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Saturday, December 1, 2018

This Date in History: 12/12/'2012 The Speaker & the Fiscal Cliff

Get on with it, John (post-election activity).
Don’t take us over the fiscal acclivity.
Tether your tears. Void your ploys: they’re too cute.
Spare us a fall from the feared fiscal butte.

Don’t risk our dough. Being broke’s such a drag.\
Don’t cast us down from the damned fiscal crag.
Mr. Speaker: to tweak ‘er you’ve had since last June.
Do look ahead: it’s the dread fiscal dune.

A tax hike – is that all the government TARP meant?

Disgraceful! We’re facing the fiscal escarpment.
The President’s deal? Take it! No time for stalls.
Mr. B: steer us clear of those grim fiscal falls.
How dare you proclaim we’re the world’s greatest nation?
We’re poised to go over the fiscal gradation.
No Dem will not dub you “Congressional Chump”
if you don’t walk us back from the harsh fiscal hump?
Tax billionaires? Buffet says that would be fine.
But first inch us away from the fiscal incline.
Can’t caucus chums swallow the debt-ceiling pill?
Such would walk us away from the fiscal Jocks Hill.

Have you eyed not the most recent Rasmussen poll?
Read! And weep! Then clear keep from the feared fiscal knoll.
Don’t make of this issue a partisan wedge.
Please! Talk us down – now! -- off the foul fiscal ledge.
Your gavel you’ll keep if you’ll use your cabesa
And spare us a fall from the Great Fiscal Mesa.
True medicine, John, not financial placebo
will ease this disease, the acute fiscal Nebo.

Abandon us not. Neither pooh-pooh or pimp us.\
How dumb to go tumbling down fiscal Olympus.
You won’t heed our pleas? Must we others’ aid seek?
Oh, don’t let us go over the bleak fiscal peak…

That peak which provides to perdition a launching pad.

Don’t let us suffer the fierce fiscal Quinderdad.
Dunce! Can’t you once be just “one of the guys”?
And refrain from this bane, this corrupt fiscal rise?
I’m warning you, Johnny, this cliff’s no chimaera.
Don’t stall, lest we fall from the fiscal Sierra.
Maneuvering must be immediate…or
we might trip, and so flip o’er the tall fiscal tor.

You motioned to Mitch, “Let’s give F.C. a whirl.”
No!! No one should urge the unsafe fiscal Ural.
Support some heights, sure: some might prove “muy bueno.”
But veto all vaults o’er the fiscal volcano.

We’re altophobes all. We’ve a fear of the tall.
We’d not hit (much less fall from) that weird fiscal wall.
The Recession Bell’s rung. The Depression Bell’s ringin.’
Arrest our descent from the fiscal Xiao Hinggan.

You need to announce with your mouth full of moxie,
“No falls from the fiscal…” (don’t faint) “…Yagradagze.”
Your seeing us through this will earn you thanks…and a
caress -- if we miss it: the fiscal Zaranda.

We’re fed up with hillocks, with hummocks and hills.
With tors and Zarandas we’re stuffed to the gills.
We’ve had it to here, whether curb, slope or shelf.
If you’d risk fiscal cliffs, better go by yourself!

The Canon Contracted or Who Xrays Your Zucchinis: an Abecedarially Constrained Nonsense in Prose (a Work in Progress)

Anon’s The Epic of Gilgamesh

Anonymous Babylonian cuneiformist describes Enkidu’s friend Gilgamesh horning in, jilting kismet. “Let ‘Mesh nix oblivion, please!” “Quite right,” spouts trickster Utnapishtim. “Vanquish whosoever x-rays your zucchinis.”

Homer’s The Iliad

Achilles balks. Cries “defrauded!” Exits fray. Gigantic horse is jury-rigged. King loads mercenaries: No one panics. Quorum ransacks splendiferous Troy until victorious warriors x-ray yahoos’ zucchinis.

Homer’s The Odyssey

After battles conclude, Daneans, enthusiastic for getting home, initiate journey. Kirke, Lotus-eaters, Maelstroms, noting ominous quest, remit spoilers, troubling Ulysses’s victory-lap while x-raying yokels’ zucchinis.

Anon’s The Old Testament

Adam’s bitch caves, departs Eden. “Free Goshen,” hollars Israel. Jews kill, later, many neighbors over promised quarters. Rabbinical scribes Torah-rize until voice warns, "X-ray Yahweh’s Zucchinis!”

Hesiod’s Works and Days

Almanac by cultivator depicts examples from Greek husbandry. “Idleness jaundices, kiboshing love, marriage: No one profits. Quick riches sully those un'cultivated,' venal wastrels x-raying yes-men’s’ zucchinis.”

Aesop’s Fables

Aesop, borrowing classic depictions (epics, fictions, 'grues,' howlers in journals, koans, legends, myths), noting one point, quaintly rerenders stories. These, unusually vivid, well x-ray yonder zucchinis!

Thomas Mann’s The Magic Mountain

Alpine blizzards chill Davos’s environs, freeze-drying gentleman Hans. Invalid Joachim? Kaput: Lung malady. Naphta opines provocatively. “Quiet,” rails Settembrini -- too vehemently? Weimar x-rays young zucchinis.

Marcel Proust’s In Search Of Lost Time

All because cattelyas don’t ever fade, Gilberte, having initiated jealousy kissing little Marcel, needles Odette, pretty quickly ruining Swann -- thereby undermining Vinteuil's waltz “X-raying Yourbeletieff’s Zucchinis.”

Friday, November 30, 2018

Protest Chants for 2020

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His neckties still hang wa-a-a-ay too low.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His BFF’s our Russian foe.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He doesn’t know he doesn’t know.
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Is that stuff hair…or oleo?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Did he once host a TV show?
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Why’s he behave like Putin’s ‘ho’?
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He brags, “I’m rich!” So: where’s the dough?
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Is that hair…or a UFO?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He claims he speaks for Av’rage Joe.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
How much back tax does this crook owe?
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His plan? Home-grown Guantanamo.
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His hair…or an Antarctic floe?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His tweets elicit vertigo.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He started lying lo-o-o-ong ago.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Folks hoped he’d change; folks hoped he’d grow.
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His hair…or neighbor's yellow snow?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Some thought he’d shake up status quo.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
But he’s a fake, so did he? No!
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He’s big on braggadocio.
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Is that stuff hair or stale gateau?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He plumps for Wade; he dumps on Roe.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Mysogyny he won’t outgrow.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho! 
He grabs ‘em by their…what…? Hello!
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho! 
Is that hair…or an embryo?)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
“He’s psycho,” writes Politico.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Just call him ‘Gen’ralissimo.’
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He “governs” with his kids in tow.
(Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
Is that his hair. we just don’t know.)

Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
He calls himself a CEO.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His bus’ness model’s quid pro quo.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
His government’s a TV show.
Hey, hey! Ho, ho!
You still would vote for him…? Oh, no!!

Wednesday, November 21, 2018

Dump Him ABC

Assassinate him! Bump him off! Crucify him! (Who would scoff?)
Drag 'n' drop him! Eighty-six him! Finishing him off’ll fix him.
Guillotine him! Hang 'im high! Immolate the frickin’ guy!
Jettison him down your loo! Knock his block off! Lynch him, too!
Massacre him! Neutralize him! Off him! (Death might quitel surprise him.)
Polish off his dumb ass? Do! Quarter him! (Then draw him, too!)
Rub him out and Suffocate him! Breathes he still? Then Terminate him!
If he still won’t die, Undo him! Vaporize him! (In short, screw him.)
Whack him! eXecute his ass! Yank his breathing tube: he’ll pass.
Zap him with your taser gun: 'Twill prove a boon...and so-o-o-o much fun.  

Saturday, November 17, 2018

I Can't Get Past That Hair

Hey, Gotham Town:
who's trickling down
that up- and down-
ward stair?
Despite his myth,
he's short on pith.
(And what’s it with
that hair?)

The umpteenth time
he blusters, “I’m
a bigly bil-
lionaire!”
I beg him, “Bro,
just let it go!”
(Be that a ‘fro…
that hair?)

He pouts, “I plan
a Muslim ban.”
(Most muse, “He can-
not dare.”)
Perhaps he’ll stew
and think it through.
(And then shampoo 
that hair...?)

His twitter feed’s
‘mysogyny’d.’
Chauvin? Indeed: 
he's there.
Perhaps he can’t
control his rant.
(A plug implant…
that hair?)

Of tax returns
a show he spurns.
(He never learns
to share.)
The man is ill,
a psycho. (Still
that’s one weird hill…
that hair.)

He's “crim’nally
uncurious,” Mark
Shields reveals
on air.
Perhaps he is
(though that’s his biz).
(Do stylists frizz 
that hair?)

Gals grabs he (gads!)
by p words -- adds,
“they let you, lads,
nor care.”
Does ‘Vanka blink?
Does ‘Vanka wink?
(Does ‘Vanka think
that’s hair?)

The handicapp'd
he mock'd. Rubes clapp'd.
And Congress napp'd. 
'Tain't fair.
“I never did!
Me? God forbid!”
(The man's pure id...
with hair.)

Him? Navigate
the ship of state?
We’ll all catch hate-
de-mer.
He lacks the skill
for steering. (Still,
I’m in…until
that hair.)

Into each room
he roams? Ka-boom!
He sucks up --zoom! -- 
all air.
Narcissus-like
he grabs the mic.
(Do people like
that hair?)

Who sang at Don’s
inaug’ral? B'yon-
ce? Bono? John?
Not Cher!
No stars came out.
‘Twas all about
(no doubt) his sprout
of hair.)

In thrall to lies,
he falsifies.
He fails at Truth
or Dare.
His fibs and guiles
extend…for miles.
(Who reconciles
that hair?)

He made a vow
to disallow
Barack’s Oba-
macare.
Perhaps he will.
(Most hope not.) Still
I’ve had my fill
of Herr.

He now eschews
grand South Lawn views,
prefers to choose
his lair.
At Mar-a-Lago stay! 
Okay? (Say…
is that hay
or hair?)

His border wall?
In dead free fall.
(He specs expects 
to pare.)
Claims he: “Some folks 
don’t get my jokes.”
(Then Fallon pokes 
that hair.)

The Press? It’s dead:
He tweets instead.
The man’s one head- 
case rare,
each twitter feed
a bitter screed.
(He is, indeed,
all hair.)

To pay his lend-
ers? God forfend! 
Here’s him: Zut! C’est
la guerre!”
Then writes ‘em off.
Then cheats…at golf!  
(Still…what God-awf-
ul hair!)

Attache’s ears
attack'd? State fear’s
that Cuba spears 
their share.
Did foreign thugs
deploy those bugs?
(Ill-fitting rugs
ain’t hair.)

Aside from ISIS -- 
still a crisis -- 
name one vice he'd 
pare?
Prescription drugs?
“Quite bad,” he shrugs.
(Hey! Are those plugs…
in there?)

So: will this worm 
serve out his term?
Will White House germs
he bear?
His overreach
incites “Impeach!”
(When does he bleach
that hair?)

Perhaps he’ll die
in office. I
to heaven ply
that prayer.
I do believe
that’s how he’ll leave.
(Is that a weave…
that hair?)

So: what's the poop?
A wig? A toup?
What’s goin’ on
up there?
Still, notwithstanding
all his lies,
the made-up guff
that liar plies,
despite the hates 
each tweet creates,
the myths with which
his base he baits,
although the cat’s
an autocrat
(and certainly 
no diplomat) 
and yet, in spite
of all of that,
I can’t get past
that hair…I still
cannot get past
that hair!

Wednesday, November 14, 2018

Material Boy or Impermanent Prez

I'd celebrate four heads of state
as metaphoric cloth.
Material determines fate:
two mild, one wild, one wroth.
George Washantung can’t tell a lie.
Abe Linen frees the slaves.
Mohairy Truman stops the buck.
Tick Nixon misbehaves.

The current Potus makes stuff up –
from whole cloth, as it were --
abrasive as an em’ry cloth,
offensive as fox’d fur.
Seems he's the stuff of fabric, too.
He claims he’s cloth of gold.
I see him Spandex-shrouded.
Wrapp’d cadaver-like. Ice cold. 

Wednesday, October 31, 2018

This Morning's Anagram

'Drumpf' misspell'd reads 'Dr. Fump.'
(What sort of dudes dream this stuff up?)
I spied him on a big rig's* bump-
er sticker. (In a red state? Yup!)

When r
e-rearranged, he's 'Mr. Pfud,'
with shades of Bugs's nemesis.
However spell'd, he's such a dud.
I wish he'd quit the premises.

* Some late mss show 'trailer's' here. 
Others show 'RV's.' All are palimpsests.
What varia have you run across? 

Sunday, October 28, 2018

Thursday, October 25, 2018

"His family's 'extremeing'..." The Oneirocriticologist's Notebook: an Illustrated ABC

(Illustrations to come: a work in progress) 

The Prologue 

His family’s "extremeing." 
His kids, who are teeming,
are (most of 'em) beaming. 
Still, "Daddy" is screaming...

at "Mother," who's steaming,
(her parents are seeming
to forgo redeeming).
His colleagues, esteeming...

his meme, have been deeming
to increase their memeing.
)His sister, the judge? She's still 
transition teaming.)

And every last one
of the (bleep)ers is scheming.
So: what foul and frightening  
scenes fill his dreaming?

The Oneirocriticologist's Notebook Entries

“Arm! 
An Arm! 
Who’ll arm the alarm?”
(His dream's of an arm.) 
“Alert the gendarmes!
And, once I’m alone, shall I 
suffer great harm?”

“Bear! 
A bear! 
Ascending the stair!" 
(His dream’s of a bear.) 
“Who’s trespassing there?
Boo! Yoo-hoo! Is that you, Vlad? 
(Lil' Kim wouldn't dare.)”

“Crows! 
These crows! 
Befouling my clothes!”
(His dreams are of crows!) 
“Still…anything goes.
Can't my dirty tricks boomerang, 
don't you suppose?” 

“Dawn! 
It’s dawn! 
Yet they’re still on the lawn.
(He dreams of the dawn.) 
“Am I somebody’s pawn?
Do I vamp through November? 
All Hallows…then…gone?”

“Egg! 
An Egg! 
Extending a leg!
(He dreams of an egg.) 
“They’ll get nowt till they beg!
Ev’ry tactic seems clear. 
The agenda’s what’s vague.” 

“Fire! 
A fire! 
I’ve got to climb higher.”
(His dreams are of fire.) 
“My funeral pyre?
For my failure to…what? 
To constrain my desire?” 

“Ground! 
The ground! 
It’s growing unsound!”
(He dreams of the ground.) 
“Just say, “Nothing was found.
Give ‘em platitudes! (Hope there’s 
enough to go ‘round.)" 

“Hall! 
The hall! 
It’s becoming too small!”
(He dreams of a hall.) 
“Tell them, ‘Visit the mall!’
Hell! That minimum wage buys… 
Oops! Nothing at all.” 

“Ice! 
The ice! 
It’s forming a vice!”
(His dreams are of ice.) 
“Ignore Gore’s advice!
Is a life without polar bears 
all that not nice?"

“Jar! 
The jar! 
It’s leaning too far.”
(He dreams of a jar.) 
“Still, I love being Czar.
Just was wond’ring what year it is…
in Kandahar.”

“Klan! 
The Klan! 
They’re murd’ring that man.”
(He dreams of the Klan.) 
“They kill ‘cuz they can.
Keep your hands off of Kanye, though: 
I’m a big fan.”

“Light! 
The light! 
So blindingly bright!”
(He dreams of the light.) 
“Steer much further right!
Let’s us pray it’s not Socialist
Democrat Night.”

“Moon! 
The moon! 
It’s descending too soon.
(He dreams of the moon.) 
"Some hum; others croon.
Most will lose, nonetheless, lest they 
whistle my tune."

“Noose!
This noose! 
I can’t get it loose.”
(His dream's of a noose.) 
“Is my puss turning puce?
Now they’re saying I’m (shock!) 
sabotaging some truce.” 

“Oil! 
The oil! 
It’s beginning to boil.
(His dream is of oil.) 
“Keep on sifting that soil!
Only, no 'global warming.' 
Say that? You’re disloyal.”

“Pain! 
The pain! 
It’s returning again.”
(His dreams are of pain.) 
“Is that newsy insane?
Put a sock in it, media! 
More Novocain!”

“Queen! 
A queen! 
She’s caught in between.”
(He dreams of a queen.) 
“She’s gifted. She’s keen.
Queer as hell, but don’t tell: 
she’s a U.S. Marine.” 

“Rake! 
The rake! 
It’s becoming a snake.”
(He dreams of a snake.) 
“It’s alive! It’s awake!
Risking lives? Worth the risk 
when there’s billions to make.” 

“Sand! 
The sand! 
Quick! Lend me a hand!
(His dream is of sand.) 
“This is no place to land.
So: I’m chummy with Saudi Arabia. 
Grand!” 

“Thumb! 
My thumb! 
It’s totally numb.” 
(He dreams of his thumb.) 
“Charles Darwin was dumb.
'Tis a world safe for stem cells. 
May my kingdom come!”

“Udder! 
The udder! 
It’s starting to shudder.”
(He dreams of an udder.) 
“Up guns! Down with butter!
(Up creeks call'd Fake News 
with no paddle, no rudder.)” 

“Vine! 
The vine’s 
looking none too benign.”
(He dreams of a vine.) 
“Don’t make waves. I'll be fine.
Vill ve virebomb Tehran? 
Gott, just gimme das sign!”

“Wife! 
Your wife! 
She’s pulling a knife.”
(He dreams of your wife.) 
“With resentment she’s rife.
We will spare her. Though loopy, 
she votes Right to Life.” 

“X! 
An X! 
The site of the wrecks.”
(He dreams of an X.) 
“Do we stick out our necks
‘X’ing [YES], coaxing OPEC 
to trade oil for sex?” 

“Yak! 
A yak 
begins it’s attack.”
(He dreams of a yak.) 
“Am I getting the sack?
You must give me my last four 
(Eight? Forty?) years back.”

“Zoo! 
The zoo! 
It hasn’t a loo.”
(He dreams of the zoo.) 
“So: what do I do?
Zut! I tarnish the Oval. 
I can, thanks to…
Who?

Bye Polar Bear (from "SympPOTUSsium...)

  Bye Polar Bear II