Confronting China (Confronting Us)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Confronting China (Confronting Us) *

 

No one wants a war with China                           

SO YOU WANT A WAR?

But we must stand for democracy 

YOUR DEMOCRACY IS A JOKE

Your actions in Hong Kong alone 

STAY OUT OF OUR BACK YARD

Are an affront to human dignity   

STAY HIGH AND HAVE A COKE

 

Of course we want to get along

WE HAVE GIVEN YOU OUR FRIENDSHIP

With all nations weak and strong

YET YOU RESENT OUR STRENGTH

But our best allies cannot be                               

WE HAVE GIVEN YOU RESPECT

Authoritarian autocracies 

BUT IT HAS REACHED ITS LENGTH

 

Mass incarceration denial of rights

SUPPRESSION OF MASS PROTEST

We must be adversaries in this fight

YOU DENY YOUR OWN

We must oppose oppressive laws

YOUR FREEDOMS ARE SHRINKING

For we support the people’s cause

OUR FREEDOMS HAVE GROWN

 

Free trade came at too great a cost

OPEN TRADE BENEFITS ALL

Corporations won but workers lost

CORPORATIONS MADE A KILLING

You make your profits on the backs of labor

CONSUMERS GOT CHEAP GOODS

You have not been a good global neighbor

CEO’S FOUND IT THRILLING

 

This crooked game has gone too long

WHY CHANGE WHEN ALL IS WELL?

The time has come to end this wrong

WHY STOP WHEN BEFORE ITS DONE?

For while we have our share of blame

THE PARTY IS GETTING STARTED

Your barbaric crimes put ours to shame

THE GAIN IS ZERO SUM

 

* The multi-voice poem is an innovation by poet Jack Foley

International Connections (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

International Connections

 

We are not alone in the world

What happens in Ukraine

Can foreshadow what happens here

As it did when Putin unleashed

His propaganda machine in Kiev

 

The year was twenty thirteen

Putin ran a puppet regime

Enlisting his team of paid hackers

Like a virulent stream of trackers

To flood Ukraine with misinformation

False and misleading accusations

But the local press responded quickly

And Putin’s lackies shriveled sickly

Shot down at every turn

Had we been listening

We should have learned

What happened to them

Would happen to us

Our democracy tossed

Under the bus

 

In this world we are not alone

We are all in this together

If we form a solid free alliance

There is no storm we cannot weather

 

Common Cause (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Common Cause

 

A difference between democracies

And authoritarian nations

One has only the government

The other has civil organizations

 

We may grow tired of solicitude

We have only so much to give

But organizations that serve the cause

Will enhance the lives we live

 

Find a cause that feeds your soul

Be as generous as you are able

When it all comes to a head

You’ll have a place at the table

 

If you cannot give your money

Perhaps you can give time

We are so much stronger together

Your hands linked to mine

 

The Third Wave (Return of the Zombies)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Third Wave (Return of the Zombies)

 

It is shutting down Italy

As it sweeps from east to west

They opened up too early

Now they face another test

 

And it’s batten down the hatches boys

The storm is on its way

The virus is determined

To find a home and stay

 

The second wave was deadly

The third is deadlier still

Its mutations are evolving

To find new ways to kill

 

So take your cover now

Don’t wait for that fateful day

The more we are prepared

The less we’ll have to pay

 

Turn back from all the naysayers

And look them in the eye

You may say what you will sir

It is not my day to die

 

Remember

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  LIFE SONGS

 

Remember

 

We remember in our hearts

We remember in our bones

We remember in the words we choose

We remember in the choices we make

We remember in each step we take

 

I cannot help but wonder

What others may remember

A hundred years from now

 

Will they remember your smile

Preserved in an ancient image

Reflected in a loved one’s phrase

Captured on a poet’s page

 

Will they remember your love

And how you gave it so freely

Will they remember your generosity

Will they remember your empathy

 

Will your spirit still exist

In the consciousness of others

Will they rise to your memory

And raise a toast to your living soul

 

I believe they will remember

Though they may not have a name

For that strange sense of wonder

That lifts us from our shame

 

For we live forever

Not only in the heart and mind

But in the air the trees the soil

The misty ocean and the tides

 

I will remember you

As I hope you remember me

For time is but an illusion

In a vast and endless sea

 

Yemeni Genocide

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Yemeni Genocide

 

They bomb hospitals don’t they?

Blockade the ports and block the airways

No food no hope no medicine

No basic means to survive the plague

 

Yemen is the latest field of play

For global power games

In terms of moral righteousness

Both sides are just the same

 

It’s the people who suffer in this war

As the people always do

They don’t care which leader rises

They don’t care which god you choose

 

And here we are again

Stuck in a bottomless pit

Taking sides in someone else’s war

A horror we cannot quit

 

It is time to stop the killing

For reasons we dare not say

For every bomb and every bullet

There is a price that must be paid