Poverty in a Time of Pandemic

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Poverty in a Time of Pandemic

 

The Standing Rock Sioux

Stood up to the oil industry

They fought long and tough and hard

To defend the earth from harm

The people of Standing Rock are poor

Where others offer money and time

The tribe put it all on the line

 

Poor people do not vote

So it is said and too often it’s true

But the time has come to break old habits

Strike out at something new

 

Poor people are sick and dying

Poor people are denied healthcare

Poor people suffer heart disorders

Tuberculosis cancer lung disease

Poor people have drinking problems

Hard drugs and addiction

Because they want to escape

Because they’ve lost hope

Because no one cares

 

When times get hard for all

Some people cut expenses

Some people tap their savings

Some people do without

Poor people become homeless

Jobless hungry desperate

 

When all is said and done

Poverty kills

Poverty in a time of pandemic

Kills ten times quicker

And more often

 

(The poverty rate at the Standing Rock

Reservation is 43.2%.)

 

Let it End

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Let it End

 

I have never been a man of religious faith

Yet I often pray

If it would be of any useful purpose

(and I believe it would)

I’ll bow my head today

 

For I have seen too many suffer

And I have lost too many friends

O lord if you’re listening

Let there be an end

 

We all know it is not over

Sometimes it seems it’s just begun

If the virus was an enemy

Then the enemy has won

 

But this is not a war

There is no ground to defend

O lord if you care

Let there be an end

 

We are filing wills and testaments

We are throwing in our cards

It is testing all our limits

Lord knows it’s getting hard

 

There are no heroes in the mirror

Upon whom we can depend

So lord if you’re willing

Let there be an end 

Space X

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Space X

 

The great mystery remains

The exploration of space

No greater mission of discovery is

Destined for the human race

 

We have tapped beyond the sun’s reach

We have grasped the surface of Mars

We have bent the force of gravity

We have peeked beyond the stars

 

What greater purpose can there be

Than to explore the mysteries of space

To test the depths of understanding

To recognize our place

 

We must always expand our thinking

Set aside our little lives

There is so much to see and know

The goals for which we strive

 

We are better than we have been

We must see beyond our worth

We will see it all with new eyes

No longer tethered to the earth

 

Washita River Massacre

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  INDIAN HISTORY

Washita River

 

Black Kettle remembers the day

The blue coats came to Sand Creek

He remembers holding the white flag

Of peace that the government said

Would protect his tribe

He remembers the thunder of hooves

The onslaught of gunfire

The plunging of bayonets and knives

He remembers trails of blood that ran

From the camp to the creek

He remembers the cry of women and children

He remembers Medicine Woman Later

By his side as they rushed to cover

He remembers surviving to witness

The scene of bloody carnage

Through the reeds by the creek

He remembers the soldiers

Cutting body parts from his people

To become trophies and curiosities

He survives to tell the story

 

The blue coats said it was a mistake

It could not happen again

The survivors moved to Indian Territory

And settled by the Washita River

The blue coats gave him a white flag

That he buried in remembrance

Of those he buried as Sand Creek

They swore it would not happen again

 

It is daybreak under clear skies

When he hears the thunder of horses

With their pounding iron hooves

A sound he has heard before

He looks to Medicine Woman Later

And knows that she knows

Together they sing their death songs

And take comfort in knowing

They will not witness the scene again

Their blood marks a trail to Washita River

Where they leave behind a curse

The white eyes will never forget

What their blue coats did this day

 

(The Washita River Massacre:

November 27, 1868)

Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

Hong Kong

 

The people gathered in city squares

To hold their leaders to their word

A government of and by the people

If not a democracy then something like

A movement toward democracy

Acknowledgement of basic rights

They took away the right to gather

Took away the right to speak

Took away the right to protest

Stripped down the right to privacy

Broke down a free media

Rendered the vote all but meaningless

And America stood silent

The leader of the free world

Is absent without leave

 

Peru

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  DEMOCRACY BETRAYED

Peru

 

Emboldened

The fascists take aim and strike

They are the moneyed class

Who can stop them?

Who can tell them what to do?

They own the police

They own the courts

They control the banks

They own the media

The people have nothing

But the streets

 

Up north they have their fascists too

Their leaders refuse to leave office

Their elections have no meaning

They cheat and pack the courts

They lie and scheme

They make up the rules

They take want they want

They have no laws

They have no justice

They have no balance of power

They mock their own principles

 

Why should Peru honor the system?

Why should Bolivia?

Why should anyone?

 

The people have nothing

But the streets