Triumph and Tragedy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Triumph & Tragedy

 

When one triumphs we all triumph

When one falls we all fall

 

When Jimi Hendrix touched the sky

with his soaring guitar riffs

When Billie Holliday made us cry

as heart and soul ran adrift

When Kerouac channeled On the Road

When Steinbeck gave us old Tom Joad

What Twyla Tharp did for dance

as Pablo Neruda for romance

When a gifted athlete reaches out

and claims a victory over doubt

we feel his awesome pride

we are all on the same side

 

Though they speak for one they gift us all

When they reach the top we stand tall

 

Those who do not understand this truth

will always be alone

In crowds or on their own

Profoundly and perpetually

Alone

 

Killing Journalists (in Mexico)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Killing Journalists

 

They kill journalists in Michoacán

Like they do in Moscow and Hong Kong

Like they do in police states

Like they do in places of corruption

Where criminal gangs and cartels

have more persuasion than government

and more authority than police

They kill journalists where officials

answer to criminals

and sicarios do not fear

 

They kill journalists in war zones

Where human bodies are commodities

Where poverty and drugs cheapen life

Where truth is just an afterthought

Where justice is a nightmare

and only peasants go to jail

 

They kill journalists in towns and cities

Where civilization has declined

And order has been lost

 

Where journalists are insecure

Where they can be killed with impunity

There is little hope for democracy

Little hope for human dignity

Little hope for society

Little hope for law-abiding citizens

Little hope for common folk

like you and me

Stupidity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Stupidity

 

Stupidity is something you’re born with

Like intelligence or ten toes

It just is like a mountain of granite

It doesn’t fade and it doesn’t grow

 

It’s not something to be proud of

Nor should it give you shame

Thing is if you know you’ve got it

You just might want to restrain

 

From voicing your views out loud

On subjects you know nothing about

A little modesty might be in order

Or some modicum of doubt

 

When it comes to election time

You might swallow your stupid pride

Listen to the ones you trust

And let the smarter ones decide

 

King Sycophant

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Bannon: King Sycophant

 

There is something fundamentally sick

About a self-serving egotist

Submitting himself to the will of

Another self-serving egotist

 

He bows down before the aged one

The one who used to be Donny Diamond

But is now only a bitter old man

Fighting dragons of his own creation

Sending commands form the mountain top

Demanding fidelity at all costs

Bending grown men to their knees

 

The man who would be kingmaker

Is the king of all sycophants

He takes his place among the supine

And from his soiled throne he rants

 

Internal Affairs

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Internal Affairs

 

China proclaims the right to be free

From other nation’s interference

In the internal affairs of state

 

Let it be clear:

No nation has the right to commit

Crimes against humanity

Behind the curtain of national borders

No nation has the right to oppress its

Citizens on the basis of religion

Race or ethnic background

No nation has the right to submit

Its people to torture under

The guise of education

No nation has the right to punish

Individuals for exercising free speech

No nation has the right to imprison

Dissidents or protesters

 

The inherent rights of humanity

Do not stop at national borders

The march of human rights and

Human dignity will continue

Despite the cruelty of power hungry

Despots, dictators and tyrants

Claim what rights you will

Human rights trump all