MANIFESTO

When Karl Marx looked down from heaven
At crisis in the world below,
He thought he might provide a leaven
So sat to think of some bon mot.
But as he watched the world’s devotion
To capital, ocean to ocean,
He wondered at the workers’ fear
About the day when they’d premiere.
His MANIFESTO had attested
That they were capital’s boot hill,
A destiny they could fulfill,
If only they’d done as suggested:
With “Workers of the world, unite,”
He didn’t add “…but be polite.”

THE JINN

“If, gentlemen, you’ll please consider
That what I’m holding in my clutch
Might not seem like a heavy hitter,
You would be wrong by oh so much.
For herein lies a thing obscene. He
Awaits your hest, a mighty genie
Who, when the stopper’s put aside,
Will grant three wishes.” Edified,
The men began their cutthroat bidding
Until the winner, with a smile,
Went bowing down the clapping aisle.
What happened after manumitting
The jinn would cast your peace of mind
Into the dark to be confined.

THE INFLUENTIALS

I’ll never be an “influential”
Say… like the ones who blog HuffPost.
Though what I write is consequential,
The liberals won’t let me roast
The likes of President Obama
Who subtly replies, “Yo mama”
To questions would embarrass him
And fixing if he’ll sink or swim.
For instance, I’ve called him on torture
And HuffPost censors out my blog
So hindering the “dialogue”
Their editors might think a scorcher,
As Bush and Cheney used to do.
As Caesar said, “Brutus, et tu?”

LIAR, LIAR, PANTS ON FIRE !

Who claims Obama is a liar
When everything he said’s so bland
He wouldn’t need an alibier
To lead him through the no-man’s-land
That haunts so many politicians
When they campaign for their ambitions-
In his case as a man of peace?
He no doubt meant catch and release.
He said that his administration
Would never live to be maligned
By lobbyists who countersigned
His bills signed into legislation.
Yet lobbyists and carnivores
Still stalk the White House corridors.

UNCLE SAM

1. “I’ll tell you anything,” she pleaded,
2. As she lay gasping on the floor.
3. It’s then I knew I had succeeded.
4. She couldn’t take it anymore.
5. I heard it in her voice. I let it
6. Wash over me and do me credit.
7. I run a torture team boutique
8. Where I’ve perfected my technique.
9. So what they changed administrations?
10. Obama, Bush. They’re all the same.
11. The difference is the party’s name.
12. So they avoid the defamations,
13. No president will give a damn.
14. Ya gotta love 'em… Uncle Sam.

MID-LIFE CRISIS ?

I used to think that rabble-rousing,
As Jefferson once said, was good;
But now I’m old and feel like drowsing.
I’ve done as much as any could.
So sit here like a fuddy-duddy
At home in this my tiny study
And hope that I won’t be eschewed
Because I’ve lost my aptitude
For making trouble, disinterring-
And making such an awful fuss
That I had always thought a plus-
The wickedness life was conferring
On everybody else you see
To find at last it’s only me.

THE SOLUTION TO THE TORTURE PROBLEM

Let me propose my own solution
To torture by the CIA
Will clearly lead to diminution
Of actions people think outré.
Don’t question them. That’s what they’re dreading.
Instead grant them instant beheading,
Dispatching them to virgins that
Will get them laid in nothing flat.
In this way we avoid brutality
And useless information got
Applying pokers are red hot.
They’ll welcome us with cordiality.
And’s more humane than suffering welts
By whipping them with garter belts.