The Nuclear Option

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (Ukraine)

 

The Nuclear Option

 

Putin raises the nuclear threat

Hide your heads and place your bets

When the nuclear option is on the table

We have to believe he’s willing and able

 

Is he a madman who’s lost his senses?

Or is this but one in a line of defenses?

Either way we are in grave danger

What was strange has become much stranger

 

The situation is out of control

He is digging a deeper hole

With each day he erases all doubt

We’d be better off without

The madman as head of state

Who keeps tempting a nuclear fate

 

It is time past time for Putin to go

We grow tired of this grotesque show

If he continues to threaten us all

It is time for the madman to fall

 

Barbarians at the Gates

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

 

Barbarians at the Gates

 

Once they were reluctant warriors

Now they are willingly debased

Soldiers of the dark

Barbarians at the gates  

 

Gone is the empathy that once

Held their arms in check

Gone is the humanity that once

Spared the elderly and infirm

Gone is the sense of brotherhood

The commonalities of culture

The pride of proximity

Of friends and families shared

 

What remains is something less

Than human and humane

What remains is barbarity

Cruelty and horror

 

Return to your country

Lay down your arms

And face the great dictator

Or stay in Ukraine

To fight for humanity

To become something human

To embrace the humane

Join the army of Ukraine

 

 

(NOTE: Reports of atrocities increase.)

Erasure

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Erasure

 

Putin wants to erase Ukraine

To erase a nation

Its culture and language

Its history and people

The dictator wants us to forget

The Ukrainian people ever existed

 

What the dictator wants

His soldiers try to deliver

They erase whole buildings with bombs

They erase mothers and children

They erase media towers and schools

They erase Ukrainian families

They erase towns and villages

But they cannot erase emotions

They cannot erase loyalties

They cannot erase that which exists

Within the heart, the mind and soul

 

Can you erase freedom?

Can you erase a dream?

 

Ukraine has existed for millennia

It has been conquered and liberated

Ripped apart and invaded

But it has always been

As it always will be

It can never be erased

 

Navalny Speaks Out

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Navalny Speaks Out

 

Already on trial for speaking out

Against the great dictator

Alexi Navalny speaks out again

Against the barbaric attack

To deny Ukraine its sovereignty

 

Let there be no doubt

The dictator is a war criminal

A thug and a brutal tyrant

Already he has detained thousands

Of his people for protesting

The madness in Ukraine

 

Navalny is their leader

Navalny is their voice

Putin is the single reason

The people have no choice

 

He has sacrificed his freedom

He very nearly gave his life

When Navalny speaks the people listen

Listen to him now

 

We must all do our part

To stop this illegal war

We must speak out

We must march in the streets

We must boycott and call for boycott

We must plead with our leaders

 

We must be prepared to sacrifice

For there will always be a price

There is always a price

 

But as the cost of oil rises

And with it the cost of all goods

Remember the sacrifice of Navalny

Remember the sacrifice of Zelensky

Remember the sacrifice of Ukraine

 

Zelensky II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Zelensky II

 

He hunkers down below

As the war rages above

His face is pale with worry

For the people that he loves

 

He risks his life by staying

Yet he will not be dissuaded

Not a soul alive would blame him

But his resolve has never faded

 

The good people of Ukraine

Their hearts are filled with pride

Their leader is both good and strong

And the world is on their side

 

The soldiers of the invaders

Know that they are in the wrong

They will be painted as monsters

They will be vilified in song

 

This is a moment of truth

It is not a tragic play

If you come upon Zelensky

Turn around and walk away