Twisted History: A Legacy of Shame

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Twisted History

400 years since slaves arrived on the American shore

220 years since the birth of the Underground Railroad

200 years since the Missouri Compromise

163 years since Dred Scott

159 years since the inception of the Civil War

157 years since the Emancipation Proclamation

156 years since the burning of Atlanta

155 years since the 13^th Amendment

154 years since Lincoln’s assassination

154 years since the birth of the KKK

153 years since reconstruction

150 years since the dawn of Jim Crow

124 years since Plessy V. Ferguson

99 years since the Tulsa Massacre

83 years since the death of Bessie Smith

81 years since Billie Holiday’s Strange Fruit

75 years since the Civil Rights Act

65 years since the lynching of Emmett Till

56 years since Nina Simone’s Mississippi Goddamn

55 years since the killing of Malcolm X

55 years since the summer of Watts

52 years since the assassination of the King

51 years since the Hampton and Clark

29 years since Rodney King

7 years since the nullification of Voting Rights

7 years since Black Lives Matter

6 years since the murder of Michael Brown

6 years since Tamar Rice and Eric Garner

5 years since Jamar Clark

4 years since Philando Castile

3 years since Charlottesville

2 years since Botham Jean

1 year since Danquirs Franklin

4 months since Ahmaud Arberi

3 months since Breonna Taylor

2 months since Sean Reed

1 month since George Floyd

1 day since Rayshard Brooks

After 400 years of twisted history

False promises exploitation

And brutality

Atlanta burns

America wonders why

The Band Plays On

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Band Plays On

The death toll rises

As the band plays on

Fire fills the western sky

And the band plays on

Old folks keep on dying

While the band plays on

Loved ones are crying

As the band plays on

Our hospitals are overrun

Our cities smell of rot

A shadow lurks o’er the sun

Our happiness is not

We live in sorrow day and night

The horror has no end

We hide our eyes from dreadful sights

As death becomes our friend

Blindness is appalling

When it is willful ignorance

When it harms the ones we love

And offends intelligence

The death toll keeps rising

Our faith is almost gone

Our sympathy is fading

While the band plays on

Acceleration

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Acceleration

The virus finds its mark

Zeroes in

Attacks like a pack of wolves

Spreads like a murder of crows

In flight

Accelerates like a diving bird

Of prey

We thought it would go away

Returned to our ordinary lives

Locked our old folks in their place

Stopped tracking the daily toll

Placed our fate in the hands of god

Rolled the dice and played the game

We are where we are because

We wanted to be free

We are where we are because

We refused to be controlled

By some incomprehensible enemy

Because our leader went to sleep

Dismissed all the guards and

Told us not to worry

Because we are Americans

Always in a hurry

The virus doesn’t care

What we say or what we think

The acceleration is happening

As we stand on the brink

Return of COVID-19

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Return of COVID-19

Like a grade B movie from the fifties

A horror flick no one wanted

And no one flocked to see

Back by unpopular demand

And stubborn insistence

It’s COVID-19

Killer of the elderly

The frail and the infirm

With a penchant for darker skin

It strikes by day strikes by night

Travels by air and evades sight

It claimed 100 thousand lives

And still got no respect

So it returns in form

To claim 100 thousand more

No one can say

We did not have fair warning

It comes like a whisper

To lead us in mourning

We know what to do

But we’ve lost our patience

We’ve lost our will and common sense

So let the old folks go

Let the weak fall down

Let the young and strong

Seek solid ground

Contrary to wishful opinion

It did not disappear in warmer weather

It did not thrive on media attention

It survived without intention

Like a shadow in the dark

It worked its deadly spell

On frail and unsuspecting prey

One by one the weak ones fell

Gone from view it now returns

To ravage us in light of day

And we are left with little to do

But bow our heads and pray

Random Facts (A Roll of the Dice)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Random Facts

If you live in Taiwan or Sweden

South Korea or New Zealand

If you’re Asian or Caucasian

If you’re healthy and strong

If you live in a house

If you work at home

If your income is secure

If you have little stress

If you’re under fifty-five

Without conditions underlying

Then you’re the lucky one

The odds are with you

Throw the dice

If you live in Italy or Brazil

New York or Great Britain

If you’re black or brown

If you live in the barrio or favela

If you reside in the projects

If you lack fresh vegetables and fruit

If you’re over sixty-five

If you take medications

For conditions underlying

Then your luck is running thin

Let the prayers begin

If you’re feeling a little sick

You’ve drawn the short end of the stick

Are you lucky my friend?

Depends

On who what and where you are

One roll you survive

Another

You don’t get out alive

Random chance random facts

First second or final act

Roll the dice and let us see

What alas your fate will be

Confluence of Catastrophe

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Confluence of Catastrophe

Wildfires in the west

Hurricanes in the east

In the midst of a great pandemic

The reaper is preparing a feast

We are walking in our sleep

Too dazed to think ahead

We know we should get ready

But we’d rather play games instead

Is there anybody out there

Who knows what we should do?

Is there anybody out there

Who can help us see it through?

We are a ship without a captain

Like a rig without a wheel

We are adrift in open waters

And we don’t know what to feel

We are waiting for a hero

To shake us from our gloom

If we do not soon awaken

We are sure to meet our doom

Back to School

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Back to School

Can I go back to school today

Me and Johnny want to play

I promise to do my homework

And the president says it’s okay

You cannot go back to school today

You cannot go back tomorrow

There are just too many questions

Better safe than sorrow

But I have to go back to school today

I have to see my friends

Johnny’s mom is letting him go

Cause the world is on the mend

You cannot go back to school today

But you must go back soon I know

We can’t keep you home forever

But at least we can take it slow

We’ll pray for little Johnny

As we pray for all the kids

I fear you are paying the price

For the terrible things we did