Catching Z's Instead of Bernie

So Bernie Madoff’s gone for good
Though not his cleaned-out clients’ rage.
I wish that also Judge Chin could
Cram SEC’s staff in a cage
And let them rot for years as well,
As shameless sloths for what befell.

No Kidding?

How quick they take the grandkids’ side
Those penny-wise conservatives,
When health-care talk they can’t abide
Or that on climate change which gives
Our children and ourselves a pass
Before—one warns of—cash morass.

Reflections

If we ignore the private lives
Of key but boring businessmen,
Why is it public interest thrives
On entertainers’ errors, then?

Take a Hike

The question isn’t if he’s cruel
Or insincere that bothers me.
Since time began, those fit to rule
Have often proved ability
As multitaskers on the job
Who make the hearts of lovers throb.

Balancing Act

Not only must he talk the talk,
He’s had to learn to walk the walk
Across a tightrope strung between
Tehran’s complaints we intervene
And cries at home for more support
Of marchers whom militias thwart.

No-Men

Ahmadinejad wants a break
From all the gripes, for goodness’ sake.
Like Huey Long, who spread the wealth
To boost the economic health
With oil giants’ revenue
Throughout Louisiana, too,
Mahmoud controls largess to strut
As president, no matter what.

Roll Over, Tobacco

TO: FDA Commissioner
FROM: Cyanide Incorporated
RE: Bona fide petitioner
DATE: Hate to say, so long we’ve waited

A Blow Against Banality

Josef Stalin justified
The reason hordes of Russians died.
One death, he allowed, is tragic,
But one million’s a statistic.

Iraqiprop

A monthly journal, Baghdad Now,
Extols recovery in Iraq.
Accounts and photographs allow
How comforts gone six years are back.

Iraqis, though, would like to see
Some bylines, ads or backers named,
And fear such anonymity
Means, of this stuff, someone’s ashamed.

Those Who Were Ours

I learned to mass-produce paper airplanes
In Manhattan sixty-five years ago.
Mine bore the U.S. bars and circled stars;
Aunt Marion’s the German black crosses.
For hours we threw them at each other.
My parents stayed glued to the radio
And kept six-year old me from listening.
Due to heavy censorhip, the broadcasts
Made them suspect that a lot had gone wrong.
Twenty-five hundred Americans died
Before the breakouts from the French beaches.

The Truth Comes Out

Hat’s off to you! As president,
I often think you’re heaven sent.
The speech in Cairo helped repair
Our bonds with Muslims everywhere.
Though, quoth you, sometimes out of sync,
We’ve shared much more than people think.

Wichita Madman

Pro-life is such an awful term
Implying her abortion rights
Are horrors that, alone, confirm
Indifference to most heinous frights.

A bit like calling innocent,Civilians wrongly killed in war
As if all troops had cruel intent.
The uninvolved says so much more.