RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Mutation
Just when we thought
It would come to an end
Here comes a mutation
And the message it sends
Lock down your business
Get back in you homes
Two Horsemen are riding
Begin a new tome
Will there come three?
Will there come four?
The people are frightened
Scared to the core
Is there no mercy?
No help from above?
Have we run out of chances?
Is there no love?
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR
Song of Solstice (Winter is Here)
The days become short and the nights so long
Our hearts are ringing with the sound of song
A northern chill has invaded the air
A winter darkness sweeps us in its lair
We have no true longing to venture out
Deep winter shadows fill our minds with doubt
Frost covers the ground and the air grows still
The marrow of bones senses winter’s chill
The season of death descends upon all
The heavens in mourning after the fall
We burrow ourselves inside our warm homes
And give thanks to all we are not alone
We endure this winter of discontent
And contemplate where our adventures went
MERRY CHRISTMAS TO ALL!
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Joy
Let all hardship and worry go
Today is a day of joy
It is a time of winter wonder
For children and their toys
Let go the lingering discontent
Let go the tears of rage
Forgive betrayal and transgression
On vengeance turn the page
Tonight there is no sorrow
There is no fear or dread
There is only cheer and happiness
As we lay our heads to rest
Tomorrow we awaken
To a world of many wonders
A world where joy and faith
Cast misery asunder
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Hunger in America
Hunger in America has always been
Denial is the American way
Food insecurity is a euphemism
Like eccentricity for madness
It does not describe the truth
The way a stomach tightens
In the throes of hunger
It does not describe
How the mind fogs over
And all thought centers on food
It does not describe
The shame of mothers and fathers
When a child goes hungry at night
Hunger is like a drug addiction
It gnaws at your humanity
It drags you to the gutter
It makes you plead
Like a common beggar
It transforms you into someone
You no longer know
So don’t belittle it with euphemism
Its name is hunger
It is one step short of starvation
It is a time of desperate yearning
(an estimated 35 to 50 million Americans
will experience hunger during the pandemic)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: NATIVE JUSTICE
Free Peltier
Now that you’ve broken new ground
Appointing a native American
To the council of the Great White Fathers *
An injustice remains to be righted
The last prisoner of the Indian wars
The last heart buried at Wounded Knee **
A man of Lakota blood and pride
Remains in a white man’s cage
Suffering the ravages of disease
Humbled by the indignities of age
Leonard Peltier cries out once again ***
With what was a young man’s rage:
Let me walk once more on native soil
Let me stand once more free and brave
Admit no wrong if it pleases you
Show compassion if you will
But let me not spend another minute
For the men I did not kill
(* Deb Haaland was nominated to serve
in the Biden cabinet. ** The Siege of
Wounded Knee 1973. *** Imprisoned
in 1977, he is 76 today.)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Christmas is Canceled
All the children are bundled
In their bright Christmas best
From the wise in the east
To the jolly Midwest
From the churches down south
To the folks in their vests
We’re all ready to celebrate
A holiday fest
But the man in the kingdom
Whom they call the premier
Interrupts the good tidings
And all the great cheer
He looks straight in the camera
And says with a tear
Haven’t you heard?
Christmas is canceled this year
My oh my what a fright
What a terrible thing
The children can’t play
And the angels can’t sing
Our Santa’s can’t jolly
And the bells dare not ring
There are no more elves
No flying reindeer
Christmas is canceled this year
But out of the darkness
And into the light
The spirit of Christmas
Comes into sight
It soothes all the children
And says do not fear
Christmas is in the heart this year
