Military Coup (Myanmar)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Military Coup (Myanmar)

 

Beware military strongmen

Who claim to know what’s right

Nine times out of ten

The people lose this fight

 

The cornerstone of the republic

Is a peaceful transfer of power

When the military takes over

Our prospects become dour

 

There are many would be kings

It seems a basic human flaw

But if we want to maintain freedom

We need the rule of law

 

Do not sacrifice your rights

To any power hungry thieves

For when we make that woeful choice

We will perpetually grieve

 

Vaccination Free

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Vaccination Free

 

Who knows what the future holds

But for now I’m vaccination free

Two weeks for full effect

It is an astonishing thing to see

 

They say some react poorly

I do hope that isn’t me

For it’s a miracle of science

A gift of life to the elderly

 

Now I wait for two more doses

To protect my loving wife

The day cannot come too soon

To resume a normal life

 

So let it be and let us prosper

Get your second shot today

To overcome the deadly virus

There is no other way

Objective Truth (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Objective Truth

 

“Post truth is pre fascism.” – Timothy Snyder *

 

In the absence of objective truth

We reside in a world of fantasy

We imagine what we want to be

And invent our own reality

 

In the absence of objective truth

We are islands in an endless sea

Without connection to our fellow beings

All alone without friends or family

 

If we accept objective truth

We find a basis to communicate

Objective facts and causal reasons

Things we can substantiate

 

If we are free to fantasize

About the present and the past

Then we will talk and never listen

And our connections will not last

 

* From On Tyranny (Tim Duggan Books)

 

Conformity (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Conformity

 

Going with the flow

Bending to the wind

Pleasing the popular crowd

Taking the easy road

 

Evil can only succeed

When good people go along

And people go along because

They’re afraid to stand out

 

Stand out

Stand proud

Embrace diversity

Dance on clouds

 

Stand with the dissidents

Stand with the strange

Stand with the artists

Strand up for the deranged

 

Resist the waves of self-righteousness

Deny them influence with a stare

When they demand your compliance

Throw it back: you will not dare!

 

For you are the hope of this fair land

You who march to a different band

You who will lend a helping hand

And you who take a defiant stand

 

To be accepted by the hating crowd

Is the opposite of virtue

To be embraced by the bullies

Is a great dishonor

 

Reject their mold

Create your own

 

Stand out

Stand proud

Your country needs you

Now

 

Paramilitary Control (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Paramilitary Control

The second amendment is a dangerous right

In the hands of hoodlums and mobs

It heightens tension in any fight

And makes policing a difficult job

 

Gun advocates generally like to ignore

That important note on regulation

They carry guns in church and stores

Making ours a most volatile nation

 

We cannot survive with runaway mobs

Armed with weapons of mass destruction

Ask your local police department

If you need further instruction

 

When the right to bear arms is out of control

We must demand reasonable restraint

For mobs with rage and guns in hand

Cannot be trusted as if they were saints 

(Inspired by Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny)

 

 

Inevitability (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Inevitability

 

We have fallen under

A spell of comfortable passivity

 

The past is forgotten

The future is inevitable

 

The arc of history bends toward justice

 

Why fight for a cause however worthy

When the die is cast (alea iacta est)

And the future is ordained

Why bother with it all

Sit back and witness as our

Heroes on tall white horses

Save the day

 

Ask the victims of Mussolini

About the arc of history

Ask the Spanish about Franco

Ask the Jews about the Reich

The Chinese about the purge

The Russians about Stalin

The Ukrainians about Putin

Ask your elders about McCarthy

And the letters KKK

 

The future is not written

Nothing is inevitable

Nothing belongs to fate

 

Tyranny is enabled by passivity

Passivity is enabled by faith

In the inevitable

 

Obrador (El Presidente)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Obrador

 

He denied the grave danger

Opting not to wear a mask

Declared his right to live free

Corona virus? He only laughed

 

Now he has it and we will see

How fortunate his fate will be

What does the future have in store

For El Presidente Obrador?

 

Will he receive privileged treatment

Like the leader above the border?

Will his people learn a lesson

Or fall prey to the same disorder?

 

What does it profit a nation’s leader

To block science at the door?

Now they sing a song of sorrow

For El Presidente Obrador

 

Bolsonaro, Obrador

And the one we will not name

They failed to serve the people

While they played a political game