Nazi's in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Nazi’s in Ukraine

 

There are rumors of Nazi sympathy

Rumors of fascist leanings

Be warned this cause will not go far

If that is where all this is leading

 

Let it be known throughout Ukraine

Let it be known in Independence Square

We will never work with Nazi’s

Neither here nor over there

 

We’ve heard it was a necessary evil

When Putin launched his invasion

It may have been expedient then

It will not do on this occasion

 

We will offer aid to serve your cause

If your cause is democracy

But all we give will soon be lost

If you veer toward autocracy

 

The world of freedom is united

In lending you a hand

But the white supremacists must go

If here we make a stand

 

John R. Lewis Bridge

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD/CIVIL RIGHTS SERIES

 

John R. Lewis Bridge

 

MLK marched on Washington

To assert the rights of all human beings

To live in relative peace and freedom

To buy homes in decent neighborhoods

To receive a quality education

To seek justice in a court of law

To expect decency from law enforcement

To vote in fair elections

 

John R. Lewis marched alongside MLK

Across the Edmund Pettis Bridge

To demonstrate his courage and resolve

They marched on in silence

As dozens of cops with clubs drawn

Stormed the marchers

Beating them down like animals

Trying to end the civil rights movement

Once and for always

 

Until the Edmund Pettis Bridge

Is dismantled piece by piece

Replaced with the John R. Lewis Bridge

We will not be home

We will not be free

Until every last vestige of white supremacy

Is uprooted from blood-stained soil

The cause will not be done

Indeed we will only have begun

 

No Time for War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

No Time for War

 

We’ve seen the war on terror

Another war without an end

We’ve seen the war on poverty

It paid no dividends

We declared a war on Covid 19

And went merrily on our way

We’re accustomed to the metaphor

But it is not a time for war

 

We fought a war in Vietnam

To our eternal shame

A generation rose up to say

Don’t fight it in our name!

 

Of the long war in Afghanistan

We finally made an end

It was never about terrorism

On that you can depend

 

Our futile war in Iraq

Led straight to the Islamic State

What enriched our war machine

Made half the world irate

 

Our failed wars should teach us

There must be another way

All nations must come together

To impose a price to pay

 

Our sanctions must be binding

And punish to the core

Let all aggressors be forewarned

It is not a time for war

 

War in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

War in Ukraine

 

Is Ukraine an independent nation?

An escalation in weapons and guns

Breakdown in diplomatic relations

The war in Ukraine has begun

 

Amassed on the Ukrainian border

Soldiers missiles and tanks

Disrupting international order

Tension crawls up the ranks

 

The Russian beast has awakened

In a world beset with pandemic

A cold war no longer forsaken

Our problems become systemic

 

We have no patience for war

Between the world’s greatest powers

For a waste of precious resources

You could not pick a finer hour

 

Let there be no more wars

Not today and not tomorrow

Let us answer a soldier’s prayers

Stop the wars, ease the sorrow

Broken Union

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Broken Union

 

The union is a bond of principle

An agreement beyond politics

An unspoken understanding that

In times of crisis and catastrophe

Natural disasters and wars

We will come together as one people

United in common purpose

It is a promise to defend each other

At all costs against all enemies

Foreign and domestic

 

The union is beyond words

It towers above written laws

It is more than blood relations

It is the circle of family ties

It carries the weight of love

 

Our founders made an agreement

A sacred promise before the eyes of god

Despite all of their differences

Despite envy and jealousies

Cast in iron and stone

That the union of a new nation

Would never have a king

Would never have an emperor

Would never be ruled by the power of one

 

The union was broken once

Over the abomination of slavery

Tens of thousands spilled their blood

On the grounds of civil war

Lincoln died for our sins

And we vowed never more

 

We are at those crossroads again

And the stakes are equally severe

If we break the union now

With democracy in the balance

We may never get it back again

Not in our lifetime

Not in the lifetimes of our children

 

If we break the union now

Our crimes will be remembered

Until the end of time