Commutation (Death Penalty)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

 

Commutation

 

California ended the death sentence

In an act of commutation

While it falls short of full repentance

California leads the nation

 

A government should not kill

As a punishment for crime

It goes against our higher will

It belongs to long lost times

 

When once we needed vengeance

To fulfill our sense of justice

That thought was always bent

When we governed with a fist

 

We know it does not deter

The ones who wish to kill

Though the passions it may stir

Just might provide a thrill

 

There once were executions

Performed like passion plays

They were thought to be solutions

But we don’t think that today

 

We have no other interest

But to protect and to serve

This is not the Wild West

Where they got what they deserved

 

We are better than we were

More civil and humane

We should honor the higher word

Not bear the mark of Cain

 

(Governor Newsom commutes

sentences of prisoners on death row.)

 

Desperate Times

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Desperate Times

 

Desperate times in France

And across the European states

The French have made their stance

We will now await their fate

 

Desperate times in Israel

They may lose American aid

The threat is growing real

They are in the mess they made

 

Desperate times in Ukraine

The Putin-Trump alliance

Support begins to wane

As well as our reliance

 

Desperate times in Iran

Trump may blow a fuse

Until he’s finally gone

We don’t know what he’ll do

 

Desperate times in the Kremlin

Their chief ally took a hit

They are overrun with gremlins

They are falling down a pit

 

Desperate times in the Arab states

They cannot control the oil

They are tied up in the Straits

Taking missiles on their soil

 

Desperate times in the world

The markets are unstable

Trade deals come unfurled

The powers are disabled

 

When the system starts to crumble

Every nation is engaged

All economies will stumble

And the people grow enraged

 

We need to find a common ground

To buffer our economies

Rethink the factors that unwound

Heal the earth’s disease

 

A New Dawn

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICA

 

A New Dawn

 

A wave of optimism

Has swept across the land

We have closed the great schism

That was created by one man

 

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

The morning finally comes

It’s a new song

It’s a new way

Wave the flag and bang the drum

 

The way of war and terror

Is fading into black

The greed and vengeful era

Let’s hope it’s never coming back

 

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

The age of the grift is gone

It was so wrong

Now it’s pay day

It’s the end of the reign of Don

 

The nation’s nightmare ends

The dream has just begun

We’ve overcome ourselves again

The side of right has won

 

 

The Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Wave

 

A wave as blue as a clear blue sky

As vast as the ocean blue

A wave that leaves them wondering why

The wave we wished came true

 

The early returns were promising

Virginia and South Carolina

The forecast calls for a senate swing

The prospects could not be finer

 

It rolled from east to west

From Atlanta to Chicago

Ohio was the first great test

The night the blue wave rolled

 

Austin Texas here we come

The greatest hope will rise

The preacher and the crooked bum

Let’s hear the alibis

 

California to Alaska

Colorado to Lake Michigan

The wave is rolling faster

The opposition party has won

 

Now the work begins

He is still the president

It is not enough to win

But the message has been sent

 

Arab Israelis

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

 

Arab Israelis

 

The Arab Israelis hold the key

To the future of the Israeli state

Equal status for all citizenry

Reject Hamas to ensure its fate

 

What Hamas was it ceased to be

With the attack that fateful day

To move on the Arab parties must lead

We can see no other way

 

An Israeli Arab partnership

To form a peaceful Jewish state

That could rebuild the Gaza Strip

How long must the world wait?

 

The dream of independent nations

Has drifted far from possible

It’s hard to live in segregation

Resolution seems improbable

 

We must reconsider everything

As reasoned people often do

When peace is balanced on a string

It may be time for something new

 

It begins with coexistence

With Israeli Arab representation

An end to stubborn Likud resistance

A new and safer Israeli nation

 

Peaceful Protest (Europe)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PROTEST

 

Peaceful Protest

 

Peaceful protest is at the heart

Of every democratic government

It was declared from the start

To be certain and self-evident

 

Along with freedom of speech

And freedom of the press

A right no government should breach

As a most fundamental test

 

From Portugal to Spain

To Belgium, Denmark, Ukraine

The people own the streets

Our founders made it plain

 

So when the people march

To exercise their rights

To express what’s in their hearts

Do not challenge them to fight

 

There may be troublemakers

Just shuffle them aside

There are always instigators

They go along for the ride

 

Protect the right to protest

As a fundamental creed

Let the dictators oppress

Do not follow where they lead

 

The Swamp

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

The Swamp

 

He promised to drain the swamp

It turns out he didn’t mean it

He was too busy reading Mein Kamph

He did not intend to clean it

 

He is the swamp creature

He brought the grift and the con

His presidency has featured

Corruption from dusk to dawn

 

He has tried to bribe whole nations

Bending leaders to his will

From contracts for deportation

To weapons that boost the kill

 

In two hundred and fifty years

No one has taken more

The more we see, the more it appears

They’re renting the White House doors

 

If you think this is the norm

You had better reconsider

Through every crisis and every storm

They will sell to the highest bidder