The Russian Resistance (Free Navalny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL DEMOCRACY

The Russian Resistance

 

Now more than ever we know

We are all in this together

Now more than ever we see

How small this world can be

Endless waves of oppression

Can sweep across the sea

Infecting freedom everywhere

Poisoning the air we breathe

Stifling free expression

Distorting what we hear and read

Twisting fundamental truth

Attacking democracy

 

Now more than ever we know

What happens in Moscow

Does not stay in Moscow

When the people of Russia

Stand up in defiant resistance

Free people everywhere

Must stand with them

 

People of Moscow and Vladivostok

Saint Petersburg and Kiev

We join our voices to yours

We hear you and applaud

We stand with you

We suffer with your suffering

We admire your courage

And demand with you

Change

 

Free Alexei Navalny!

Free Russia!

Liberate the world!

 

Science (Survival of the Species)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Science

 

Science is not a conspiracy

Science is a methodology

Responsible for the advancement

And survival of the species

 

Without science we would be

Stuck in the stone ages

Struggling for existence

Reading signs and omens

In the mystic stars

And the dancing moon

Where to hunt and where to plant

When to move or make camp

 

Without science we would rely

On grandma’s recipes

And ancient cures

Releasing evil vapors

Through open wounds

To treat disorders and disease

 

There is a place for signs and omens

There is a place for natural remedies

But the survival of the species

Depends on scientific methods

Not superstition and mythology

 

Let the arts lean on magic

It is food that feeds the soul

It enables our spirits to fly

Our sweet imaginations to flow

But when a deadly virus takes hold

Allow science to lead the way

In a struggle for survival

Let science have its day

 

Vaccination Day

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Vaccination Day

 

Standing in line

Late in the day

Sun in decline

Patience

 

Most are old like me

Some are young

(health workers I’m told)

Young attending old

It’s all a mystery

 

We are ordered

Organized

The line moves

At a steady pace

Then stops

As if a cog is stuck

In the wheels

Then resumes

 

Cemetery across the street

Oldest in town

Someone yells don’t do it!

From a moving vehicle

A few abandon the wait

 

It occurs to me

We are the brave ones

We want to survive

We believe in science

We believe in civilization

We’re willing to pay the price

 

The wait ends

A series of questions

Shot delivered

Twenty one days before

A second shot

Ninety five percent protection

From the plague

 

Bravo!

Well done!

Science triumphs

The species survives

 

Stasis (Hard Times)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Stasis

 

The ability to sleep a hundred years

And awake with all intact

 

When hard and tragic times

Sweep over us like an ancient curse

Leaving mother and child in despair

Spreading gloom like an endless night

Turning brother against brother

Sister against mother

Father against son

Friend against friend

In relentless waves of woe

 

When the well runs dry

And all the money is spent

When there’s nothing but the blues

And you can’t pay the rent

When you go to sleep hungry

And there is no better news

How much longer must we endure

Before entropy ensues

 

We need to take a break

An extended pause in time

Freeze everything in place

No more hunger

No more debt

No more evictions

No more clouds of sorrow

A declaration of stasis

Like a reprieve from fate

Put all our problems on hold

Everything can wait

 

Like Rip Van Winkle

In that old fairy tale

Sleep for a hundred years and

Wake when all is well

 

The Cleansing

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Cleansing

 

The reactionaries won’t like it

They’ll scream like banshees on the run

(let them scream)

But it is time for the cleansing

The great and awful cleansing

 

Cleansing the army the navy

And the national guard

Cleansing the police and the sheriff

Cleansing the secret service

And the FBI

 

There is no place in law enforcement

The military or public service

For racists and white supremacists

For insurrectionists or bigots

 

Let the hate group militias stand alone

Never again should they be allowed

To mount an armed insurgency

Against an elected government

With assistance from the inside

 

Those who serve the nation

Must serve all the nation’s people

In all the nation’s diversity

 

Those who carry arms

In service to the nation

Must live and breathe

The nation’s creed: 

 

That all are created equal

That all are entitled to equal

Protection under the law

 

Those who wear the banner of order

Must honor the principles of democracy

And fundamental human rights

 

Those who wear the badge

Must be sworn to protect and serve

All the people and their elected leaders

 

Let the cleansing begin

 

New Day

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

New Day

 

More than a nation

America is an idea

More than a government

Democracy is the embodiment

Of principles and ideals

 

A raging mob representing all

That is antithesis to America

Broke down the barriers

Pushed through the doors

And came within a whisper

Of capturing or killing

Our elected leaders in congress

But they did not touch America

They did not wound democracy

They did not strike down

The American ideal

 

These indelible truths

Were beyond their reach

Beyond their grasp

Beyond their comprehension

 

They showed their colors

But America was not at risk

For it exists deep within

The heart and soul of Americans

In a place they cannot touch