In Good Faith

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

In Good Faith

 

When we bargain with Ukraine

We serve as Putin’s protégé

When we talk with Tehran

We’re like a puppet on a stage

 

Trump has lost his dirty war

Vladimir is off his game

Netanyahu keeps the score

Every party shares the blame

 

We do not bargain in good faith

We make demands and threats

You can’t negotiate with hate

The wars are piling up the debts

 

In the end we’ll have won nothing

But a damaged reputation

To give it credence is insulting

Time to face the implications

 

That our leader is a child

Bomb the world to have his way

The laws of reason he’s defiled

For these acts we’ll have to pay

 

 

Advice to Young Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CONSCRIPTION

 

Advice to Young Men *

 

It may be hard to believe

They used to send us to war

They lied and deceived

They never said what for

 

They gave us a number

They took away our names

Then we went into slumber

It all felt like a game

 

They wanted us to fight

Without question or doubt

It would all turn out right

When we figured it out

 

So they sent us off to war

To kill and sometimes die

On a far, faraway shore

And still we never asked why

 

Now here’s my sage advice

Do not answer that call

Let them ask you more than twice

Do not answer them at all

 

It goes against humanity

To send our young to die

It smells of rank insanity

When they cannot tell you why

 

* and women

 

 

America Stands Alone

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

America Stands Alone

 

The Middle East is on fire

The Strait of Hormuz is closed

We are balancing on a wire

Our president is loathed

 

Betrayed at every turn

Europe goes its own way

When will we ever learn?

This is the price we pay

 

Netanyahu is our only friend

The Israelis tire of his act

We all demand that this war end

Before the next attack

 

Another hundred billion dollars

To be thrown into the flames

The debt keeps growing taller

Just to glorify his name

 

The world has lost its breath

Seems his heart is made of stone

Mass destruction, pointless death

And America stands alone

 

Netanyahu's War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR IN IRAN

 

Netanyahu’s War

 

A billion dollars a day in Netanyahu’s war

The man has gone insane

As he asks for billions more

It’s the Middle East refrain

You can hear the lions roar

You can feel the grief and pain

And we know what lies in store

 

You have sacrificed your cause

The way the Dubya did before you

You have trashed international laws

The economy must have bored you

Now all you had is lost

Nothing will restore you

And we will pay the cost

 

Now boots are on the ground

In a war that never ends

Until a bitter truce is found

Though the wounds will never mend

The whole world hears the sound

On oil we all depend

And the markets will go down

And down and down again

 

Nightmare in Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR IN IRAN

 

Nightmare Scenario

 

We answered the killing of civilians

By killing hundreds more

In a contest of crude reptilians

How should we keep the score?

 

They’ve closed the Strait of Hormuz

To us and all our friends

When you “win” this war you lose

It has no foreseeable end

 

So the price of gas will rise

And economies will fall

As toxins fill the skies

So Netanyahu can stand tall

 

Our alliances are on the block

Our people feel the pain

Our enemies will not talk

Our relationships are strained

 

All because we chose a war

Without a solid plan

We still don’t know what for

We may never understand

 

 

Contempt

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Contempt

 

The president has contempt for democracy

The president has contempt

The president has contempt for

Freedom of speech

Freedom of the press

Freedom of thought

Freedom of expression

 

The president has contempt

For the right to vote

For the right to dissent

The right to gather in protest

The right to write and publish

The president has contempt

 

The president loves autocracies

Where no one asks questions

Where the leader’s word is gold

Where the opposition is oppressed

Where activists are jailed

Where protestors are shot

Where the people bow before him

Where judges are compliant

Where the people have no voice

 

The president has contempt

For all that we hold dear

Freedom, independence, individuality

The right to be ourselves

 

 

LA Heat Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

LA Heat Wave

 

With so much trouble in the world

We forget about the warming

With all these missiles being hurled

We didn’t hear the warning

 

Oh we recall when it was the rage

The sky is falling, falling

We’ve entered the disaster age

We can hear the siren calling

 

Now the heat is coming back again

There is nothing we can do

Hide away and count to ten

Please tell me when it’s through

 

But there’s no brushing this aside

The warming takes its toll

It’s going to be a bumpy ride

For the planet as a whole

 

Forget about these brutal wars

We’re all in this together

This is a glimpse of what’s in store

This ain’t no change in weather