Evil Lives Here

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

 

Evil Lives Here

 

I sanction modern day slavery

I am the last bastion of aristocracy

I subject women to servitude

I exploit stars of the western world

With the treasure of black blood

I nip democracy in the bud

I am the Emirates

Evil lives here

 

I kill journalists for fun

I execute people on religious grounds

I suppress civil liberties

I suppress women’s rights

I think nothing of committing

Genocide on Yemeni soil

I hold the west hostage for oil

I am Saudi Arabia

Evil lives here

 

I steal western technology

I subject a religious minority to retraining

I have outlawed a free press

I have severed ties to the outside world

I think nothing of crimes against humanity

I am the champion of cheap labor

I play the west for fools

While exploiting western tools

I am China

Beast of the east

Evil lives here

 

I kill more dissidents than you can count

I invade neighbors to feed my ego

I hold Europe hostage for energy

I interfere in foreign elections

I made a fool into a king

I give pretense to democratic rule

I am Mother Russia

Evil lives here

 

The Long Journey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

The Journey

 

The journey begins knowing

That barriers will be encountered

Plans will be made only

To be modified, scrapped

And made again

 

Begin with a positive frame of mind

Confident in your ability to alter the course

To adjust to changing circumstance

You march forward determined to

Take no steps backwards

 

You know the journey is a marathon

You will not rush to its end

You take each step deliberately

And with a purpose

You welcome adversity

You accept every challenge

As it presents itself

You rejoice at every victory

Every moment of achievement

Every turn of good fortune

 

You do not dwell in the past

You accept your mistakes and move on

You know that every journey

Will challenge your determination

Your endurance and fortitude

 

When you reach your journey’s end

You pause and give thanks

For every journey is a blessing

Even those that end in hardship

Even those that steal your strength

And leave you wanting

For every journey guides you

To your destiny

 

Young Punks

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  POEMICS (Mass Shootings)

 

Young Punks

 

Another mass shooting

This time north of Chicago

An Independence Day parade

Another young punk

With a weapon of mass destruction

And a clip of ammunition

Another killing of random individuals

Another ineffectual protest

Another indefensible act of violence

Another young man tangled in frustration

Tortured by his own psyche

 

We speculate and wonder

Who will be next?

We speculate and wonder

Why so many young men

Want to kill at random

We speculate and wonder

Why our culture produces

So much frustration and despair

 

It is not enough to take away the guns

(though it would surely help)

We must solve the equation of

Helplessness in a world of plenty

We must offer a sense of purpose

Not just to the chosen few

But to the forgotten many

We must offer new ways of living

In peace and mutual respect

 

There is too much anger

There is too much rage

To be so lost and hopeless

At such a young age

 

We must do better

We must do more

We must offer alternatives

We must open the door

 

Another Fourth of July

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Another Fourth of July

 

The birth of a nation is a remarkable event

A convergence of historical circumstance

Gives rise to a new nation state

 

An act of injustice in a sea of oppression

(Taxation without representation)

An extraordinary circle of free thinkers

(Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Paine)

A declaration of independence

(We hold these truths to be self-evident)

The rise of a citizen’s army

(A well-regulated militia)

A long grueling campaign

(Starvation at Valley Forge)

The luck of the Irish

(The French alliance)

A nation conceived in liberty

(Made fertile by native blood)

The birth of modern democracy

(A republic if we can keep it)

This day we remember

(Four score and seven years ago)

And we renew the promise

 

Dark Days Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Dark Days Democracy

 

America has known many dark days

And many long dark nights

We have grown to understand

That if we stand still too long

We will sacrifice our rights

We will lose democracy itself

If we have lost the will to fight

 

For too long we have assumed

That self-government secures itself

A people will not pluck out its own heart

We would not send ourselves to hell

Or throw ourselves under the cart

The root of our being is to deny all kings

We would never allow democracy to part

Independence and liberty of thee I sing

Free and fair elections is where we start

 

But now we have learned nothing is sure

The rights and liberties at our very core

If it’s not nailed down it is not secure

From our purple mountains to majestic shores

If we will not fight or can’t endure

The land of the free may be no more