Buffalo Killer

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Buffalo Killer

 

In the latter half of the 19^th century

They killed buffalo to ensure that

The wandering tribes of the Great Plains –

The Lakota the Cheyenne the Blackfoot –

Would not survive

 

In the early 21^st century

A racist killer travels to Buffalo

To kill people with dark complexions

To make room for white folk

 

Who would have guessed?

White people – who own more real estate

Than they could ever use –

Need more room

 

White people – who have more power

Than they could ever abuse –

Need more power

 

The buffalo killers were instruments of evil

The Buffalo killer is the same

 

Somehow somewhere

(Make America Great Again)

The killer got the message

That this was how you make

The world safe for white people

 

The most disturbing thing is:

He is not the only one

And they all have guns

 

Replacement Theory

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Replacement Theory

 

The “native born” are rising

Righteous indignation in their blood

Fear and trepidation of other faces

Come to take their places

In the high crime neighborhoods

In the rat-infested brownstones

In all the long-hour low-wage jobs

In the non-union labor market

In the slum cities with lead pipes

In the homes of industrial waste

On the reservations of pervasive poverty

where the real native born live

 

The “real” Americans are afraid

They’re coming to take our places

We must stop them at the border

We must stop them at the ballot box

We must stop them at the schools

We must end the free rides

that let them think they belong

We must stop their procreation

before they poison the American way

We are the genuine Americans

and we will not be replaced

 

Zarathustra

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Zarathustra

 

The leader who wanted no followers

The teacher who disdained students

The preacher without a flock

The writer without readers

The man who stood alone

The individual who marked a path

Defined his own future

Stuck true to his ways

Never wavered never strayed

Embraced symbolism rejected symbols

Acknowledged the part he played

His vast mind held such infinity

That it embodied divinity

 

The father of modern philosophy

He condemned a generation of intellect

To a never-ending spiral of decline

A celebration of the sublime

A moment beyond time

His flame sparked a fire

That destroyed great empires

Only to wallow in the mire

Of eternal contemplation

A final resignation

In defeat

 

Black Hole

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Black Hole

 

There’s a black hole

100 million times larger than the sun

at the center of our galaxy

It is proven

There are photographs

We have recorded its existence

We have therefore witnessed

the end of all there is

within our field of knowledge

We have recorded our demise

One wonders what becomes of

All we know and love

What becomes of Shakespeare and Monet?

What becomes of Whitman and Yeats?

What becomes of Einstein and relativity?

What becomes of Hendrix and Morrison?

What of Billie Holiday and Janis Joplin?

What of Gabriel Garcia Marquez?

What of Steinbeck and McCarthy?

What of Eliot and Dickinson?

What of Hugo and Voltaire?

What of architecture and physics?

What of science and technology?

Have we created monuments to

our own experience only to see

it all swept away in the fulcrum

of a mysterious black hole?

Yes.  Afraid so.