The Crimes of Izium

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Crimes of Izium

 

It shocks my senses

A quiver up my spine

Yet it comes as no surprise

The inhumane inhuman crimes

The bombing of civilians

Mass burial sites

Torture and deprivation

No goodbyes or final rites

 

It comes as no surprise

Invaders and would-be occupiers

Disregard all human dignity

Moral codes and common decency

 

Place yourselves in Ukrainian shoes

Your victims are within

Your friends and loved ones

Your family and your kin

 

The crimes of Izium cry out in outrage

Cry out loud for blood vengeance

Yet let there be compassion

Even for the depraved

Let there be mercy for the merciless

Let there be sympathy

For those who change their evil ways

 

Lost in Her Soul

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Lost in Her Soul

 

She is not broken, she says

She is lost in her soul

The life she once lived

Scattered like shrapnel

In a free-fire zone

 

She survived the onslaught

She survived the occupation

She will survive the memories of war

But she is lost in her soul

She will be found again

She will be made whole

 

Can the same be said of the invaders?

Whose torment took a toll?

Can the same be said of Putin?

As if he ever had a soul

 

It is said he will not waver

He consults his dictator friends

He wants to prove he is not alone

On this his cause depends

 

China, India and Turkey

Will you answer his desperate pleas?

Will you side with the Russian madman?

Or will you recognize his disease?

 

The time is past for posturing

The time has come to take a stand

Are you for or against Putin’s attempt

To steal by force Ukrainian land?

 

Dead Fish on Lake Merritt

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Dead Fish on Lake Merritt

 

The stench of death on Lake Merritt

Rises from the receding shore

The experts say we can only bear it

Prepare yourselves for more

 

The temperature is rising higher

Month by month, week by week

Warming brings the risk of fire

Sweet relief is what we seek

 

But relief is just not coming soon

The fish continue dying

Send your children to the moon

The temperature will be frying

 

They warn us that the grid will fail

Leaving us at nature’s beckoning

We’d love to take a ship and sail

To escape the earth’s great reckoning

 

Remembering 911

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Remembrance (911)

 

We remember tragedy

Memories of sorrow never go away

Rage yields to anger

Anger eventually fades

Leaving sorrow in its place

A sorrow that abates

 

Twenty-one years later

We remember the towers

As if it were today

The great abiding sorrow remains

But the anger is gone

We are no longer afraid

We have done what we have done

Felt what we have felt

And we have put it in its place

It is a sacred place

A place of mourning

A place of solitude

Above all a place of remembrance

 

September 11 is a promise

A promise to the nation

A promise to the world

A promise to the victims

A promise to the families

That we will never ever forget

 

Ukraine Strikes Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Ukraine Strikes Back

 

It is an old story

The mouse against the lion

Vietnam against America

America against the empire

Afghanistan and Iraq

 

Soldiers who believe in their cause

Fight harder longer stronger

Than mercenary thugs and intoxicated killers

 

Ukraine strikes back with the force of thunder

Reclaiming the city of Izium

Overpowering the mighty Russians

An army that wants to go home

Propaganda has its limits

It expires on the battlefield

It retreats when the enemy rises

 

Every soldier knows the truth

Pride in the heart of a soldier

Is worth ten in the heart of fear

 

When will the Russians understand

They have chosen the wrong war

Fighting a nation of true patriots

Well-armed and well-supplied

Is like fighting back the sea

You cannot win this war

You can only extend

The suffering