ridicule

Ann Coulter took a swipe at Walz' boy
so wrong in content, context, tone, and pitch
for giving voice to heartfelt pride and joy
But MAGAts love their pugilistic bitch.
She'd ruled the cafeteria in school
where other studied how the real world works,
her only aptitudes were ridicule,
and gratifying psychopathic jerks.
Trump's recognized in her, a kindred soul
with all the empathy God gave a stone.
Two lives spent clawing vainly for control
each dreading they're cut out to die alone.
The cultists worshipping their orange clown
feel powerful because they're punching down.

purpose-built

Pelosi had a solemn chat with Joe:
stuff no one else could tell him to his face.
His term'd been good, but now, it's time to go,
if Democrats are not to lose this race.
Obama spoke; a nation paused, entranced,
reminded how real leadership can sound.
A vision forward, not mere angry rants
to bring his voters' spirits up, not down.
Her future cabinet was there, in force
united as we've rarely been before;
infighting, that would be the normal course
can have no place confronting civil war.
Ad hoc, this Harris team, forged on the fly,
must do what Hilary's could only try.

Ridicule

Convention holds no terror this time 'round;
we won't reprise knifefights of '68.
Trump/Vance has peaked; their polls trend starkly down.
And Harris keeps sweet options on her plate.
Mark Kelly'd have to cede a Senate seat
and Arizona might not keep that Blue...
Shapiro brings a swing-state to the meet,
but would big donors leap to back a Jew...
Tim Walz brings lines from Warren's resume,
and so emerged the strongest of the pack.
He's coached a winning team, and run a State.
Schoolteachers aren't easy to distract.
Republicans, who'd banked on Biden's gaffes,
have no response when Walz and Harris laugh.

threats

Security in Paris has been tight;
Gendarmes patrol the land, and sea, and air.
(Try Brussels if you must rebook that flight)
But coliform bacteria don't care.
Pasteur had cured disease in sheep, and men
Confronting anthrax on a chemist's terms
But someone upstream's shitting in the Seine;
The strongest athlete's not immune to germs.
The sewers Victor Hugo sketched so well
can't interdict what dribbles  in upstream.
Macron endures this very public Hell
as strangers soil his grand Olympic dream.
The spectacle was memorable, but...
we can't forget invaders of the gut.

values

Joe Biden's ego doesn't run this show;

when Nancy phones, he jumps to take her calls.
Momentous choices: to fight on, or go,
seem easier involving fewer balls.
Abruptly, Trump's the old man left on stage
unable to complete a cogent thought,
beyond attacking someone else's age.
His donors wonder what it is they've bought.
Accelerationists, who'd love a crash
presuming Paradise awaits ahead
make common cause with those who worship cash,
and some convinced their gods would want us dead.
One party, in the hands of such adults
confronts a monster, knit from motley cults.

Roevember

Joe Biden served his term, and stepped away;
campaigning'd never been what he does best.
He'll raise the funds that underwrite the fray;
another's gonna have to do the rest.
Abruptly, Trump's the old man in this race;
he has no answer to the Harris youth.
While he can only titillate his base,
she gets to run on policy, and truth.
Time's running fast, to name a running-mate
who'll bring some delegates, but get along.
ideally, flipping a contested state
and welding back the party, doubly strong.
"a time for boldness" as Joe's writer's wrote
upending expectations for this vote.

Our Revolution

O'Brien brought it to the RNC,
like Daniel singing in the lions' den.
Indifferent to Trump's antipathy,
he won't treat corporations like real men.
The message Bernie labored to get heard
may travel further in another voice;
more crucial than the spokesman, are the words,
and how real voters understand their choice.
Two parties, each beholden to big banks
pay court to union leaders on the sly
to serve up voters in their files and ranks
as if democracy were theirs to buy.
While other speakers worship Trump's fat ass,
this Teamster champions the working class.