India

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

India

 

They count their numbers in billions

They count their poor by the block

There are far too many to ride

The great majority must walk

 

The world’s most populous republic

The caste system keeps them in place

To keep up with their growing needs

They are constantly in a race

 

They have marketed cheap labor

They’ve developed a technology force

While others have fallen behind

India has stayed the course

 

Trapped between west and east

Kashmir and Pakistan to the west

To their north the Chinese beast

They must always pass the next test

 

They are giants in economy

Arts and culture are on the rise

And when it comes to population

India wins the prize

 

Vladimir Kara-Murza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIAN OPPRESSION

Vladimir Kara-Murza *

 

To the defenders of Russian actions

To the apologists for Putin’s aggression

To those who curse the western reaction

As they point to our past oppression

 

If you resided in the Kremlin today

You would be facing a charge of treason

There’d be nothing you could do or say

There would be no point to your reason

 

If you but dared to criticize the leader

Or spoke out against the nation

You’d be labeled a trouble breeder

A spreader of “false information”

 

You would spend your life behind bars

Never again to breathe free air

No longer to gaze at the stars

Would you finally begin to care?

 

To you who disseminate Russian lies

We know who butters your bread

Respect for the truth defies

All the falsehoods that you spread

 

And there is no just compensation

For the evil that you have served

You have lost all hope of salvation

May you get what you richly deserve

 

* Russian journalist and critic sentenced

to 25 years in prison.

 

Khartoum

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Khartoum

 

A nation in perpetual war

Where power is determined by arms

A failure of the democratic form

Government by spells and charms

 

A legacy of hatred and genocide

Crimes against all humanity

Religious and cultural divides

Warlords of infinite vanity

Justice can never preside

When hatred breeds insanity

 

World powers are brought to bear

In a land so rich with treasures

Trapped in a treacherous lair

War as a pastime of leisure

 

Will this bloodshed go on forever?

Or will it finally come to an end?

Will the roots of war be severed?

Or will Sudan into hell descend?

 

Cultural Courage

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

 

Cultural Courage

 

Children have the courage of conviction

Unfiltered truth can only make them strong

Facts will serve as sound-of-mind nutrition

Sorting out the righteous from the wrong

 

History cannot survive as fiction

America’s a place where all belong

The stories of betrayal and sedition

Will not remain well hidden for too long

 

So let the truth be rendered loud and clear

Slavery and genocide were real

Confront it without compromise or fear

Let our wounds at last begin to heal

 

When finally our reckoning begins

America will light a shining flame

When we freely tell the story of our sins

The promise will be more than just a name

 

Ft. Lauderdale Flood

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Fort Lauderdale Flood

 

Spring break in Fort Lauderdale

Shortened by a thousand-year downpour

That’s what they’re saying on the news

A thousand-year downpour

Like a sign of the apocalypse

I say how do they know?

Were they here a thousand years ago?

How’s about the weather Martha?

Bet your daddy didn’t warn you about this

They say its Goble Climb It Changed

They climbed up and couldn’t get down

Two feet of water on Main Street

A water slide through the middle of town

Can you believe it?

The Oldsmobile will never be the same

We ought to sell that damn thing

While it’s still worth the parking fee

Buy a rowboat for chrisakes

One darn thing after another

Helluva thing for chrisakes

Who’s idea was it to move down here?

Mine? Shows you what I know

The whole darn state can go to hell

And no one would even notice