Extreme

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Extreme

 

Snowstorms from west to east

Fire across the Texas plains

The gods of weather have a feast

All remedies in vain

 

The weather patterns are extreme

In every state and season

From brutal storms to wildfire

We all know well the reason

 

The planet is not angry

The gods are not upset

But the polar caps are melting

And the wetlands are too wet

 

We’ve tired of explaining

To people who do not care

The era of humans is waning

Can’t say it isn’t fair

 

Of course it could be different

If we change our course real soon

But no one seems inclined

To do what we must do

 

Texas Wildfire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Texas Wildfire

 

A winter wildfire on the Texas plains

To normal ears it sounds insane

The planet’s climate is inflamed

Clear the path and pray for rain

 

What madness is approaching?

Have we awakened yet?

We only have one planet

This one is all we get

 

Raging winds and pounding rain

We’ve seen it all and will again

The Lone Star state is in the crossfire

Tornadoes floods and hurricanes

 

Brace yourselves it’s getting worse

Seems like it all hits Texas first

The bubble is about to burst

It is the global warming curse

 

Ain’t it time for Texas to wise up?

The dawn has come and gone

Don’t pretend you still don’t know

The side you’re on is wrong

Deluge in San Diego

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Deluge in San Diego

 

The city of sunshine under water

A deluge of winter rain

A thousand years of history

Another mark of climate change

 

San Diego is a place of warmth

They are not prepared for flood

Their streets turned into rivers

Their fields turned into mud

 

We are all believers now

Our doubts have brought us shame

Once they would deny it all

They would not even say its name

 

So let the angry waters roar

Laying waste upon their path

The deluge pounds away the shore

An angry planet has it wrath

 

Please forgive us for our ignorance

Please forgive our foolish ways

We place ourselves at your mercy

Guide us through these tragic days

 

2024

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

2024

 

This is the year we get to choose

Between the genuine and fake news

 

This is the year you’ll never know

Who’s on the bench and who’s in the show

 

This is the year we bury the past

And find out how long the world can last

 

This is the year the planet will burn

Unless the industrialized nations learn

 

This is the year we turn it around

And find ourselves on higher ground

 

This is the year of greater knowledge

When all our kids advance to college

 

This is the year the top of the ladder

Tips and falls with a helluva splatter

 

This is the year it all goes down

We build our walls to protect our town

 

This is the year we’ll all remember

From January to late December

 

The Great China Freeze

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Great China Freeze

 

They’re burning coal in China

To survive the winter freeze

They are poisoning the very air

That their people must breathe

It seems the leaders do not care

It is something they believe

If a million people die today

For the benefit of the state

Mark a path and show the way

They will call it the way of fate

 

But the world must turn this path around

We must find a better road

A path that is reachable and sound

That seeks to lighten every load

 

We can’t continue fighting wars

We know where that road leads

A rush to shut disaster’s doors

We all suffer, we all bleed

 

Let’s work together for a change

That works for all our nations

We know it seems a little strange

But its promise is salvation

 

Into Oblivion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Into Oblivion

 

If we pretend it is not there

It does not disappear

If we wish it away

In a fit of good cheer

It will not hide in darkness

As the shadows draw near

 

We are walking into oblivion

Ears covered, eyes turned away

We are dreaming into oblivion

With little or nothing to say

 

As our oceans continue to rise

As our storms devour the land

As our flames fill up the sky

As our leaders drum up the band

As our people continue to die

We pretend we don’t understand

We configure our alibis

Bury our heads in the sand

 

We are racing into oblivion

Like a spaceship drawn to the sun

We are drifting into oblivion

Like a soldier in need of a gun

 

Inferno in Paradise

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

 

Inferno in Paradise

 

The forests of Oahu are lush and green

The rainforest at Paradiso’s core

An event our eyes have never seen

Flames where they have never been before

 

As the earth begins a radical change

From its ceiling to its floor

We see things that are new and strange

We can foresee what is in store

 

The oceans rise to take the land

Great cities are no more

Get out now while you still can

The whole planet is at war

 

It is time for us to take a stand

This time it’s not a metaphor

Everyone must lend a hand

Young and old, rich and poor

 

We’re all in this together now

For better or for worse

We don’t know why or where or how

To fight this global warming curse

The Angry Earth

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

The Angry Earth

 

The earth is not angry

The earth does not yearn for vengeance

The earth does not bathe in sorrow

The earth does not rejoice

The earth is indifferent to the plight of man

The earth observes with abandon

 

As the hurricanes grow and strike terror

As a monster quake buries Morocco

As behemoth storms roll across the land

As tsunamis spring from ocean depths

As floods turn deserts into mud

As glaciers fall into swollen seas

As people are ravaged by disease

The earth does not raise its brow

The earth does not cry out in pain

 

The earth is not angry

The earth is indifferent to our fate

If humanity wishes to find blame

She should look to her own reflection

 

Blood Moon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Blood Moon

 

Blood moon springs from a fire sky

Blood water flows in the canyon

Coyotes run and eagles fly

All hope here abandon

 

What more can we do or say?

How might we atone?

Would you have us bow and pray?

Will you leave us now alone?

 

Blood moon in a sky of gray

Streaking through the valley

Haze chasing back the day

Hiding in the alleys

 

What more can we say or do?

On whom can we depend?

Change our course from false to true

The beginning of the end

 

Fallen Souls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Fallen Souls

 

Remember when the end of time

Was an amusing notion?

Remember we pretended that

Love came in a potion?

Little did we know that we

Would live to see revealed

The end of everything we love

The secrets we concealed

 

We are not evil people

We are not fallen souls

We have lost something sacred

We need to make us whole

 

We look back with rueful fondness

On the days that came before

Before the darkness, before the storm,

Before the latest war

We wish we could go back there

Before it all began

To when we were the chosen

The leaders of the band

 

We are not ill-intentioned

We’re not without our charm

We never wanted hurtful things

We did not wish you harm

 

Those days that we remember

Were not the way they seem

The days of simple innocence

They happened in a dream

Where everyone was happy

Where no one went to war

Where everyone we knew

Shopped at the local store

 

We are not evil people

We are not fallen souls

We have lost something sacred

We need to make us whole

Fleeing the Fires

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Fleeing the Fires

 

(for the people of the Canadian Northwest Territories)

 

Fleeing the fires of human neglect

Midnight past the waiting hour

The brave rise, the cowardly reflect

What more can we do but cower?

 

A storm travels a long, lonely night

It screams of boom thunder quaking

A sky of calm darkness filled with light

The planet is gradually awaking

 

The creatures of the forest know

The wolf, the hawk, the silent owl

They search for safety high and low

Grim visage is out on the prowl

 

We fight, we pray, we scream and shout

We call out to the gods of all wonder

Reveal to the innocent a pathway out

Before it takes us all under

 

But the gods can only shake their heads

In deep sympathy and fool sorrow

The vengeful monster has already been fed

No power in heaven can alter tomorrow

 

Killer Flames

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Killer Flames

 

The curse of Prometheus is upon us

The light of the heavens

The warmth of the gods

The greatest gift ever bestowed

Become the destroyer of man

 

Once we knew how to control the flames

We employed them to cook our food

To warm our homes

To bring light to darkness

To mold metals into useful form

 

But that which once served humanity

Has now become our enemy

A killer of our people

A destroyer of our abodes

 

We must learn again how to use fire

We must learn how to control it

We must learn how to defend our homes

Our schools and buildings

Our towns and cities

From the devastation of runaway flames

We must work to balance the forces of

nature – wind, rain, fire and ice –

or the forces of nature will work

together to destroy us

 

Paradise in Flames (Maui)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Paradise in Flames

 

Maui is in flames today

A lush green island getaway

A place where the privileged stay

A paradise where the wealthy play

But there are ordinary people too

What will the many homeless do?

When the hurricane winds rose and blew

They fanned the flames, the fires grew

Of course the tourists got out fast

Of course the homeless get out last

Paradise will never be the same and

All of us must share the blame

Joshua Trees

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Joshua Trees

 

Fire rolls across the desert

The Joshua Trees disappear

An ecosystem forever altered

The realization of our fears

 

Fire cannot burn the sand

These trees have stood a thousand years

Scorched and turned to wasteland

The howling wind is all we hear

 

And will we ever learn

The error of our ways

Let the barren deserts burn

As we approach the end of days

 

We have become destroyers

Of all we know and see

Our past will never know

The future that must be