The Right to Kill

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

The Right to Kill

 

What is it with all these madmen?

Does it give them a twisted thrill?

The right to arms has now become

A sordid right to kill

 

They do not care what others think

The world belongs to them

We never asked them what they thought

Who are we to condemn?

 

They kill because they have the right

They kill because they can

They kill because they fear the night

Will no one understand?

 

There are more of them each day

They are arming to the hilt

If you ask them why they will proclaim

They have the right to kill

 

I did not give them weapons

I will not share the blame

But when he pulls the trigger

He does it in our name

The Creature of the Deep

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Creature of the Deep

 

There is a creature that dwells in sleep

With tentacles long and many

As many as are necessary

In the moment of deep, deep sleep

Its tentacle reach out in all directions

Taking hold of every sleeping soul

In that instant we are all connected

Each of us knows what every other thinks

Each of us feels what every other feels

Each of us understands we are one

 

The Israeli feels what the Palestinian feels

The Russian sees what the Ukrainian sees

The Islamist understands the Hindi

The Christian understands the Buddhist

The deist understands the atheist

The saint understands the bigot

Each of us understands the other

 

When we are in that deep cave of sleep

We are naked and everywhere

When we climb out of that deep cave

We clothe ourselves with prejudice

We clothe ourselves with bigotry and hate

We don the cloth of closed minds

That we may thrive among our people

 

Yet at moments of silent clarity

When all is quiet in the soul

We remember the creature of the deep

We remember that instant of knowing

We remember that we are one with all

And all are one within

Self Determination

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Self Determination

 

Every people and every nation

  Including Palestine and Israel

According to the laws of civilization

  From Ukraine to Afghanistan

Has a right to self determination

 

When that right is denied

  In Iraq or in Sudan

All authority will be defied

  In Vietnam or in Myanmar

Human rights must be applied

 

Every people and every nation

  From the Aborigines to the Kurds

Beyond the rights of invocation

  Including Chechens and Armenians

Has a right to self determination

 

A world that does not uphold

The right to self determination

Will never live in peace

Will never find salvation

Plight of the Dispossessed

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL & PALESTINE

Plight of the Dispossessed

 

As we enter the days of propaganda

That accompany every war

Remember the plight of the dispossessed

Like the Israelis were before

 

The people are very much the same

No matter where they are

They only want to live in peace

Though they pray to a different star

 

There once was a land called Palestine

That was supplanted by Israel

If you want to know the whole truth

Ah the stories they could tell

 

Of an enemy that has no mercy

That kills the innocent without regret

They would testify their suffering

And the river of blood they let

 

The Israelis have their own accounts

Of being killed and moved aside

They bear witness to an evil

That gave birth to genocide

 

Israel and Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Israel and Ukraine

 

Now that Israel is on the news

Every day and every night

Will we forget about Ukraine?

Will we forget about their plight?

 

Ain’t that just like the western world?

We cannot keep two thoughts

If we think about what we’re doing

We cannot think about what we’re not

 

But the fate of these two nations

Are linked as never before

If we do not hold the line

They’ll come bashing through the door

 

Ukraine will fight until the end

That much we certainly know

The state of Israel will not bend

Her fears will never show

 

And we must stand with both of them

We cannot waver, must not fail

Until the aggressor nations suffer

And the perpetrators are in jail