crunch time

The Czarist empire Gorbachev renounced
still beckons Putin when he dreams at night.
Ukrainians see plainly they'd be trounced
if they can't count on NATO in the fight.
The"European Project" that's quashed war
three generations (leaving Balkans out)
can't go on doing what it's done before
should old allegiances forswear their clout.
But solidarity against the Bear
who'd eat the smaller neighbors, one by one,
is growing firm as if out of thin air
to lend Ukrainians resolve, and guns.
If Biden'd just concede that Putin lies,
he might do something more than compromise.

Czarist dreams

Joe Stalin deemed the Finns must quickly fold;
he'd move the border, then get home for tea.
Unburied legions died there in the cold
Finn snipers picked them off from every tree.
Three generations later, it's Ukraine
where Putin's staked his honor on a win.
No medals for the nameless who'll be slain;
no officer to call the next of kin.
Like Uber, he prefers to contract out
and leave no fingerprints if they should die.
He'll celebrate a win, deny a rout;
there's always someone else's son to buy.
Ukrainians don't mind goliath's big;
they're fighting for their country, not a gig.

always tip the bard

The Spartan cuckold's never lived it down;
new generations snicker at his name.
Fair Helen's dowry brought a bonus crown,
and an eternity of tainted fame.
The epic's hero'd never sought her hand
when all of Greece contested such a prize.
He knows that war's the measure of a man
and glory won there neither fades, nor dies.
Loud Menelaus lived his fill of life
while great Achilles never can grow old.
The one's remembered for his errant wife;
The other lives as long as tales are told.
Great bards demolish jerks with just their breath,
unstoppable by force of arms, or death.

revisiting yalta

Joe Biden didn't want to draw 'red lines'
in Ukraine like Obama'd done before
in Syria, but tripped his own landmines,
enticing Putin to wage halfway war.
Monroe'd been wrong to stake a hemisphere
once we'd cast off Brittania's sea-girt throne.
As hegemon among our smaller peers,
it's not our place to chart their course alone.
The Baltics read the threat, and rush in aid
as if Ukraine'd joined NATO long before,
before the Russians stage another raid
in what they coyly still won't name a"war".
The seaside kingdom Putin's namesake staked
is just the first this Czar-manqué would take.

the reckoning

Mark Meadows has demurred to take this fall;
Trump's chief-of-staff knows who dispatched that mob.
As perps are stood against the pock-marked wall,
to lie for Trump's no longer this pawn's job.
The party that had crushed the racist South
to share our country's blessings with all men,
surrendered meekly to the ass' mouth
who wants to blame the darker-skinned again.
Our nation's known this tribal strife before;
if Meadows is to turn us from that path,
and spare America new civil war,
he'll have to face Trump's minions, and their wrath.
Self-rule requires we each play the adult
and marginalized those who'd lead a cult.

Couple of Joes

Joe Manchin stopped Joe Biden's program cold
reflecting how his biggest donors feel.
Two Joes stood up, but one of them looks bold;
the other's way too quick to cut a deal.
For Biden, compromise is statecraft's soul;
no bedrock undergirds him that won't bend.
But Manchin's adamant; he stands for Coal.
His vote's not one on which we can depend.
To flip the Senate would have taken more;
a 50/50 split breaks for the rich.
While Biden haggles with this small-town whore,
our fair republic's heading for the ditch.
As midterms loom, McConnell's feeling good;
he's bought a Manchin in prime neighborhood.

unforceful

"A time for boldness!" sounds good on the stump;
Joe Biden's writers craft a handsome phrase.
And--for our part--we meant to move past Trump;
four years was too much chaos, and malaise.
Still, boldness isn't Biden's stock in trade
He works hard being just 'one of the guys'.
When plans and policies have to be made,
there's nothing on which he won't compromise.
Liz Warren had laid out what must be done;
in text, and verse, she offered us her plan.
A year's gone by, and Joe's barely begun;
To do this job, she'd be the better man.
The calendar leaves not a lot of room;
too much remains undone, as midterms loom.