Jokers Wild

A Work in Progress
60

So, one of the nine 

slipped a trump card 

into the decision deck 

a get out of jail free card

for breaking the law what the heck

a reusable get out of jail card

used to trump Jack Smith

overt legal power 

immunity

the shape of things to come

awake to the rule of kings

with divine right and then some

for lives can be made forfeit 

estates proscribed

just as was once described

So, six of the nine

stacked the card deck

installed a de facto King

even though elections weren't over

afraid of what elections bring

the voice of the people heard over

bigots wanting serfs again

So, three of the nine

chose freedom

showed courage to stand up

three women standing for millions

most of the country knows what's up

five men and Amy driven by billions

dollars hiding from tax

polluters wanting regs lax

in November 

we found we’d been trumped

a convicted felon took the White House

enacted laws for those things he’d stumped

tax cuts tariffs deportations 

debt distractions anti-vaccinations

while his wealth accumulated

cashing in on crypto

digital coins a better way to bribe him

only he knows who has kicked in

media headlines chronicle corruption

picture him a sharpie cutting better deals

altering tariffs with the stroke of a pen

favoring countries that pay the best bribes

it’s the art of the deal to just walk away

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                        2025

 

Ode: To Power

A Work in Progress 
59

                      strophe

Such power in last year’s deer tongue lettuce

once tender leaves nut sweet in salad

now three feet tall 

small bushes with large spreading canopies

yellow flowers on green pipe-cleaner stems 

straining upward for much hoped for warmth 

survivors of winter’s winds snows and frosts 

thin buds tightly wrapped waiting to unfurl 

then refurl once they’ve felt the sun’s full warmth

going to seed adorned with dandelion fluff

for goldfinches to find now their time has come.

                    antrestrophe

Such power in those that over winter

perennials with lives not truncated

lived long lived well 

alive unique not John Doe replicants

not needy supplicants but strong stalwarts

tribal elders awake aware

their memories archive observation

what went past predicts what will come

nothing surprises those that have been before

knowing what they know they’ll over winter

encrust another year refine their judgement.

                         epode

Time proven perennials will cast votes next year

use power to give power 

or justly take power away.

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                        2025

Meanwhile on the Set

A Work in Progress
58

Meanwhile

On the set 

two unemployed rarely loquacious

unable to improv 

poets

discussing possibilities

Director Glenn Hughes joined them

with the script

we can teach children grammar

said Donal who had just learned Latin grammar 

then they will know how to parse time

not grammar but business

grammar can take care of itself

said Ezra    

we live like dogs

only for the moment

savoring odors wafting from the kitchen

flavors sipped from a glass

colors shining in sunlight 

as we bottle our wines

that’s not in the script said peachie

from afar sitting on the edge of dark matter

watching time pass by

who wrote this script they asked looking at Glenn

we’ll write it together he said

we’ll parallel modern times 

with one foot in the future

we’ll straddle the present 

with one foot in the past

we’ll ride across daylight not stopping for night

for everything’s global there is always light

we’ll be prime time no matter where

our chariot will dare to circle each day 

we won’t go high not close to the Sun

but we will have visibility on everyone

I’ve read Asimov’s The Martian Way

space travel beckons just not today

we’re in an age of discovery an atomic age

poets and playwrights must lead the way

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                        2025

Catullus Calls on Urania

A Work in Progress
57

Beautiful Urania astronomer’s muse

our eyes open to all your wonders

portents you show us will reward us

for where else can answers be found

when political peril confronts us

a dictator who sane was already unbound

now increasingly insane has been found

guilty of assault when he had a stiff member

he’s now’s so old he cannot remember

where else for advice but ask Urania

on timing a bribe to stay on his good side 

or who should we pay now that he’s gaga

among those that protect him who has the power

to keep him from suing us if we should speak truth

say he’s a fat farter and in person uncouth

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                         2025

Sunlight 

A Work in Progress
56

Sunlight shows what sound waves signify

trickles from a fountain fill a bowl 

with water which magnifies

trickles into a bigger bowl below 

which also overflows

trickles into a much bigger bowl where the pump is

held up by a sturdy base 

decorated with acanthus leaves

dust pollen air-borne seeds glint in the sunlight

silently seen from inside the window 

then there’s a gurgle and a vortex spiral

down the plug hole into the world where Trump is

There are two towel racks on the oak paneled walls

sunlight falls on a white bath towel 

morning sun fell on the facing wall

where another white towel hangs on a rack

as our sun traverses a summer sky

each day taking a less westerly tack

we begin serious harvesting

strawberries are over blueberries coming in

green peas won’t last this heat

bean plants grow taller 

each day more news of bigger bombardments

more missiles shredding Ukraine’s defenses

while there’s growing hope for rearmament if

the USA will come to its senses

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                   2025 

 Words Offered to AI (Revisited)

                           For Jorie Graham

A Work in Progress
55

Italic words on thin almost transparent paper

with irregular length of line

characterize something likely to be labeled once scanned

by AI

                        1

when Donal closes his eyes, he can still see

an image of what he was seeing 

as he lay back in the bathtub 

bunches of thyme hanging from strings

below them trays of oregano, other herbs

future herbs de Provence

backlit by sash windows open to the air

an evening sky with dwindling sunset

with eyes closed his thoughts can proceed

away from fragrant bunches swaying in the breeze

inward where once when feverish and young

he imagined model airplanes made with balsa wood

weaving in and out of the trees

like miniature bumble bees

navigated by imaginary pilots

                        2

a pleasure to lie back while hot water fills a tub

steam fogs the windowpanes as Donal towels dry

black patches in an overcast sky forebode more rain

oak paneling glistens

bath water gurgles

headline crises can wait another day

sleep succeeds a bathtub soak

once it was a cold stone flagged floor

a wooden stand with a basin of water

hot from a kettle carried in from another room

where Donal kept a coal fire going in the grate

once it was a washstand before a window

overlooking a garden and a view of a valley

now it’s an antique tub on iron claw feet

in a custom-built bathhouse with windows and skylights

once it was as it was before piped water and plumbing

now it’s hot water on demand preheated by solar

then it was Vietnam now it is Ukraine

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                       2025

Note: The first lines reference Michael March (peachie le nic).

Words Offered to AI

                           For Jorie Graham
A Work in Progress
55

italic words on thin almost transparent onion skin paper

with irregular length of line

characterize something likely to be labeled once scanned

by AI

a pleasure to lie back while hot water fills a tub

steam fogs the windowpanes as Donal towels dry

black patches in an overcast sky forebode more rain

oak paneling glistens

bath water gurgles

headline crises can wait another day

sleep succeeds a bathtub soak

once it was a cold stone flagged floor

a wooden stand with a basin of water

hot from a kettle carried in from another room

where Donal kept a coal fire going in the grate

once it was a washstand before a window

overlooking a garden and a view of a sparsely populated valley

now it’s an antique tub on iron claw feet

in a custom-built bathhouse with windows and skylights

once it was as it was before piped water and plumbing

now it’s hot water on demand preheated by solar

then it was Vietnam now it is Ukraine

Dick Russell © Richard M Russell

                       2025

Note: The first lines reference Michael March (peachie le nic).