Davos

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Davos

 

They gather once a year

The richest of the rich

The chosen of the chosen

To discuss survival of the fittest

The existential crises of the times

As if they were mere observers

As if their decisions were sideshows

And not the main event

 

They control the horizontal

They control the vertical

What they discuss at dinner

Effects every life on the planet

Perhaps in the cosmos

If they choose to stop Putin

Putin will be stopped

If they choose to end Ukraine

Ukraine will be ended

If they choose to alter the climate

The climate will be altered

If they choose to bury democracy

Begin the funeral dirge

 

But they choose to do nothing

They stand by and watch

The tragedy of human life on earth

They control the horizontal

They control the vertical

They are the masters of this life

Their survival is assured

 

Mass Shootings

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Mass Shootings

 

How dare we shrug at the blood of children

The death of innocents is always chilling

But to die in this manner…

A mad gunman (all mass shooters are mad)

Invades a sacred space –

Where the outside world is banished

Where an open mind is the only requirement –

And opens fire as if it were a war zone

As if wide-eyed kids were enemy soldiers

Where the explosion of gunfire does not end

Until blood covers the cold tiled floor

And nineteen children lie still

Motionless

Never to rise again…

 

To be a child and witness the slaughter

To have it imprinted on your mind

From Columbine to Sandy Hook

To a fourth-grade classroom in smalltown Texas

 

It will never end

Until America fundamentally changes

Until the gun industry gets out of politics

Until American voters stop pretending

That Americans cannot be free

Without a gun in every hand

Without access to mass-killing weapons

For every warped psycho killer

With a credit card

 

Mass shootings will not end

Until we vote out of office

Every self-serving politician

Who sold his and her soul

To protect the right to kill

 

Indian Schools

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Indian Schools

 

We took children from their families

Sent them away to boarding schools

To break them of their cultures

To strip them of their languages

We regarded them as savages

Unworthy of our kindness

We beat them down with our religion

Replaced their history with ours

We punished them with civil manners

We told them they were dirty

Unnatural primitive and cruel

We instructed them to forget the past

Their tribes and tribal ways

Their ancestors were animals

Their elders were lost souls

We ordered them to sever ties

With all that came before them

And oh yes, we exploited them

Sexually and physically abuse them

We stole everything they valued

Including their dignity

Now we wonder why they drink

Why they do drugs

Why they live in poverty

Why they live apart from us

Why they turn their backs away

They are proud people

With long and storied histories

Of courageous warriors

And strong women

With words of infinite wisdom

With traditions and beliefs

They do not wish to lose

They remember what we did to them

They remember Indian schools

They remember the reservations

And how they came to be

So no, they will not forget the past

They will remember always

Until the past becomes the present

And paves the red road forward

 

The Aggrieved (for Haiti)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: REPARATIONS

The Aggrieved (Haiti)

 

The people of Haiti are much aggrieved

The price of reparations grows

The French extorted a King’s ransom

The greater costs we’ll never know

 

The American government took a turn

Exploiting the fledgling nation

Powerful countries will never learn

The intrinsic sin of occupation

 

Time has come to settle debts

For all the wrongs that we have done

The natural resources we have stolen

At the barrel of a gun

 

Why not begin with Haiti?

Let us treat them as our friends

By investing in their future

By an act of kindness make amends