Boy oh boy oh boy, our Revenue Code—
Monstrous volume, diabolically
Designed—Satanic obfuscations goad
Us to confront (upset and colicky)
Our civic duty to a government
That feeds on taxes. Will some Deity,
Please, deliver us! Let us now repent!
Convert from worshipful complicity!
This holy Code, morphing every year,
Directs the powerful to hidden doors,
Creates an industry with rich careers
In brothels housing hordes of tax-prep whores.
The corporations game the system, dance
To priv’leged tunes and lyrical deceit.
What Business needs magically enchants
Congressfolks; moneyed lobbyists compete
To woo their favor. The rest of us do
What we can (fearfully avoiding fraud),
By twisting this, inflating that. We croon
Our mantra: Though not impeccably true,
Nonetheless, we’ll risk, since we thought of it,
Deducting it until we’re audited!
(2/27/07)