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The Elizabeth Bentley Ode
 

Scorned in a blue streak she became
the spy before the House Committee
                                                        with good legs &

a tinge of exhausted glamour
the Press resorted to
in the hall, stroking the Party from which she was estranged

the Red Queen's
dour testimony rebuked by the Times,

libel & the partyline determined
the unforgivable crime

naming names

to the Chamber
& they reframed

from badgering her
relying on a lover's quarrel

the stale talk (the press sed
of documents shuffled

between finks & liars
her druthers

after the Seven Sisters
the John Birchers &

a cold hearted grudge
the Kremlin done gone

done her wrong
& love, her drawn face

spare as a sting
& lethal

the Rosenbergs fretted & got the chair
the pair of them, yankee

& the plaintive cry
of the NY Times ventured

the impeccable Hiss
between foundations & ornithology

was scapegoated

& they still cut Liz no slack.

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