Jim Crow Redux

As they’re a cure with no disease,
Those voter photo-ID laws,
A brainstorm of the GOP’s
To thwart Latinos without cause
From casting ballots as allowed,
Republicans should hold heads bowed.

Twist and Shout

I can’t believe the blatancy
With which it twists Obama’s words.
According to the GOP,
Which for the campaign homestretch girds
“You didn’t build that” meant he slurred
Small-business founders. How absurd!

Lurking in the Coal Mine

The record heat, the record drought,
The drenching storms, the higher seas
Are on the rise beyond a doubt,
Stark matters strictly of degrees.
Schlemiels who question climate change,
Its fallout seems to more derange.

The NRA’s Horrora

The NRA Museum would
I gather bow to members’ taste
And—not to be misunderstood
As bloodbath licensers disgraced—
Put on display a plaster head
Of each one of Aurora’s dead.

Down With Joe

I don’t know why we argue so
About an NCAA choice
To punish Penn State yes or no
For giving decency a voice
By shutting football down this fall
For boys once in Sandusky’s thrall.

Keep It Up, Kim!

Kim Jong Un, latest familycrat
To foist an ironclad diktat
On North Korea’s populace
(For years bereft beneath the bus)
Might just be mellowing a tad
According to a recent fad:
In place of women’s uniforms
High heels and miniskirts are norms.
And bringing down a concert house,
Is new director, Mickey Mouse.

Pants Ablaze?

You likely showed a creditor
Back tax returns to get a loan.
As to how many years before?
They stay within the comfort zone
Of, no doubt, who would take the chance—
Or not—of whether to finance.

Allons Enfants de la Patrie

The French are difficult to love.
They often act, as though above,
Their provenance was foreordained
To guarantee that, though disdained,
The rest of us were civilized
Enough, at least, to be apprised
Of how to speak and eat and paint,
And copulate without restraint.

Spend! Spend! Spend!

Obama in his TV speech
On whether all need tax relief
Induced the GOP’s stock screech
By challenging its fixed belief.
He called for hikes on those who clear
A quarter million bucks a year.

How Did We Get Here?

This won’t be long, I guarantee.
Subparticles are not my strength,
One named for God especially,
(A daunting task at any length)
And recognized, in language terse,
For mass we call the universe.

Brave Beginnings

All men, the Founding Fathers said,
Are equal, though they thought that some
Were less so—chattel slaves instead.
To make them not so, men kept mum.

Who Counts?

I don’t know why the N.R.A.
Found fault with Fast and Furious
And through elected pawns makes hay
Of what strikes me as spurious:
Concern for turning weapons loose
That vanished in a roundup ruse.