'Though he brags that he's first in his class/
and Achaean kings give that a pass/
When Troy's walls proved too strong/
he must crawl; he'd been wrong!/
Agamemnon had seized the wrong lass

Temporal portals
past every step you take lies
the rest of your life

 Now, it can be told:
Bombadil is Keith Richards.
Ancient, unaging

Hegseth's own mother/
says he's not worth her respect./
Just Trump's kinda guy!

conform!

Minimalism
is a vast conspiracy
to sell us more Less

alpha male

Robert Sapolsky
explains Trump and his minions
as lower primates

Bottom's up

The accusations Trumpsters throw around
are veiled confessions, childishly disguised.
The scandals that disqualify their clown
through funhouse mirrors, smear the other side.
The Saudi billions Jared can deploy
to lure investors to each pump-and-dump,
were not entrusted to Joe Biden's boy;
that level of corruption's purely Trump.
Political affiliation's strong;
Americans would rather fight, than switch. 
We're more pugnacious when it's plain we're wrong,
and when our party's tits-up in the ditch. 
A clearer vision in that looking-glass
would show Republicans their head's an ass.

Foreign Agents

The Kremlin Caucus knows who pay the bills;
Zelenskyy doesn't underwrite their tribe.
assiduously doing Putin's will;
they've pledged allegiance to the biggest bribe.
Some crave the rubles, some the Honeypot;
some can't afford their second yacht, or plane.
And those who balk will find there's Kompromat,
to whip up opposition to Ukraine.
In Washington, such harlotry's the norm,
but donors win whenever there's a clash.
Until we find the gumption to reform
your vote counts less if it's not wrapped in cash.
Such foreign agents are no cause for pride;

if there were justice, they'd be charged and tried.

Survivor

Dead heroes live forever in our lore
(at least as long as epic deeds get sung).
While Bibi's tenure won't last past this war,
his brother Yonatan's forever young.
Achilles had no time to take a wife;
his legacy's not genes, but epic song.
While Bibi clings to office for dear life,
Israeli voters deem it's been too long.
Survival's Netanyahu's foremost goal;
more for himself than any larger cause.
The gnawing need to feel he's in control
is incompatible with mortals' laws.
The Hero of Entebbe's still the one
Bentzion kvells on when he says "my son".

balrog's bane

Olorin cast the Balrog from the height;
the Dimrill dale resounded with the crash.
The thing of flames so poorly fit for flight
left just an impact crater strewn with ash.
Like Glorfindel, millennia before
when Turgon had to flee his eagles' nest,
This flashy sideshow to the larger war
would barely rate a footnote in the West.
Except that Gandalf'd left so much undone;
No elf could give the Age of Men its king.
It's he that orchestrated what was won,
although he didn't dare to grasp the Ring.
The heir of Elendil has come of age,
and carries on--again--without his mage.

engage

News must look backwards/
you can't predict the future/
but you can build it

dude, hold my beer

'PLEASE DON'T LICK THE FROGS'
the National Park Service
just blew up TikTok

used

Poseidon took sweet Pelops by the arm,
and Hermes held his luscious slow-braised head.
Hephaistos undid Tantalus' harm
to prep this dainty for the Sea god's bed.
Let Zeus snatch playthings from the walls of Troy;
Mycenae has enough for most gods' need.
Be that a blushing maid, or smooth-cheeked boy,
no cause to shop abroad for Ganymede.
Cassandra told Apollo to get lost;
she'd rather dally with some Asian youth.
Integrity like hers bears a grave cost;
she wins no kudos for unwelcome truth.
When paths of gods and mortals intersect
our lives seem just their smorgasbord of sex.

Felagund the Fair

 Finrod Felagund
died in the tower he'd built
fulfilling his oath

encryption security

 Two can keep secrets
even when the pressure's on
if one of them's dead

Forward!

 culling out the slow
cursorial predators
Darwin's deputies

mediocrity

not much to look at
Earth's blackbody signature's
deep in the IR

stoned

 gazing at the stars

wondering if they're air-holes

gods poked for their pets

unmoored

Nihilists untied!
Outsourcing reality
QAnon's faithful

player

 Skulking Aegysthos
while better men fought at Troy
played at being king

"no reasonable viewer..."

Tucker Carlson's dog
ate the crucial evidence.
Wanna buy a bridge?

Ioreth

"The hands of the king
are the hands of a healer"
Thus, he can be known

allies

asked for policy
Trump dog-whistles his brownshirts
"stand back and stand by"

formalist

Will Shakespeare explained
why he kept his metric scheme
"iamb what iamb"

meddling

grey-eyed Athena
drove a  spear into Ares
each got yellow cards

immortality

legacy of words
Mohammed left no male heirs
Like George Washington

to summarize

love humanity!
the rest is commentary
now, go and study

retrospect

Ahead, a signpost

legible from the far side

"This is not a trail"

Fourth Turning II

The blare of Trump/Pence heralds End of Days

although it's been mis-spelled in  all our texts.
The Second Horsemen slays us with a plague;
The Wise among us shudder at what's next.
Apocalyptic fires devastate Oz,
as Bangladesh subsides beneath the waves.
Still Trumpty Dumpty doubts a human cause
and soon, there'll be no bodies left to save.
Pat Robertson swears God is in control
and sends disease to guide us on His way,
chastising bodies to refine the soul,
and when that fails, he'll blame it on the Gays.
Steve Bannon's all alone to find it "good"
we didn't prep for this one, 'though we could.