The Martyrdom of Mahsa Amini

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

The Martyrdom of Mahsa Amini

 

Mahsa Amini was arrested in Tehran

By the Iranian morality police

On the charge of not covering her head

To the satisfaction of her oppressors

 

Mahsa Amini died that day

The authorities said she fell ill

Her family said there was no illness

The authorities said it was a heart attack

The family says she was healthy

The authorities say it is unfortunate

Her family says it is a crime against humanity

It is a crime against all women

It is a crime against the women of Iran

And the brave women of Iran agree

 

The people of Iran have taken to the streets

Risking their lives in protest

Five brave souls have fallen

Yet the morality police march on

 

It is not the first time

It will not be the last

But this time as every time

Iran displays its brutality

It becomes weaker

 

Mahsa Amini is a martyr

She did not want to be

May her family take comfort in

Knowing she will win in the end

No matter how long it takes

No matter how many suffer

And her name will outlive them all

 

Putin's Payroll

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Putin’s Payroll

 

“Putin isn’t losing the war in Ukraine;

He’s winning the war!” 

 

Tucker Carlson

 

Remember Glenn Greenwald?

That stalwart defender of free speech

Journalistic freedom

Freedom of thought and expression

A voice against the war in Iraq

A voice against the war in Afghanistan

Who lost his voice on the war in Ukraine

 

Remember Tulsi Gabbard

She ran against the war on terror

Spoke out against American imperialism

Campaigned on a policy of peace

Condemned our invasion of Iraq

But found no fault with Putin’s

Invasion of Ukraine

 

Remember Tucker Carlson

When Fox News was a cheerleader

For all American wars?

Now he gets his talking points

Straight from the Kremlin by way of

One America News and Russia Today

 

Russia is losing the war in Ukraine

On the battlefield and in the forum

Of international discourse

Defending Russia’s imperial policy

After opposing American interventions

Is a classic hypocrite’s creed

And proof positive that the defender

Is on Putin’s Payroll

 

The War on Warming

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The War on Warming

 

As Alaska is battered by typhoon

And Puerto Rico is slammed by hurricane

The harshest storms in history

Blasting wind and pounding rain

The war on warming goes in retreat

Like an old war fought in vain

Floods droughts and heat waves

The Russian war against Ukraine

The certainty of a hard winter

Who is first to break the chain?

 

As Russia cuts off Europe

From the Netherlands to Spain

The change cannot come fast enough

To alleviate the pain

 

Erdogan joins the Chinese

In a walk down authoritarian lane

Even Germany must be tempted

A betrayal that would stain

 

All this because one brutal man

Keeps driving the Cold War train

He cannot accept his dismal error

The invasion of Ukraine

 

Collective Delusion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Collective Delusion

 

I once believed in childish things

Like waking up with angel’s wings

When I grew up I put them away

In a box of dreams and there they stay

 

I still believe there are aliens in space

Who may have visited the human race

But I don’t believe in wacky theories

And I must admit it makes me weary

When I hear about a guy named Q

Who will tell us all just what to do

To win our country back again

From a dark and evil force of sin

That some folks call democracy

We’re better off with autocracy

One man to rule over all of us

One driver for the nation’s bus

No longer will we have to vote

We’ll all go down in the same boat

God bless collective delusions

An end to all the confusion

One god, one nation, one mind

The very best of humankind

God bless our dearest leader

Our mass delusion feeder

 

I pledge allegiance to the best

To hell with all the rest

God bless the American nation

Immigrants by invitation

Only

 

Losing Our Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Losing our Democracy

 

“Once fully enslaved, no nation…

ever afterward resumes its liberty.”

 

W. Whitman

 

Losing our democracy is easy

Offer two parties dominated by money

Until ordinary people stop voting

Promise change but don’t deliver

Until people give up the right to vote

Tell people this is the one true moment

The most important election of a lifetime

The live-or-die a horrible death election

And then badger them for contributions

Every moment of every day

Until they no longer even listen

No longer even care

Turn off, tune out, turn away

Then offer a false prophet

A grifter and a con man

Who promises to fix it all

If only you give him the power

Run him against an old-school politician

Who says the same old things

Makes the same old promises

And fails to show at the critical time

The false prophet takes hold of power

And bends it to his will

Elections are for fools

Laws are for suckers

Power breeds power

He will never let go

The whole system is rigged

Unless he gets his way

And if he ever does

If we ever allow him back in

Strike up the band for the final rites

American democracy is dead

Long live autocracy

Democracy is dead

 

Losing democracy is easy

Building it back is hard