Danger Zone

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Danger Zone

 

Hundreds gathered onto the South Lawn

Of the peoples house

For the president’s big night

Hundreds flaunted their recklessness

Daring the virus to strike them down

Talking in close quarters

Cheering embracing shaking hands

Like madmen at the devil’s ball

Like lambs for the slaughter

What folly is this?

The sheer brazenness of their defiance

Is this the face of courage?

Is it brave to walk the ledge

Of a nine story building?

Shall we cry for those who fall?

Shall we mourn their loss?

Shall we salute them

And give testament

That they died for their beliefs?

That they died for their beloved leader?

Or shall we shake our heads in shame?

 

Saint Donald

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  TRUMP

Saint Donald

 

The great Saint Donald

Beloved of the Navaho

(except in their hour of need

when the virus ravaged the reservation

while the president claimed it was a hoax)

Liberator of the blacks

(and fervent advocate of Blue Lives Matter)

Champion of Latin Americans

(unless you don’t have your papers

then you’re killers rapists and thugs)

Reformer of the prison system

(as the private prison industry thrives)

Destroyer of regulations

(like clean air water and worker safety)

Bringer of prosperity

(for stock holders and CEO’s)

Builder of a sound economy

(except for the last eight months)

Guarantor of thriving times

(working people’s wages in decline)

Appointer of rightwing corporate judges

(who pander to religious zealots)

Champion of industry

(denier of climate change)

Propagator of the truth

(if truth is propaganda)

Defender of American heroes

(Jefferson Davis and Jim Crowe)

 

Behold Saint Donald!

Savior of the nation!

(destroyer of the world!)

 

(Day 2 of the GOP convention)

Vigilante Justice

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

 

Have you seen that vigilante man?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

Have you seen that vigilante man?

I been hearin’ his name all over the land.

 

W. Guthrie

 

Vigilante Justice

 

Another black man shot

By the men in blue

Another city on fire

Before it’s through

 

Some came to seek justice

Some came for the sun

When you come to a protest

Do not bring a gun

 

The vigilantes are here

And they’re looking for trouble

They’re looking for blood

And they’ll find it before it’s done

When you come to a protest

Don’t carry a gun

 

They don’t care who they hurt

They don’t care who they kill

It’s a war on the streets

They’ve come for the thrill

If you tell them they’re losers

They’ll tell you they’ve won

When you come to a protest

Bring your own gun

 

(Two dead in Kenosha 8/26/20)

 

End of Days

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

End of Days

 

First came the leader

With his army of the enslaved

Then came the virus

That he claimed was fake

Then came the fire smoke and haze

And we worry it’s the end of days

 

Our cities went on lockdown

Our people fell sick and died

Police abuse rose to the public light

Millions answered the call to rise

To march for justice and equality

To get beyond this desperate phase

And we worry it’s the end of days

 

Each day grows a little darker

Every night brings new fears

We hold on for dear life

And hold our loved ones near

We want to overcome

We want to persevere

We try to find our separate ways

While we fear inside the end of days

 

The Elder

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Elder

 

(for Noam Chomsky)

 

His long white beard is full and untamed

(like his spirit and his voice)

As if he hasn’t been out of the house

Since the pandemic set in

 

He lives a life of solitude now

Alone with his intellect

Alone with his books

Alone with his writing

Alone with his thoughts

 

He is an observer of real politics

He has an ear for the truth

He has an eye for propaganda

He has a nose for bullshit

 

He tells you how it is

Without concern for how you take it

He’s heard it all seen it twice

And taken it in stride

He wrote the book on modern politics

And principled dissent

 

When the old man talks people listen

So listen to him now

 

Listen when he tells you

The man in the Oval Office

Is the greatest threat to civilization

And survival in the history of the species

 

Listen when he says without hesitation

Worse than Hitler

Worse than Mussolini

Worse than Stalin

Worse than Genghis Khan

Worse than Mao Tse-Tung

 

Look at the sincerity in his eyes

And in the lines of his face

A man without reason to lie

He has no horse in the race

 

Listen and believe

Dual Hurricanes

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Dual Hurricanes

 

As dual hurricanes slide toward the gulf

We remember Katrina

We remember Andrew and Camille

We remember the fear

The failures in response

The botched evacuations

Devastation and heartbreak

 

We remember and pray

The past is not prelude

 

Fire and smoke encapsulate the west

Hurricanes advance like enemy fronts on the gulf

Tornadoes and dust storms strike at the heartland

Floods await the eastern seaboard

 

What unknown horrors will unfold

Before we’re allowed to sleep

What natural disasters line up

To wreak havoc on the innocent

What manmade catastrophes still await us

While we wait

For someone

Who cares

 

(Hurricanes Marco and Laura

Enter the Gulf of Mexico 8/24/20)

 

Navalny

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

Navalny

 

The long thin fingers

Of the Russian dictator

Reached out at last for the throat

Of his leading opponent

 

From an induced coma

In a hospital bed in Berlin

Navalny takes his place

In a long line of political victims

Journalists and dissidents

Imprisoned poisoned or gunned down

On the barren streets of Moscow

 

Will he live to speak again?

Will he live to be silenced?

Or will he simply pass to the hall

Of martyrdom to be remembered

For his undying courage?

 

Why now? 

 

After years of vocal opposition

Mass gatherings on the streets of protest

 

Why now? 

 

Could it be the silence of the White House?

 

A world in crisis is fertile ground

For a dictator’s brutality

 

(Alexei Navalny is in critical

condition in Berlin 8/23/20)