The Smithsonian

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

 

The Smithsonian

 

To tell us what is false and true

You have to know your history

Racial bias is nothing new

Your motive is not a mystery

 

We built fortunes on our slaves

It’s a matter of solemn fact

Home of the free, land of the brave

With the exception of the blacks

 

God wasn’t always on our side

When we marked a westward trail

A little matter of genocide

While we built the golden rails

 

We imprisoned the Japanese

For the country of their origin

We abused and used the Chinese

For the color of their skin

 

We fought wars for faulty reasons

So many innocents have died

We’ve seen presidents commit treason

But the law was not applied

 

Now you’d like a different story

One of heroes and wonderment

Tales of courage and of glory

Not what was but what was “meant”

 

(Trump wants the Smithsonian to

label “false” or “misleading” displays.)

 

 

Fire Wind and Rain

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Fire Wind and Rain

 

The rain in Spain no longer falls

The south of France is burning

They’re building up their firewalls

The climate tide is turning

 

Waves of heat sweep overland

The winds are blowing strong

Again we’re forced to make a stand

But the nightmare will go on

 

We need to change our thinking

The places where we build

Our best laid plans are sinking

We are losing strength of will

 

What happens there will happen here

In face it’s happening today

As danger and destruction nears

We’ll be forced to move away

 

The ravages of mother earth

Are moving to the fore

We’ll have to measure what it’s worth

An end to every war

 

For we have a common enemy

We’ll need all of our resources

We’ll reassess our common needs

And unify our forces

 

Berlin Pride

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INTOLERANCE

 

Berlin Pride

 

Berlin is no stranger

To an extremist point of view

The Germans recognize the danger

As few other nations do

 

When a man attacked a rally

That celebrated pride

They did not wait for a tally

Of those on the other side

 

Intolerance is wrong

No matter how it is painted

A nation only of the “strong”

We know well how it is tainted

 

Berlin will remain on guard

For acts of terror from the right

They have seen the racial card

In a most horrific light

 

It’s a reminder to us all

That the darkness lies in wait

Sometimes it is a wall

Sometimes we see it too late

 

For hate will find a home

Where it is allowed to grow

In Jerusalem or Rome

East Berlin and Chicago know

 

Andy Burnham on Downing Street

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GREAT BRITAIN

 

Andy Burnham on Downing Street

 

Keir Starmer has gone away

You might say we hardly knew him

He was anointed only yesterday

But the stiff demands outgrew him

 

Now Andy Burnham takes his place

At Number 10 Downing Street

Yet his manner has no grace

He will soon face his defeat

 

Great Britain has its homelessness

Its immigration and inflation

Its waning leadership in the west

A lost and wandering nation

 

It left the continent behind

Brexit fairly spelled its doom

One wonders what they had in mind

A future dimmed with gloom?

 

But the people wanted change

And change is what they got

The island nation is estranged

What you get is what you wrought

 

 

The Cockroach Uprising (India)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIA

 

The Cockroach Uprising

 

Narendra Modi is in panic

The young are on the rise

The waves becoming manic

That once were buried in his lies

 

The cockroach is omnipresent

Its trail leads everywhere

Its survival is magnificent

Its control extremely rare

 

The strongman is in decline

The young people do not care

The voting public is blind

And the elections are not fair

 

The game is tilted to the strong

The rich have failed the test

All their strategies are wrong

Some are more and some are less

 

There’s a change of generations

The old are coming to an end

The young are building a new nation

The old must find a way to bend

 

There’s a new world on the rise

The ways of old are in decline

Let the old world shuffle by

Let the new world open wide

 

 

The Red Scare

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Red Scare

 

A socialist is a communist

The analogy is not fair

You don’t need to be a psychologist

To recognize the red scare

 

They tried it back in the fifties

At that time it worked real well

They tried it again in the sixties

Once again it rang a bell

 

That’s how we got the McCarthy scourge

That’s how we got Tricky Dick

At worst it is a patriot’s dirge

At best it’s a dirty trick

 

If you want to be afraid

Be afraid of the fear mongers

Until your debt is paid

The opposition will grow stronger

 

They’re swimming against the tide

They are summoning the past

Let’s take it all in stride

Their decline is steep and fast

 

Hey buddy have you heard?

We are not afraid of words

Take your tricks and go away

Find another part to play

 

 

Reviled (Blind Revenge)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

Reviled

 

The war in Iran is reviled

By all sides left and right

A war of spite and guile

A fight not worth the fight

 

We have aided the oppressors

And rallied the world against

We’ve grown weaker in every sector

We are weaker in our defense

 

Now we’re paying more for oil

And we’re paying more for food

We’re engaged on foreign soil

And our strategy seems crude

 

It’s a war that can’t be won

It’s a war for Netanyahu

It’s a war of shock and stun

Where we’re wrong in all we do

 

We are partners in a war crime

Against all of Palestine

It is so far beyond the time

To let this criminal war unwind

 

We remember October 7

It’s enough to make us cringe

But just like September 11

There is a limit to blind revenge