THE MACHINE

"Chicago ain't ready for reform." ~Paddy Bauler

my uncle bobby, born in 1915,
had down syndrome
back then those kids
were usually dead by age 18
no treatment

paddy bauler
the most corrupt of the corrupt
--his best pal, the hugely corrupt
charlie weber, of the famed
Charlie Weber Day at Riverview Park--
died mysteriously, a mob hit probably,
in the only mansion in my neighborhood
Addison & Wolcott*

so, paddy bauler
the 43rd ward alderman
corrupt to his eyeballs
gave my uncle bobby a desk
at the ward office next door
to paddy's saloon at North & Sedgwick
in Old St. Michael's parish in Old Town
let him run errands, do the make-work
so appalling to Republicans

bobby ran errands, bobby visited shut-ins
was a kind of saintly kid
according to my mother

when he died young
the neighborhood turned out
for the funeral - i never met bobby
but think of him when
the beastly republicans/progressives/libertarians
go all holier than thou
--make-work jobs, Monicagate, crooked hillary
and all the rest--

the wise old cop always told me
that chicago pols had to be very wary
around the downstate republicans in
illinois who'd pick your pocket
while quoting bible verses
--fucking republicans, governor george ryan--
and now we get donald the yahoo
roy cohn's protege

what goes around comes around
tricky dick nixon
--the joke in 1960? you can't lick our dick--
flashing the V sign boarding
the resignation jet staircase
yeah, how do you spell irony?

bounder JFK needed a little help
from paddy and friends
to carry illinois in 1960
though charlie weber wouldn't sign on
the fatal decision

of course the nixon victories in alabama and mississippi
were never helped by black vote suppression
by lynch law - dixiecrats

requiescat in pace, bobby laarveld

copyright © 2017 by patrick o'hayer

*https://www.flickr.com/photos/chicagocrimescenes/13677720415 - for the story click on the lower-right arrow