The Dawning

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICA

 

The Dawning

 

A thousand years of rage

Sorrow guilt and accusation

Vanished in the dawning age

The birth of a new nation

 

And we are like our country

We were founded on ideals

A dream we could not reach

And how it made us feel

 

A burden lifted from our shoulders

We no longer need to fight

We have found as we grow older

We can keep the dream in sight

 

All this in one election

That must now be sustained

No backsteps and no defections

It cannot have been in vain

 

For the dawning is a blessing

To all who gave their vow

Who learned that long hard lesson

The time for change is now

 

Let freedom ring across the land

Let there be a celebration

Strike up those famous marching bands

For the dawning of our nation

 

Hottest Year (Again)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Hottest Year (Again)

 

It is the hottest year on record

Not a record we desire

It is one we can’t afford

The droughts, the storms, the fires

 

Are we beginning to take note

Or do we place it in the file

Of the things we never wrote

Are we going out in style?

 

Another year of the great warming

Or pretending it’s not here

Of grifting and of warring

Another ship we didn’t steer

 

It is an existential question

That’s something we should know

We have failed to make connections

While the crisis only grows

 

I know it’s hard to pay attention

When it isn’t on your table

I know we’re hoping for inventions

That will make the climate stable

 

If we’re banking on the latter

We should place a bet on science

We should raise a cry that shatters

But all we hear is silence

 

Please say it isn’t so

That we care about the earth

Tell me something I don’t know

For whatever it is worth

 

Commutation (Death Penalty)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CAPITAL PUNISHMENT

 

Commutation

 

California ended the death sentence

In an act of commutation

While it falls short of full repentance

California leads the nation

 

A government should not kill

As a punishment for crime

It goes against our higher will

It belongs to long lost times

 

When once we needed vengeance

To fulfill our sense of justice

That thought was always bent

When we governed with a fist

 

We know it does not deter

The ones who wish to kill

Though the passions it may stir

Just might provide a thrill

 

There once were executions

Performed like passion plays

They were thought to be solutions

But we don’t think that today

 

We have no other interest

But to protect and to serve

This is not the Wild West

Where they got what they deserved

 

We are better than we were

More civil and humane

We should honor the higher word

Not bear the mark of Cain

 

(Governor Newsom commutes

sentences of prisoners on death row.)

 

A New Dawn

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICA

 

A New Dawn

 

A wave of optimism

Has swept across the land

We have closed the great schism

That was created by one man

 

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

The morning finally comes

It’s a new song

It’s a new way

Wave the flag and bang the drum

 

The way of war and terror

Is fading into black

The greed and vengeful era

Let’s hope it’s never coming back

 

It’s a new dawn

It’s a new day

The age of the grift is gone

It was so wrong

Now it’s pay day

It’s the end of the reign of Don

 

The nation’s nightmare ends

The dream has just begun

We’ve overcome ourselves again

The side of right has won

 

 

The Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Wave

 

A wave as blue as a clear blue sky

As vast as the ocean blue

A wave that leaves them wondering why

The wave we wished came true

 

The early returns were promising

Virginia and South Carolina

The forecast calls for a senate swing

The prospects could not be finer

 

It rolled from east to west

From Atlanta to Chicago

Ohio was the first great test

The night the blue wave rolled

 

Austin Texas here we come

The greatest hope will rise

The preacher and the crooked bum

Let’s hear the alibis

 

California to Alaska

Colorado to Lake Michigan

The wave is rolling faster

The opposition party has won

 

Now the work begins

He is still the president

It is not enough to win

But the message has been sent

 

The Swamp

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

The Swamp

 

He promised to drain the swamp

It turns out he didn’t mean it

He was too busy reading Mein Kamph

He did not intend to clean it

 

He is the swamp creature

He brought the grift and the con

His presidency has featured

Corruption from dusk to dawn

 

He has tried to bribe whole nations

Bending leaders to his will

From contracts for deportation

To weapons that boost the kill

 

In two hundred and fifty years

No one has taken more

The more we see, the more it appears

They’re renting the White House doors

 

If you think this is the norm

You had better reconsider

Through every crisis and every storm

They will sell to the highest bidder

 

Dirty Politics

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Dirty Politics

 

Can we outlaw political lies?

Can we banish frivolous lawsuits?

Can we uncover phony alibis?

Can we recover pilfered loot?

If we don’t do something soon

We’ll lose hold of our reality

AI will conjure up a tune

Exploiting human fallacies

 

Our politics are out of hand

We don’t know what to believe

We could use a better plan

To deliver the facts we need

 

The truth is but a footnote

The facts are lost in the maze

Lies inform us how to vote

Their algorithms daze

 

It’s a race to the deepest pit

Honest politics be damned

The politics of dirt and grit

Slinging mud across the land

 

If you don’t like what you see

Use your ballot to fight back

Vote against the dirty deeds

Put our democracy on track

 

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Ilhan Omar (The Persecution)

 

It begins with a member of congress

Representative Ilhan Omar

As the ACLU will surely attest

The gestapo has gone too far

 

If they can target her then no one is safe

Their poison goes to the heart

It proceeds directly from the head of state

Vengeance as a work of art

 

It’s clear these people have no shame

Common decency escapes them

They want and need someone to blame

We hope the people forsake them

 

It’s true they came for the Muslims first

Who else is on their enemies list?

The immigrants have felt their curse

And they’ve taken aim at journalists

 

If you dare oppose their insolence

They will haul you into court

They’ll harass you til your money’s spent

They’ll push you to your last resort

 

What they have done is a disgrace

To the office and the nation

There is no chance of saving face

There can be no salvation

 

No Kings Today

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

No Kings Today

 

No kings today

No kings tomorrow

We remember the date *

It still lives in sorrow

 

You began your reign

Proclaiming blood and gore

You sounded insane

Any you promised no war

 

You were lying then

Just like you’re lying now

It will come to an end

On the day of the Tao

 

We don’t want your war

We don’t want your inflation

We are keeping score

How you’re screwing the nation

 

You don’t want a congress

As a check on your power

Even friends will confess

You’re alone in your tower

 

You don’t want to be king

You want to be even greater

You want angels to sing

But that will come later

 

We will take down your throne

And your statues of gold

You’ll be all on your own

When we take what you stole

 

* January 20, 2017

 

Blood on their Hands

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Blood on their Hands

 

Trump expressed his disdain

Elon Musk delivered the blow

Severing Starlink from Ukraine

Without letting Zelensky know

 

Missiles landed without warning

Smashing buildings, taking lives

Kiev awakened in the morning

Not knowing how, who or why

 

Musk controls the technology

To turn the tide of war

As he pushes his dark psychology

Give the wealthy ever more

 

What they’re saying by their actions

Is that they like the Russian side

Splitting NATO into factions

Letting people know they lied

 

So now it’s Europe and Ukraine

Against the allied autocrats

The world has gone insane

And NATO smells a rat

 

While they play their morbid games

All of us should understand

To their everlasting shame

The have blood on their hands

 

J'Accuse

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

J’Accuse

 

Are you now or have you been

A good friend to a communist?

Vladimir Putin or Xi Jinping?

A fascist or a supremacist?

 

If you have be prepared

To step down and be exiled

Tell the truth if you dare

Volunteer to be defiled

 

You dare to tarnish others

When you yourself have betrayed

All your sisters and your brothers

Our proud nation is dismayed

 

You have taken sides in war

For the invader against Ukraine

For the man our friends deplore

You have gone against the grain

 

We will fight you with our votes

We will protest and resist

All our confidence implodes

You’re the friends of communists

 

We suggest self-deportation

But united with your good friends

You have disgraced your nation

It’s time we brought it to an end

 

Nobel

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Nobel

 

He wants the Nobel Prize

For blowing up the Middle East

For promulgating baldfaced lies

And coddling the Russian beast

 

Is the world a better place?

More peaceful or more prosperous?

His reign is a disgrace

His foreign policy is monstrous

 

Still he wants the Nobel Prize

To seal his place in history

The world will long despise

This mystifying mystery

 

How a man of low morality

Low intellect and grace

A man of infinite banality

Rose up to this high place

 

His greatest virtue is greed

He lacks all curiosity

A man who does not read

Whose taste is a monstrosity

 

And yet he has the power

To cause a dozen wars

The bravest men will cower

If he threatens to do much more

 

 

The Fight for Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Fight

 

The fight does not end November 3^rd

In fact it only begins

If you haven’t heard, spread the word

The losing side may win

 

When a man’s in love with power

He will not let it go

He will barricade his tower

And watch it all unfold

 

He will declare election fraud

Just like he has before

He’ll proclaim the word of God

And call his troops to war

 

What happens next we do not know

Will they take it to the streets?

Will we absorb another blow?

Will we yield to defeat?

 

Our republic is in jeopardy

If we do not put them down

They would make us out the enemy

And plant us in the ground

 

On Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

 

On Democracy

 

Without freedom of speech

You do not have a democracy

You may have an autocracy

Without the sea there is no beach

 

Without freedom of the press

The people are not informed

Your country should be warned

You are democratic less

 

Without the right to protest

You don’t have a republic

Your public forums are sick

It’s a pillar of the west

 

Without protection of due process

Your democracy has failed

Your opponents can be jailed

You do not pass the test

 

Without free and fair elections

You are only a pretender

A civil rights offender

Destined for correction

 

Without independent courts

Your freedom is not real

You are subject to the steal

Your efforts come up short

 

A democracy takes time

It must be zealously protected

Attacks must be rejected

It’s a stubborn state of mind