Idiot Wind

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Idiot Wind *

 

We know that Netanyahu

Is a force against democracy

A voice for vengeance

A proponent of endless war

A perpetrator of genocide

But if you believe that Israeli forces

Dug the tunnels, planned and executed

The massacres of October 7^th

A brutal execution of their own people

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the vacuum of your mind

There is no end to fantasies

That prejudice can find

 

We know that Netanyahu failed

Failed to protect his people

He knew what was about to happen and

Failed to respond in time

We know that he is guilty of

Crimes against humanity

Crimes against civilization

Mass destruction and reckless

Disregard for innocent life

But if you believe the Israelis

Have no cause for rage and revenge

A rage founded in antiquity

A rage recorded for all time

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the missives of your kind

Through eyes that have been

Rendered selectively blind

 

* A song by Bob Dylan

 

Blind Vengeance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Blind Vengeance

 

People of Israel

Do you know the crimes

committed in your name?

 

What began as self defense

surrendered that rationale

when Netanyahu decided civilians

were subject to extermination

 

People of Israel

Have you seen the destruction

delivered in your name?

 

Hospitals are not hiding enemies

Schools are not training sites

An ambulance is not a target

Children are not expendable

Palestinians are not Hamas

Mothers are not soldiers

 

People of Israel

Do you know the blood your

leaders are spilling in your name?

 

I am not a terrorist apologist

I lament the unconscionable act

that unleashed this chain of horror

but just retribution has turned

into blind and brutal vengeance

 

People of Israel

I believe in your humanity

Help us to help your nation

return to the path of peace

 

Zelensky Stands

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Zelensky Stands

 

He became the president of

A nation under siege

All of Ukraine shivers

Every time Russia breathes

 

Putin took Crimea and eastern Ukraine

Like Canada seizing New Hampshire and Maine

The American president gave him the shoulder

The White House reception could not have been colder

 

Against all odds he stood his ground

When the Russian invaders took their land

His courage was proven, his character sound

Four years later Zelensky still stands

 

Nobody knows what the future will hold

But in him we have witnessed the best of a man

His passion is true and his instincts are bold

When other would falter Zelensky stands

 

Cruel and Unusual

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEATH PENALTY

Cruel and Unusual

 

In times past a king executed a human

being with the wave of his hand

 

Beheading

Hanging

Stoning

A firing line

 

A king, a queen, an emperor, a commander

gave the order and the executor executed

It was common though it was cruel

 

Today we subject the accused to a trial

that can take months or years

To an appeals process that takes decades

And an execution that drags on and on

in finding a method of killing that is

something less than horrific

 

Electrocution

Chemical injection

The gas chamber

Hanging or firing line

 

It is no longer common

but it is cruel beyond belief

If we make cruelty common

it is no longer unconstitutional

but it remains unconscionable

immoral and devoid of humanity

 

We are experimenting with death

Manipulating methods of taking life

until we find one that masks its

inherent cruelty

 

Our nation and culture can never be

civilized until we ban this barbaric practice

Every individual who supports the death

penalty should be forced to watch an

execution in real time

 

The dying of the light is common

The taking of the light is cruel

The state should have no right

Let mercy be the rule

The Great Redeemer

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Redeemer

 

He was a man of sin

Greed, gluttony and lust

He’d do anything to win

A man you could not trust

 

He was reborn overnight

No one knows how or why

He saw a brilliant light

He could never tell a lie

 

Now he faces persecution

He is a martyr to the cause

He represents divine solution

In defiance of all laws

 

He is the great redeemer

He was chosen for this fight

Just look at his demeanor

He is sure to make it right

 

A higher source is calling

Do not get in the way

His enemies are falling

The dawn is here to stay