The Laureate-To The Candidates

If you would be the leading man,

do not but smear the other guy.

I say, respond with Kipling’s plan,

reveal what you deem is awry…

and when and how, with what, and where

you’ll solve the problems you declare.

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The Laureate-Polls

Your votes must be kept secret,

or you will but abet

where PACs spend all their money

to neutralize their foe’s asset.

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The Laureate-Paris, Brussels, o'er the Earth

Hunger! Thirst! Pestilence! War!

They are what good men should abhor.

Then ISIS came to please it’s God,

and sewed the seeds of more terror.

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The Laureate-March Madness

Few can count, as pressures mount,

how luck controls March Madness play.

How bound of ball can skill surmount,

and oft may sway who wins each fray.

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The Laureate-Fame

Fame is brief, like a meteor's flame.

You catch the right eye, there's acclaim.

But should your fickle fortune blink,

the flare is reduced to arcane.

{From the book, Rubai by James E. Cox}

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The Laureate-Based on Fact

Unfortunately, for history,

if "based on facts", I'm faced with scree.

The author has, with that terse note,

left hours of research forced on me.

(...and data rarely eau-de-vie)

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The Laureate-Dark Money, Dark Matters

Pols lose their chance for voter "aye" (I),

for progress Red, and Blue deny.

When pols endorse dark money laws,

best fear that perils underlie.

{...and flotsam may float when perps ally!}

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The Laureate-Decisions

Decisions! Decisions! Decisions!

We're forced to make them every day.

But as you make each judgment

you dare not let kismet decay.

{...in every choice let logic sway.}  

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The Laureate-New York Daily News

You say Trump talks like Hitler,

because he would return

eleven million Mexicans,

whose lives their leaders has chose to spurn.

He'd have them build a border wall

to keep their people in,

and solve their problems, one and all,

so they find peace within. 

{Fools whose tools abuse the news}

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The Laureate-Doodoo

When pols make laws that veil from view

donors for whom change is due,

tis but an act

to guise the fact

that they must bury their doodoo. 

         {Remember Super Pacs!}

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The Laureate-Life's Race

It's time that you now stop to face

all moments lost within Life's race

for tomorrow...and each morrow 

'tis best that you win, show, or place.

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The Laureate-The Three-day Beard

Most actors now sport a three-day beard,

and while in their role they never shave.

The starlets go wild o'er their manliness

for they think  wild hair must mean they're brave.

Strange that my wife, when I miss one day

to put a sharp blade across my face,

berates me and warns, "The beard better go,

or you'll no more feel my embrace."

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The Laureate-Proteus

Proteus

(Greek Shape-shifting God)

Pols must be kin to Proteus...

they make words shift their shape.

They do it, oh, so artfully

it leaves your mouth agape.

You challenge them on something

that you know isn’t right.

They then beguile, and with a smile,

will morph your facts to look off­-white.

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The Laureate-You Who Would be President (Redux)

You who would be President...

best assay your past sins.

For when your hat lands in the ring

the filleting begins.

Far better you tell everyone

why you are not a saint.

For they that fine-tune microscopes

will oft find that you ain’t.

If morals, logic or your past

are dappled by your lies,

you’ll have to answer them anon…

and pray that  they don’t say, “Goodbyes.”

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The Laureate-The Contestants

When deluged by conflicting facts,

It may be time that you relax.

For lies will oft reveal themselves

When time allows the truth to wax

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