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

 

The Sprawling War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

The Sprawling War

 

This is the harm one man can do

Given a position of power

Pushed into war by Netanyahu

We are in the twilight hour

 

Egypt enters the sprawling war

Yemen is the bleeding ground

No one knows what’s next in store

The Israelis are unbound

 

There is no rhyme or reason

To restrain this raging violence

We’ve proclaimed the warring season

Every side must take offense

 

Across the world the madman rages

With America in the fold

It spreads and sprawls in stages

It seems Putin is growing bold

 

And Trump is playing Dangerfield *

He is getting no respect

With all the weapons he could wield

At best he feels neglect

 

It seems the wars will never end

But certainly they must

Peace is coming round the bend

Let’s rebuild a sense of trust

 

* Comedian Rodney Dangerfield  

Equality (France)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FRANCE

 

Equality (France)

 

France is on fire

It fills my heart with pain

France should reach ever higher

Inequality is her stain

 

She leads in foreign matters

On tariffs and Ukraine

But with fat cats getting fatter

All efforts are in vain

 

A government must look within

Before it looks without

With this shock France must begin

To relearn what she’s about

 

Inequality of wealth

Inequality of education

She has sacrificed her health

She has disgraced the nation

 

It is time to tax the billionaires

The unfettered corporations

Let them finally pay their share

As the price of reparations

 

We look to France to lead

In justice and morality

Instead the people bleed

And suffer these fatalities