Some Politics as Usual

Quadrennial
--First Monday in November
The campaign is ending. The candidates
Make their last hawings and hemmings,
Each pleading with the electorate
To let him lead the lemmings.

The Old Formalist Attends a Convention
I hear the oratory smoothly rolling out
In clear consonants and open vowels,
Yet all that my mind seems to think about
Is the product of bovine bowels.

Representative Government
Congressmen come to Washington
Determined to do the public good.
Each styles himself as a veritable
Model of a modern Robin Hood.

Their terms ended, do they hurry home
To pursue a healthy hobby?
Ah, no. They stay and take a job with
The Sheriff of Nottingham's lobby.

American Politics
The cleaner of statues in Philadelphia's parks
In a yellow slicker and stiff gum boots
Hauls her hose and buckets up a ladder
To the bronze tricorn of George Washington
Or the brazen bald head of Ben Franklin
And sprays and sponges away the evidence
That transient birds have whitely left behind
Of their having naturally passed in passing.
She then applies carefully a waxen overlay
To make easier all her future cleansings.
Ah, the glory of a glorious public life
Led among the most famous of public men
Is no defense against one's image being
Defecated upon again and again and again.