The Budget Is a Moral Document
What goes into
caucus and committee
and what comes out
of caucus and committee
what dialogue travels
the halls of Congress
and what dialogue is absent
from those consecrated halls
what is debated on
the floor stays on the floor
and what rises to the ceiling
stays on the ceiling
a high wire act in a circus of clowns and puppets
trip over each other to raise money for themselves
what elevates the heavy
gavel of procedure
and what brings that mighty
wooden gavel down
who is written out of trade
partnership agreements
and who is written into trade
partnership agreements
what is left out of
national security legislation
and what is written
into security legislation
it has the shape and style and sound and appearance
of democracy but some fingers and toes are missing
cloaked in rhetoric
and petulant rant representatives
buzz from one special interest
flower to the other
pushing debased agendas
and empty proposals with impunity
unaware that every single meeting
and motion and voice
is attached to the life of
a determined and diligent citizen
dependent upon their
conscientiousness and empathy
clichés and bromides shift fast between nattering teeth
ranks close in and capacity for clear hearing thins out
tabloids and blogs are
the prime sources of knowledge
and gravitas is a slow steamboat
on the Mississippi
commentators and pundits
flap thick wicked tongues
giving lip service to Constitutional
principles and purpose
all thriving in a happy
broadband land where drones
drop bombs far away as
we sleep in peace and comfort
turn up the Wi-Fi
have another pitcher of brew
no need to ponder the wretched
who make it possible
for all of us
to live
Copyright © Barry Levy | Year Posted 2016
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