ass

CHANGE!

the status quo has served the Clintons well
they've joined the Ruling Class' moneyed ranks
no matter it's a marriage made in Hell
they've hitched their wagon to the biggest banks
Piketty warned us of this downward slope
as capital's ingathered to the Few
as Bernie fades, so fades the People's hope
that we may share the nation's bounty, too
real wages don't reflect the market's gain
that bankers divy in the bonus pool
while Bill assures us that he feels our pain
his wife serves Wallstreet as its faithful tool
some cheered; a woman fin'lly got her turn
but this one truly never felt the Bern        

faux populist

confronted with his lies, Trump doubles down
as if the truth will bend to suit his will
and now we've handed power to this clown
to execute our laws, make war, and kill
the demagogue our Founding Fathers feared
in their minds, would rise from the toiling class
we got blindsided by something so weird
a military-schooled gold-plated ass
the 25th amendment shows a way
that Donald could be ousted by Mike Pence
the cabinet must find the spine to say
that they're convinced of his incompetence
I fear for our republic in this age
when facts are rubber props, like knives on stage

blinkered

our Ship of State's careening toward the ditch
'cause Trump's so proud he thinks outside the box
restricting nominations to the rich
the henhouse has been captured by the fox
strange Public Servants fail to understand
the plight of those who toil to eat each day
they look for inspiration to Ayn Rand
for whom a "tax" is what the peons pay
bizarre cabal, united in their guilt
cast off our safety net to woo this ass
the regulations Teddy Roosevelt built
to grow our country and its middle class
Trump's cabinet's stocked from the bottom shelf
he'll name no one who's smarter than himself

out of touch

the DNC marched blithely to defeat
chastising peasants to fall into line
the only candidate whom Trump could beat
assured embedded press it would be fine
the board of WalMart on her resume
tipped workers off their jobs would only go
abroad for only pennies on the day
she didn't mean to change the status quo
the senator from WallStreet stirred no fire
except in the Financial Center's heart
the Socialist who reached for something higher
was edged by a director of WalMart
while Donald offered circuses and loaves
potential voters stayed away in droves

egoist

the gilded excess of a Trump hotel
bespeaks his insecurity on class
to paper over flaws in wares he'd sell
a lion's mane's been grafted on an ass
the hair that's chic on an orangutan
in Trump's eighth decade's weirdly out of place
but who'll stand up to tell this petty man
that anything he does is in poor taste
his cabinet selections won't last long
they'll mostly be replace within the year
to hint by word or deed he might be wrong
would earn the boss' jackboot to one's rear
the solipsist-in-chief has none to blame
when everything's transacted in his name

Marxists read Tolkien V

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
as if Dawn blazed in dusky MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never dream to call his host an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien IV

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
unchanging as the years fade MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never dream to call his host an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien III

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
unaging architect of MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never murmur that his host's an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place

Marxists read Tolkien II

Sam gazed in wonder at Galadriel
a puissant Elvish force in MiddleEarth
inert, anaesthetized by beauty's spell
acutely conscious of his puny worth
if Celeborn were wiser, he'd discern
how far above his station he had wed
but even he's not dumb enough to spurn
this mighty Noldo hot to share his bed
the timeless moment passed, the tale moved on
a brief vignette of love transgressing class
'though Bilbo might recast it in a song
Sam'd never murmur that his host's an ass
to think such thoughts encrimsoned Sam's coarse face
a worthy gard'ner knows a peasant's place