May 23, 2014

In the News

When I was young, my father read The Times and The Tribune
The Times came in the morning and the Trib, the afternoon
 
He poured over their pages in his goal to stay informed
And he often uttered expletives while dinner rolls were warmed
 
He didn’t have a laptop and he didn’t use a mouse
But all the news we needed Cronkite brought into the house
 
On SATURDAY at 10 PM, he’s pocket a few dimes
And get the first edition of the SUNDAY New York Times
 
We’d drive down to the candy store and if we had good luck
We’d grab The Times (and Daily News) as they came off the truck
 
The Sunday Times was massive; a real marvel of the age
But my father wasn’t daunted and he read it page by page
 
I feel a little sadness
Maybe just a little shame
I can’t count on the President
To stop and do the same
 
I know the news is out there; I hear it every day
But all those trips and t-times must be getting in the way
 
Some may call it politics and some may call it lies
But it’s clear that every scandal always comes as a surprise
 
I heard an explanation or it could be just a fable
They trimmed the White House budget and they had to cut the cable
 
On every breaking story and on every super scoop
I guess that’s why the President’s been left out of the loop
 
Those old days weren’t half as bad as everyone alleges
When newsboys on their bikes tossed folded papers in our hedges
 
But if those newsies try it now, they’ll go down to defeat
For the front porch of the White House is just too far from the street.

May 16, 2014

Poet's Progress


I sit up nights in my abode
Trying hard to pen an ode
Praying that the week’s events’ll
Find their way down through my pencil
Looking, from this chair I’ve sat on
For some hook to hang my hat on
Hoping then that listeners say,
“I’ve never heard it put that way.”

Sometimes it’s just like tap-in puttin’
Sometimes I sit for hours—and nuttin’
This week, when inspiration struck
It hit me like a ten-ton truck

Among Obama’s many messes
We look in vain for his successes
But working hard to be objective
I’ve tried to see from his perspective

They did things and they did them fast
The ACA was pushed and passed
 
The work force now is light and leaner
The Green Police are getting meaner

And through their policies, so clever
More folks get food stamps now than ever

They took the helm and held it steady
And soon we all were shovel ready
 
And then of course, they saved GM
Now, how’s that working out for them?
 
A battle may be won, but lost
If vict’ry comes with too much cost

Way back when Plutarch wrote that lyric
They called a vict’ry like that Pyrric

Now call it anything you chose
When this regime succeeds, we lose

They see a goal and go for it
We’ve got the scars to show for it