Pariah

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

 

Pariah (for the people of Israel)

 

Remember the cry of Jeremiah

Who prophesied a cruel fate

You would become a pariah

For the sins of the Israeli state

 

You are descendant of Jedidiah

Who turned against the north

Who then became his own pariah

Whose cruelty called forth

 

The end of days for humankind

A legacy of blood and war

The prophecies will fall in line

As the Beast of Yafo roars

 

It’s time to hear that cry again

To heed that warning call

Repent for cruel and callous sins

Or the state of Israel will fall

 

No one wants to see that fall

Or to hear the angels moan

The crumbling of the ancient wall

When Israel stands alone

 

The Cycle

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

 

The Cycle

 

Killing children in Minneapolis

The vicious cycle repeats

The cycle of the irrational

The cycle is never complete

 

Killing children in Gaza

The cycle of killing goes on

The deliberate killing of journalists

The infinite cycle of wrong

 

The cycle of endless violence

We hear the tired voices

Calls for prayer, moments of silence

We’re left without any choices

 

We pray to the second amendment

To protect us from all harm

With guns we live in contentment

While we fail to raise alarm

 

The cycle goes on forever

As we live in a world of hate

If the right to arms is revered

The cycle is our fate

 

Lowering Crime in New Orleans

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Lowering Crime in New Orleans

 

The murder rate is down

Violent crime? The same

Crime is lower all around

There’s no one left to blame

 

How did this miracle happen?

Did they summon the National Guard?

It happened in the way back when

Katrina slammed N’Orleans hard

 

The poor folk of the Big Easy

Were scattered far and wide

Few returned to their poverty

Their old haunts were gentrified

 

The Guard was never needed

They spread the crime around

A new way of life was seeded

And planted on higher ground

 

So if you want to change your city

Let New Orleans show the way

Just reinvent it nice and pretty

Let the wealthy come to play

 

Round up all the poor folks

And scatter them around

Laugh like it’s a private joke

Reinvigorate your town

 

 

The Price of Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Price of Freedom

 

You never know the price of freedom

Until your freedom’s gone

Just when you think it could not come

There are soldiers on your lawn

 

The Guard is in the square

They’ll ask you for your name

The police are everywhere

They want someone to blame

 

They’re rounding up the workforce

To ship them to the border

With a vow to stay the course

In the name of law and order

 

They don’t need to show you cause

Their guns will tell you all

In defiance of the law

You’re up against the wall

 

You wonder how it came to this

How we let it slip away

One day they put you on a list

There is a price to pay

 

Now freedom’s just a memory

Of how it used to be

When we were a democracy

This land of liberty

 

Agents of ICE

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS DEPORTATION

 

Agents of ICE

 

You wear a mask when you’re ashamed

If what you’re doing is a disgrace

You don’t want folks to know your name

In shame you hide your face

 

If you don’t like what you’re doing

Find a job with lesser pay

Ain’t no good in misconstruing

All the things your bosses say

 

If you believe in law and order

Turn around and face the man

Dragging workers to the border

Ain’t a part of the master plan

 

Take off the mask and show yourself

Throw that dirty job away

Tell your bosses go to hell!

This ain’t the way a good man plays

 

There are times you take a stand

For what is right and what is good

If hired thug is not your brand

Make the move you know you should