A New Leader in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

A New Leader in Ukraine

 

Our president wants a new leader

To handle business in Ukraine

The man who’s never been a reader

Should think twice or refrain

 

While Zelensky stands a thousand tests

Of his mettle and endurance

Trump cries foul and beats his chest

As he offers no assurance

 

He wants Ukraine to pay the price

For the foolish war he started

He wants Zelensky to be nice

All prior acts disregarded

 

It is as clear as it has always been

That Trump is on the other side

Vladimir Putin is his friend

Despite all the times he’s lied

 

We’re trying hard not to see

A cold and harsh reality

Putin helped elect this man

That explains his crude demand

 

A new election in Ukraine?

While the bombs and missiles fly?

Even you must feel the strain

Of sustaining all your lies

 

Dengue Fever

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Dengue Fever

 

Like a magic carpet ride

On the waves of global warming

With the rising of the tide

And the deadly insects swarming

 

Here comes the dengue fever

And all those tropical diseases

That make this life much meaner

It grows harder to deceive us

 

We are only now beginning

To understand the grave effects

All this from so much “winning”

In an era of gross neglect

 

Today it is disease

Tomorrow it’s the flood

The reaper will be pleased

With this legacy of blood

 

With the warming comes the spread

Of weather born disasters

We will count the warming dead

And hope it doesn’t come much faster

 

For we are sadly unprepared

For what’s coming down the line

It’s a burden that we all must share

We’re ensnared in the warming bind

 

 

Housing Crisis in Spain

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SPAIN

 

Housing Crisis in Spain

 

Parliament has failed to pass

Legislation to remedy housing

Affordability to the working class

The people find arousing

 

PM Sanchez did what he could do

He’s called a snap election

Without support to see it through

His party faces mass defection

 

The world economy is under strain

Trade wars with the States

All remedies have been in vain

Too little and too late

 

The people march in protest

Some action must be taken

The government must invest

Or the workers are forsaken

 

This is the problem everywhere

The rich want ever more

Until their leaders start to care

The people’s voice will roar

 

The right to decent shelter

Should belong to everyone

Until then it’s helter skelter

The government is done

 

Student Uprising in France

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FRANCE

 

Student Uprising in France

 

The right to decent education

For both the rich and the poor

Fundamental to a civil nation

In France must be assured

 

The privileged have the finest schools

In France and everywhere

But in France they follow equal rules

The government must care

 

France must hold the light

To show the way for all

You must know it isn’t right

To hide behind your walls

 

Do not fight them on the streets

Listen and take heed

In the middle you must meet

You must try to meet their needs

 

We remember nineteen sixty-eight

A clarion call to France

Yet still the students wait

Why not give them a chance?

 

They are the future of the nation

Make them proud to take their place

Release them from this subjugation

They are the nation’s face

 

 

Viva Lula and Brazil!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: BRAZIL

 

Viva Lula and Brazil!

 

Lula da Silva does it again

Brazil is the better for it

Social democracy claims the win

Avoiding the rightwing pit

 

They flirted with autocracy

They were lucky to overcome

They held on to democracy

When Lula da Silva won

 

Now a brighter future calls

And the left must answer square

Tear down the oppressor’s walls

By treating all people fair

 

They wanted exploitation

Of the forests and the land

Now they’re a better nation

Since Lula made his stand

 

Brazil has made her choice

To uphold the people’s rights

To hear each and every voice

For that is worth the fight

 

Viva Lula and Brazil

The revolution has prevailed

This victory is real

Let’s hope they never fail

 

(Sadly, Lula unexpectedly lost the first 

round of elections. The future is in doubt.)

 

On Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

On Democracy

 

Without freedom of speech

You do not have a democracy

You may have an autocracy

Without the sea there is no beach

 

Without freedom of the press

The people are not informed

Your country should be warned

You are democratic less

 

Without the right to protest

You don’t have a republic

Your public forums are sick

It’s a pillar of the west

 

Without protection of due process

Your democracy has failed

Your opponents can be jailed

You do not pass the test

 

Without free and fair elections

You are only a pretender

A civil rights offender

Destined for correction

 

Without independent courts

Your freedom is not real

You are subject to the steal

Your efforts come up short

 

A democracy takes time

It must be zealously protected

Attacks must be rejected

It’s a stubborn state of mind

 

 

Forever War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

Forever War

 

We are thrust into forever war

From east to west, from shore to shore

As warlords try their best to score

We protest: war no more

 

Putin lets his people down

Condemned to live in poverty

He’s planted thousands in the ground

He will leave a deadly legacy

 

Netanyahu never has enough

He wants forever war

He doesn’t care if life is rough

His inner lion roars

 

These wars are like a cancer

They spread like wildfire

They do not want an answer

The warlords never tire

 

It’s time the people intervened

There is no other way

Let protest be forever seen

Every night and every day

 

The ballot box in Tel Aviv

Mass resistance across Moscow

The warlords must be forced to leave

The time to act is now