We Got Lucky

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

We Got Lucky

 

We pushed hospitals to the breaking point

Exposed the weakness of our senior care

Watched the president create events

of mass infection, insult the medical profession,

contract Covid, survive through extreme

measures and intense care, only to pronounce

himself superman, the great and invincible,

and advise us not to be afraid…

 

Only a million Americans died

 

We got lucky

We got lucky that the covid roulette shuffle

settled on a variation that is virulent but

not particularly lethal

 

We got lucky

We got lucky that medical science kept up

with the process of transmutation

 

We got lucky when we elected a new

president who took the virus seriously

 

We’re still lucky

Because the virus is not done

Because masses of people still

have not be vaccinated

Because even more people have

not been boosted and reboosted

Because winter is coming

and the virus is waiting

 

We got lucky that Covid 19 is not

the Black Plague or the Spanish Flu

 

We got lucky this time

Next time (there will be a next time)

With so many people in denial

With so many people believing

they can wish away a plague

With so many people having learned

the wrong lessons

Next time we may not be lucky

 

After all

Only a million Americans died

 

Rats

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Rats                                                                                                                

 

Rats in the rafters

Rats in the walls

Rats are roaming congressional halls

Rats in the war room

Rats in the stalls

Rats awaiting the president’s call

 

The Magats claimed it was all corrupt

The stench oozing from drains and ducts

They were right with such sick irony

As they enacted blatant tyranny

 

Rats in the White House

Rats on hold

Rats in service to the president’s fold

Rats in the office

Rats in the field

Rats that would strike an iceman cold

 

They tried to kill democracy

This time they came up short

Next time they will make sure

The rats will guard the fort

 

Zaporizhzhia Catastrophe

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Zaporizhzhia Catastrophe

 

By order of the commander

In the safety of the Kremlin

They took possession of Zaporizhzhia

In the early stages of the invasion

And crippled the facility

With their own deadly missiles

Disarming critical safety systems

Risking nuclear catastrophe

 

What is this calculation

That the winds blow only

In the direction of his enemies

That it will ravage the west

And spare the east

That it will punish the world

Into submission?

 

The depth of depravity necessary

To cause with malice aforesight

A catastrophe of epic proportion

A cloud of nuclear radiation

Across Europe and much of Asia

A cloud of death and destruction

That would alter the course of history

And tarnish the human soul

 

Greenland Melting

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Greenland Melting

 

Greenland was never green

It was always white as snow

But as the ice sheet melts

Our worries only grow

 

Greenland is going green now

But no one celebrates

The rising ocean stuns us

All actions seem too late

 

The land of ice will melt

There is no turning back

The earth is getting warmer

The lights are going black

 

Soon everyone will know

What Greenland has long known

The costs of burning oil

Have grown and grown and grown

 

Saudi Payback

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Saudi Payback

 

For decades we have turned our backs

On violations of basic human rights

Because the industrial world needs oil

We’ve put our differences out of sight

 

They have long denied women’s rights

They have abused the rights of labor

They have sponsored Islamic terrorism

Committed crimes against their neighbor

 

We have given them our weapon systems

We’ve asked little in return

Now that we need cooperation

They let the alliance burn

 

The time has come for payback

The days of friendship are done

If they want to curry Putin’s favor

They can go without our guns