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

 

Myanmar Junta

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Myanmar Junta

 

Sham elections in Myanmar

Seal its status as a rogue state

The oppression has gone too far

Their civil war is in stalemate

 

With Chinese and Russian aid

The junta has barely survived

The resistance will not fade

As long as free will is alive

 

One hundred thousand dead

Five million are displaced

The streets have turned red

This junta is disgraced

 

The free world must take sides

Though America is absent

This killing we can’t abide

Too many lives are spent

 

Crimes against the human race

Are a challenge to us all

This suffering has no place

The state oppressors must fall

 

I do not argue for war

It is balanced trade I advocate

The despotic must pay more

Than the democratic states

 

Israeli Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

  

Israeli Democracy

 

When the Prime Minister rails

Against twenty percent of the population

Israeli democracy fails

So goes the Israeli nation

 

If working with the Arab minority

Is a cause for calling treason

It’s the tyranny of the majority

In defiance of all reason

 

The Israeli people have spoken

In a clear decisive voice

The parliamentary system is broken

If it denies the people’s choice

 

It is time for Netanyahu

To ride off into the sunset

What more damage can he do?

What greater moral debt?

 

He has led the cause of vengeance

In the name of law and order

All good will has been spent

He did not secure the border

 

If there is any chance for peace

There must be a place for all

If the people’s will governs least

Then the government must fall

Viva Lula! Viva Brazil!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Viva Lula! Viva Brazil!

 

In a comeback for the ages

Lula da Silva regains Brazil

He won it progressive stages

Of Bolsonaro they had their fill

 

Flavio could not handle the loss

His protests smell of sour grapes

Brazilians would not pay the cost

Of handing him the ship of state

 

The people rose to Lula’s cause

They know his heart is true

He’s not to blame for global loss

There was little he could do

 

Except to stand his ground

For the workers and the poor

His policies were always sound

He is centered to the core

 

Brazil will find her feet again

With Lula at the helm

Greater than it’s ever been

The leader of his realm

 

We wish we could have been there

When Lula claimed his prize

An election free and fair

The look in Bolsonaro’s eyes

 

Viva Lula! Viva Brazil!

 

Paris in Defeat

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FRANCE

 

Paris in Defeat

 

Sitting calmly at an outdoor café

Watch fire on the streets

It’s just another lawless day

Paris in defeat

 

One wonders how it came to this

Marseille to Paris up in flames

They answered with a brutal fist

It can never be the same

 

A sense of safety compromised

The sense of order gone

The promises now seem like lies

And everything seems wrong

 

The world is turning upside down

The rage is ever stronger

To days of chaos we are bound

It can’t go on much longer

 

Without the world imploding

Like a pressure-filled balloon

The anger is exploding

With a feeling of high noon

 

Maybe we can walk it back

We all face a common enemy

The earth is under grave attack

We should answer to its needs

 

 

Dirty Politics

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Dirty Politics

 

Can we outlaw political lies?

Can we banish frivolous lawsuits?

Can we uncover phony alibis?

Can we recover pilfered loot?

If we don’t do something soon

We’ll lose hold of our reality

AI will conjure up a tune

Exploiting human fallacies

 

Our politics are out of hand

We don’t know what to believe

We could use a better plan

To deliver the facts we need

 

The truth is but a footnote

The facts are lost in the maze

Lies inform us how to vote

Their algorithms daze

 

It’s a race to the deepest pit

Honest politics be damned

The politics of dirt and grit

Slinging mud across the land

 

If you don’t like what you see

Use your ballot to fight back

Vote against the dirty deeds

Put our democracy on track

 

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 

It begins with a member of congress

Representative Ilhan Omar

As the ACLU will surely attest

The gestapo has gone too far

 

If they can target her then no one is safe

Their poison goes to the heart

It proceeds directly from the head of state

Vengeance as a work of art

 

It’s clear these people have no shame

Common decency escapes them

They want and need someone to blame

We hope the people forsake them

 

It’s true they came for the Muslims first

Who else is on their enemies list?

The immigrants have felt their curse

And they’ve taken aim at journalists

 

If you dare oppose their insolence

They will haul you into court

They’ll harass you til your money’s spent

They’ll push you to your last resort

 

What they have done is a disgrace

To the office and the nation

There is no chance of saving face

There can be no salvation