War is Over

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA WAR

War is Over

 

They say the war is over

If only for a while

So let there be a reckoning

Let there be a trial

 

For crimes have been committed

On both sides of the wall

Crimes against humanity

Offenses against us all

 

The hostages are coming home

The bombs and missiles still

No more will people suffer

If our leaders have the will

 

Find a way to live together

Without this bitter hate

Israel and Palestine

An independent state

 

The way of war must end

Respect for human rights

Put down your arms of vengeance

And travel toward the light

 

(Ceasefire signed.)

Global Challenge

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Global Challenge

 

We have lost Venezuela

The Bolivarian promise is dead

Nicolas Maduro doesn’t care

As long as his treasure chest is fed

It will require many years

To unbreed what he has bred

To take the long road back again

To where Hugo Chavez led

 

 

We are challenged in Columbia

From Brazil to Ecuador

Throughout the world the battle rages

For the workers and the poor

A fight for dignity and wages

Just to even up the score

A battle for the ages

To fight back El Dictador

 

The oligarchs and billionaires

The monopolies and corporations

Are undermining governments

Taking over sovereign nations

In a fight that’s never-ending

The goal remains the same

Defending our democracies

In more than just a name

Sanity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Sanity

 

Hold on to your sanity

When the world is slipping into madness

Do not yield to your vanity

When the world is drowned in sadness

 

For we are not the center

Nor are we at the core

When the world descends to hellish grief

We are not the reasons for

 

In a world of gloom and horror

The sullen one is king

In a town of scream and shudder

The quiet one can sing

 

We have lost our equilibrium

We are reaching out for kindness

The ones who guide our passing

Are lost in moral blindness

 

If you want a world of sanity

Know that it begins at home

Take pity on humanity

For we are not alone

 

Farewell Trudeau

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Farewell Trudeau

 

Farewell Trudeau we loved you well

You served in stark contrast

To our own American leaders

You were a true iconoclast

 

You are a victim of global discontent

Like our own Mister Biden

An elderly man of principle

You were wise to confide in

 

You stood up for the dispossessed

You battled for the poor

But the global housing crisis

Combined with prices in the stores

 

To mark the end of your tenure

A time of turmoil and upheaval

A time of natural catastrophes

The rise of greed and evil

 

We remember how you managed Trump

With diplomacy and finesse

It was a delicate balancing act

You managed among the best

 

Now they say it’s time for you to go

No one seems to disagree

But your nation may well miss you

When they look back on your legacy

 

The Mandate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Mandate

 

The people have spoken

In the language of the electoral college

A victory for the party of Musk

The party of Trump

The party of Vladimir Putin

 

A rejection of the party of tomorrow

That never finds its way to today

The party of hope that never finds reality

The party of old-timers

The party of promises

The party of Old Joe and Nancy

The party that talks a good game

But never quite delivers

 

A rejection of the party in power

That transcends all other factors

An affirmation of discontent

Throw all the bums out!

 

Through mass media propaganda

Gerrymandering and unlimited funding

The party of rage and discontent

Steamrolled the electorate

Toppling all branches of government

Including the people’s house

By the very thinnest of margins

 

There is no mandate here

Or if there is

It is a mandate of confusion

It is a mandate of negation

It is a mandate that waits

For the next chance

To say No again

 

Flames of Paradise

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Flames of Paradise

 

Pasadena, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades

If paradise is an inferno

No place on earth is safe

Carried on the violent winds

Another home is laid to waste

These were the homes of millionaires

Stars of music, stage and screen

But there are working people too

Living out their hope filled dreams

 

Walk a mile in their shoes

See the horror through their eyes

As the flames are drawing nearer

As the smoke consumes the sky

You’ve lost all your belongings

You tell your friends goodbye

Your dreams go up in fire

No one can tell you why

 

What will tomorrow hold for you?

The promises are strained

No one can tell you what to do

Hold on and pray for rain

Be grateful you’re still breathing

Be grateful you can rise

As fire sweeps away the dream

Be grateful for your lives

(Prayers for the people of LA.)

A Monster Storm

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

A Monster Storm

 

Ice, wind and rain

A blast of swirling snow

Rolling thunder in the strain

The harshest winds will blow

From Florida to Maine

From Kansas to the sea

The climate goes insane

These monster storms will be

Arriving like a freight train

Like an army on attack

Before the next one ends

The last is coming back

To visit where we’ve been

With brutal wind and ice

A hundred thousand men

Build shelters through the night

It is not if but when

The storm will strike again

 

We know what it’s about

The climate war is raging

Let there be no doubt

The battles we are staging

Are ones of life and death

In a war that we’ll be waging

Until our final breath

Until our kids are aging