The Mandate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Mandate

 

The people have spoken

In the language of the electoral college

A victory for the party of Musk

The party of Trump

The party of Vladimir Putin

 

A rejection of the party of tomorrow

That never finds its way to today

The party of hope that never finds reality

The party of old-timers

The party of promises

The party of Old Joe and Nancy

The party that talks a good game

But never quite delivers

 

A rejection of the party in power

That transcends all other factors

An affirmation of discontent

Throw all the bums out!

 

Through mass media propaganda

Gerrymandering and unlimited funding

The party of rage and discontent

Steamrolled the electorate

Toppling all branches of government

Including the people’s house

By the very thinnest of margins

 

There is no mandate here

Or if there is

It is a mandate of confusion

It is a mandate of negation

It is a mandate that waits

For the next chance

To say No again

 

Flames of Paradise

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Flames of Paradise

 

Pasadena, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades

If paradise is an inferno

No place on earth is safe

Carried on the violent winds

Another home is laid to waste

These were the homes of millionaires

Stars of music, stage and screen

But there are working people too

Living out their hope filled dreams

 

Walk a mile in their shoes

See the horror through their eyes

As the flames are drawing nearer

As the smoke consumes the sky

You’ve lost all your belongings

You tell your friends goodbye

Your dreams go up in fire

No one can tell you why

 

What will tomorrow hold for you?

The promises are strained

No one can tell you what to do

Hold on and pray for rain

Be grateful you’re still breathing

Be grateful you can rise

As fire sweeps away the dream

Be grateful for your lives

(Prayers for the people of LA.)

A Monster Storm

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

A Monster Storm

 

Ice, wind and rain

A blast of swirling snow

Rolling thunder in the strain

The harshest winds will blow

From Florida to Maine

From Kansas to the sea

The climate goes insane

These monster storms will be

Arriving like a freight train

Like an army on attack

Before the next one ends

The last is coming back

To visit where we’ve been

With brutal wind and ice

A hundred thousand men

Build shelters through the night

It is not if but when

The storm will strike again

 

We know what it’s about

The climate war is raging

Let there be no doubt

The battles we are staging

Are ones of life and death

In a war that we’ll be waging

Until our final breath

Until our kids are aging

 

Neo Nazi Nation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Neo Nazi Nation

 

He was born in Pretoria

In a land of segregation

Now he speaks out for the advocates

Of a neo-Nazi nation

In the nation of the Reich

He calls for our salvation

A leadership of whites

A racial agitation

 

He wants to separate the masses

In accordance with their race

Into their separate classes

In order to keep pace

With the technologic masters

In the race to conquer space

 

He doesn’t care about the workers

He only cares about the cost

He would send us all to China

If they’d let him be the boss

He wants to maximize the profits

And minimize the loss

 

It’s as simple as the math

It’s as brutal as the beast

He admires all the strongmen

From the north and from the east

If he could conquer Europe

He would have a massive feast

And in the flames of conquest

Democracy deceased

 

Elon is a fascist neo-Nazi

A threat to all democracies

Now that his truth is showing

His opposition is growing

The Balance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Balance

 

The despots have their champion

With his money and his fame

He yearns to carve an empire

And brand it with his name

 

He’s on the march in Britain

He has headquarters in Berlin

As for the rest of the world

Where do we begin?

 

There’s trouble in South Korea

The Middle East is in flames

Poland, France and Hungary

To our eternal shame

 

There’s panic all around the globe

As we count the final hours

There is no place beyond the reach

Of a madman’s quest for power

 

From Syria to Ecuador

From Columbia to Spain

The fear of falling victim

Like the victims in Ukraine

 

When we lose our sense of balance

Our bond of unity may fall

When the oligarchs take over

It will threaten one and all