Sunday Eve

It’s Sunday eve before the sun descends
We’re still in Fairfax: family and friends
But in a day or so this trip will end
Then back to Arizona we will fly

In spite of us the world continued on
‘Though Congress this Spring break was mostly gone
And Trump, I guess, was somewhere playing golf
In Douma gas attacks saw hundreds die

The Times on Pruitt of the E.P.A.
On his profligacy had lots to say
But not his policies so retrograde
He couldn’t waste more money if he tried

And, too, John Kelly’s voice no longer bears
He talks and Trump just doesn’t seem to care
It is as though John really isn’t there
Another casualty of Trump, we’ll say bye bye

Kim Jong is seen of late with happy face
He says he’s ready to negotiate
Removal of things nuke from off his space
It’s hard to ferret truth among his lies

On California Trump prevaricates
Claims double voting rampant in the state
There’s more non news but time is turning late
And now it’s night; it’s time to say goodbye

4/8/18

Cherry Blossom Time

We walked, today, amid the basin trees,
Explosive beauty there before our eyes
It’s cherry-blossom Washington, DC
In subtle pink profusion city wide

So delicate each petal on its twig
Yet year on year the trees survive all storms
Their gnarled trunks all twisted, branches big
Bear witness to their struggles; it’s their norm

A metaphor for DC politics
Democracy is fragile like the blooms
And sometimes votes to power lunatics
Where gross corruption-storms o’er DC loom

But I have faith in our Democracy
‘Though tyrants come, our country will survive
Our citizens like trunks of cherry trees
Will conquer storms – that we may also thrive

4/2/18

News Things

Two news things lead my thoughts, you know
Thing one’s what Fox News Ingraham did
Attacking Demos is her shtick
But this time couldn’t make it stick
She mocked Dave Hogg, survivor kid
Her adds now exiting her show

Thing two: what David Schwartz declared
That Trump knew not his NDA
This nullifies the document
I’m sure that’s not what Schwartz had meant
The issue now should go away
So we, this nonsense, can be spared

What’s really upmost in my mind
Trump’s new-found feeling that he’s free
To do his thing, whatever ‘tis
Don’t need advice, decision’s his
No checks, no balancing, just he
Alone dictates, deciding blind

And where is Congress, head in sand
Republicans by only name
Each violation, you just cave
No longer home of free and brave
To your own Party you bring shame
It’s Old but now no longer Grand

3/29/18

No Matter the Danger

Today was the day of The March For Our Lives
With hundreds of thousands of marchers world wide
“The children will lead you”, the scriptures have said
“Arms are for hugging” not shooting kids dead

The message the marchers portrayed by their action
Of gun regulation is gaining in traction
But then overshadowing efforts on arms
Are Trump’s new advisers, a cause for alarm

John Dowd is now out; Joe diGenova’s in
A cable-news lawyer whose knowledge is thin
He’s known for conspiracies hatched and untrue
Defamation of Mueller is his job to do

McMaster on national safety goodby
No worse NSA choice could Trump, if he tried
Have made when he settled on super-hawk Bolton
Whose prior behavior is truly revolting

Bomb! Bomb! Is his answer no matter the question
Attack North Korea – has been his intention
The same with Iran; scrap the deal; change regimes
Whatever the facts Bolton sticks with these themes

Pres. Trump, uninformed and so easy to sway
Most likely will follow what Bolton will say
No matter the danger as deemed here before
This looks like we’re headed for nuclear war

3/24/18

Potentate

Trump sees himself as potentate
All women he infatuates
And criticizes everyone
It is his way of having fun
But he is mum on Stormy D.
To shut her up he paid a fee
Their tryst to keep in secrecy
Thus hiding his impotency
3/21/18

Matrimony

Another break from political poetry (although some may take issue with that) . My wife and I attended the wedding of my niece-once-removed on Sunday. It was lovely. Earlier, the bride and groom to be asked if I would write their wedding poem. I said that I would be honored. I thought that you might enjoy it as another change of pace. It is an acrostic.

Dear A… and C…

Matrimony isn’t for the faint of heart
A sapling couple weathering the storms of life
Two kindred spirits joined, their married life to start
Returning each the other’s love as husband, wife
Indelible the marriage bonds uniting you
May all your plans and expectations be fulfilled
Our prayer: God’s blessing on this sacred marriage too
No matter what’s the future love will conquer still
You’ll always know that friends and family will be there

3/20/18

Andy McCabe

This is a poem ‘bout Andy McCabe
FBI Dep. Director about to retire
For o’er twenty years a career Andy made
Just two days from then he was formally fired

When Comey was pressured by Trump to desist
From doing the probe against General Mike Flynn
This Andy was one among few on a list
Of those Comey told of the details therein

Pres. Trump o’er the subsequent months since that date
Removed or besmirched all those names so they’d fail
Except for McCabe, who just suffered that fate
So no one’s left standing who’d heard Comey’s tale

These words are opinion, what I have surmised
Trump secretly told the IG his desire
To trump up a way to claim Andy had lied
And then get him fired before he retired

Pres. Trump pressured Sessions to act in a hurry
And fire McCabe counteracting his fitness
To testify truthfully to the Grand Jury
With no credibility then as a witness

This smells like a fish after ten days exposure
Revealing Trump’s smallness and selfishness too
In trying to bring Mueller’s probe fast to closure
All those who might cross him he’s ready to screw

This isn’t the end of this sordid affair
McCabe had approval for actions he’d taken
And vowed he’d not lied, that the there isn’t there
He’ll fight this decision he’s sure was mistaken

3/19/18)

Events Triad

News worthies, a triad, portend major changes
School children, Trump ousting, a Democrat wins
On what has just happened our future so hinges
For better? For worse? Yet, the jury’s not in

All throughout the nation we saw children marching
Some hundreds of thousands played hooky from schools
Protesting the Congress for gun-laws ignoring
For congressmen being the NRA’s tools

The NRA has them all over a barrel
To vote NRA or no votes will they cast
Ignoring these children they do at their peril
Their votes against gun laws may well be their last

Goodbye to Rex Tillerson, past Sec. of State
What was Foggy Bottom is more than half gone
You called Trump a moron; now suffer your fate
By Twitter Trump fired you, his pay-back you’ve won

Pompeo was head of our famed CIA
A West Point and Harvard Law graduate of note
A Tea Party congressman leaning Trump’s way
A man Trump could count on when needing his vote

‘Twas Michael Pompeo whom Trump chose to be
The new Secretary of State (while he lasts)
He may be adult, but with Trump he agrees
Abroad he’ll be viewed through his CIA past

Within Pennsylvania the District eighteen
Was so gerrymandered to lose was a sham
Rick Saccone, a shoe-in, as such he was seen
Just lost to a Democrat named Conor Lamb

Young Conor a lawyer, a former Marine
Pulled off such an upset it seems to foresee
A blue-wave tsunami, the national scene
It doesn’t bode well for the Trump GOP

Events all have consequence, these three I know
Are points history pivots directions to trend
To war, and to gun laws, to Dems in control
Stay tuned, it’s just starting; this isn’t the end

3/14/18

House Intel Committee

Well, well the committee announced it has finished
Its “investigation” and reached its conclusions
That Trump is not guilty of Russian collusion
Committee, House Intel is thereby diminished

Chair Nunes, Republican, under much pressure
Pretending he’s doing a probe – just in name
It’s time to declare Trump is free of all blame
A move that is drawing considerable censure

It’s sad when the House’s own Intel Committee
Ignores it’s true charter: our Fed Constitution,
Upholding its statutes against all infractions,
It chooses instead to protect travesties

Accused of the President, subject of probes
But Trump will now cite House’s exoneration
As reason to halt Mueller’s examination
Just where this will lead really nobody knows

3/12/18

Kim Jung un

I want to be viewed as a leader with stature
Among world leaders, especially the States
I’ve sacrificed all in pursuit of the future
Where I’ll be respected, my country, its fate

I now have got missiles that reach to New York
And nuclear warheads they’ll carry in flight
I’ve tactical weapons of war, I report
My country’s a fortress, we’re ready to fight

Now, since I’ve succeeded, my goals are in place,
I’m ready to bargain with Trump, if he’s able
But only on terms where we talk face to face.
I’ll even put ridding of nukes on the table

I may play eccentric but I’m not a fool,
I recognize ego, Trump’s prime motivation
A primary weakness I’ll use as my tool
Pretending his “toughness” caused my invitation

I’m sure he’ll accept it with no second thoughts
As no prior President ever had done
I’ll play to his weakness and get what I want
Although it’s a gamble, this ought to be fun

3/8/18