spoiler

The parasitic worm in Bobby's brain,
played hob with deep convictions ere it died.
Old speculation that he's gone insane
find new corroboration from inside.
Conspiracies expand to fill the space
where  once he'd learned to weigh cause and effects,
Virology conflates with wealth, and race
and geopolitics, and--always--sex.
Trump'd hoped a Kennedy would sink Joe's boat;
an erstwhile Democrat who'd lost the plot.
but Trump had owned the kooks inclined to vote
for this estranged black sheep of Camelot.
A three-way race suits anarchists just fine,
but Rule of Law itself is on the line.

arms race

mosquitoes navigate by CO2
plus IR gradients to find their prey
which makes it hard to see what one could do
to keep blood-sucking parasites at bay
and vampire bats add sonar to the mix
of signals guiding them to their next meal
while no one seems to understand how ticks
make out unless they're doing it by feel
and who can understand a leech's mind
that eyeless, earless, gloms on in the creek
perchance vibrations guide their quest to find
the hemoglobin bounty that they seek
beset by such a fierce array of threats
a billion lives depend on sheer bed-nets

dilettantes

sophisticated parasites don't sting
they lull their hosts while taking what they need
if done right, no one needs to feel a thing
it's gauche to heap insult atop the deed
ascarid worms pay richly for their meal
the lull the T-cells that rampage in Crohn's
immune response kept on a level keel
unless one's raised in an aseptic zone
but what of deerflies and their searing punch?
who court our enmity with every quaff
it's we that pay when they'e enjoying lunch
unless we saturate our clothes with Off!
we've co-evolved, these parasites and we
but some have yet to learn civility