Contempt

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Contempt

 

The president has contempt for democracy

The president has contempt

The president has contempt for

Freedom of speech

Freedom of the press

Freedom of thought

Freedom of expression

 

The president has contempt

For the right to vote

For the right to dissent

The right to gather in protest

The right to write and publish

The president has contempt

 

The president loves autocracies

Where no one asks questions

Where the leader’s word is gold

Where the opposition is oppressed

Where activists are jailed

Where protestors are shot

Where the people bow before him

Where judges are compliant

Where the people have no voice

 

The president has contempt

For all that we hold dear

Freedom, independence, individuality

The right to be ourselves

 

 

LA Heat Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

LA Heat Wave

 

With so much trouble in the world

We forget about the warming

With all these missiles being hurled

We didn’t hear the warning

 

Oh we recall when it was the rage

The sky is falling, falling

We’ve entered the disaster age

We can hear the siren calling

 

Now the heat is coming back again

There is nothing we can do

Hide away and count to ten

Please tell me when it’s through

 

But there’s no brushing this aside

The warming takes its toll

It’s going to be a bumpy ride

For the planet as a whole

 

Forget about these brutal wars

We’re all in this together

This is a glimpse of what’s in store

This ain’t no change in weather

 

 

United Against the War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

United Against the War

 

If the Democrats aren’t united

Against the Iranian War

They will lose the next election

It’s not enough to be against the

Oligarchs and for the poor

We demand a different direction

 

Don’t lose yourselves in strategic detail

Don’t pause to salute the troops

Don’t let the wind escape your sails

Don’t get caught in an infinite loop

 

This is not a war of necessity

This was a deliberate choice

To say anything else is a travesty

You will lose your persuasive voice

 

Stand together united in principle

This war is damnably wrong

No empire is invincible

The opposition must hold strong

 

Don’t say it needs deliberation

Don’t hem and haw like you did before

We are not an imperialist nation

Stand strong against this war

 

 

The Lies of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

One Lie after Another

 

They were going to hit us so we hit first

They had neither capacity nor plan

Netanyahu’s plan is an avenger’s curse

So we went along to show we can

 

They were weeks away from a nuke

They were years away by all accounts

Months ago you gave your rebuke

Warheads they could not mount

 

We did it to secure the oil supply

The supply was already secured

Securing oil is a well-worn lie

We need not be assured

 

The Ayatollah was insane

But it was Putin who bombed Ukraine

Bombing civilians without restraint

Your ambitions are very plain

 

Iran was a broken nation

Long before these attacks began

There was no contemplation

Of attacking any other land

 

We want peace in the Middle East

Yet you have started forever war

The Ayatollah is deceased

But you’ve opened Pandora’s door

 

 

Friend of the Devil

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Friend of the Devil

 

When you invite the devil into your fold

Even with virtue’s intent

A story of evil must be retold

Concerning a past that was bent

 

It is not a secret or mystery

What our Agency did in the past

Destroying Latin American democracies

With promises that did not last

 

Now Daniel Noboa of Ecuador

Has opened the gates to his nation

To fight in America’s cocaine wars

A dark and dismal invitation

 

Sheinbaum of Mexico turned us down

But Noboa opened the door

So our darkest operators are on the ground

No one knows what lies in store

 

Maybe they’ll fight the drug cartels

But it comes with an obligation

This is how so many democracies fell

And became subservient nations

 

 

King of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

King of War

 

They wouldn’t make me King of Peace

So I’ll be the King of War

Like Vladimir I’ll be the beast

Listen!  Hear me roar!

 

I’ll start off in the Middle East

No one’s done that before

You would not make me King of Peace

So I’ll be the King of War

 

Let’s have a war for Mexico

They haven’t done enough

From Chiapas down to Jalisco

Do not think that it’s a bluff

 

Ask Maduro in Caracas

What he thinks of me now

He went down without a fuss

All he could say was Wow!

 

Cuba’s just across the lake

No one likes them anyway

That would be a piece of cake

The avenger’s on his way

 

Next we’ll conquer Canada

They wouldn’t dare resist

Just like that war in Gren-ada

Let’s put them on the list

 

You all know what’s coming next

Greenland will be mine

It won’t even be complex

We’ll take them by design

 

They’ll all say I’m an awful man

But it wasn’t what I wanted

War was never in my plan

But now my house is haunted

 

War with Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN

 

Iran War

 

“We wanted help.  We did not want bombs.”

 

Bishop Desmond Tutu

 

Of all the lame things this president has done

War with Iran is the topper of them all

He thinks because we’re bigger, we’ve got

  them on the run

But this is the sound of a desperation call

 

This is not some childish game

Where you remove them from the board

Deflect all sense of blame

And sound the victory chord

 

When you destroy the heads of state

You are left with mass disruption

You’ve condemned them to a fate

Of upheaval and corruption

 

Is that what you had in mind

When you declared yourself supreme?

Your policies are rank and blind

You philosophy is extreme

 

Iran is your last stand

At least let’s hope that is the case

What other horrors have you planned?

What other nightmares have you chased?

 

 

Things to Do

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Things to Do

 

Destroy democracy

Make greed good again

Embrace the bold autocracies

Lower women and raise up men

 

Tear down the East Wing

Design a golden ballroom

Put voters on a string

Proclaim a day of doom

 

Deport a million dark skins

Replace the sun with coal

Make sure the white guys win

Ban the daily Gallup poll

 

Rename the Kennedy Center

If they protest close it down

Make sure there are no mentors

Who are not to MAGA bound

 

Hijack an oil tanker

Deliver a nuclear threat

Sign up a virtual banker

Erase the family debt

 

Buy another Nobel Prize

Make Greenland our dependent

Replace the truth with blatant lies

Make the filthy rich ascendant

 

 

The Court Stands

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SUPREME COURT 

 

The Court Stands

 

He thought the court was his

To do with as he would

But when it came down to this

The court did what it should

 

The struck his tariffs down

Like the power grab they were

He thought he owned this town

To be brief, he was disturbed

 

His mind became unhinged

His faced turned to red

The resistance now begins

To fill his heart with dread

 

The court has finally risen

To uphold the balance of power

By reaching this decision

Justice wins the hour

 

But the battle still remains

Concerning free and fair elections

If the voters are constrained

Their rights will need protection

 

Epstein's Co-conspirators

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Epstein’s Co-conspirators

 

Where were you, Merritt Garland?

Were you afraid to take a stand?

Or were you Jeffrey Epstein’s darlin’?

A charter member of the band?

 

Where were you old Joe Biden?

Did you decide to take a pass?

When the road to Epstein widened

Did you not know Clinton’s past?

 

Where were you Barack Obama?

Did they keep you in the dark?

So many women witnessed trauma

The evidence is deep and stark

 

How many years did this go on?

How many presidential terms?

How many decades hiding wrong

Would the hidden files confirm?

 

All of you who turned your backs

On the crimes of the elite

Time for you all to face the facts

Let’s turn up the heat

 

Lift the veil of condemnation

Reveal the wicked and the vile

Restore the nation’s reputation

Release all the Epstein files

 

 

Workingman Poor

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

 

Workingman Poor

 

The unions have no power

Losing workers shore to shore

Lower wages by the hour

The working man is poor

 

We can’t afford a living space

Debtors knocking at the door

We’re falling back in every race

For the working man is poor

 

Robotics on the assembly line

Automation in the stores

The oligarchs are more than fine

But the working man is poor

 

Those who need get less and less

Those who don’t get more

The system doesn’t pass the test

When the working man is poor

 

The corporate beast is growing

Good jobs are getting rare

The economy is slowing

But the wealthy grab their share

 

Impunity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Impunity

 

“Nothing’s more dangerous than

power with impunity.” 

 

Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia

 

 

Nothing speaks of insanity

Nothing could be more extreme

Than a president with impunity

Decreed by the Court Supreme

 

One wonders what they were thinking

On that misbegotten day

When the ship of state was sinking

And they helped it on its way

 

They gifted him immunity

The people did not have a say

They assured enduring disunity

For as long as he would stay

 

So now he’ll stay forever

He will never leave the house

He’s pulling each and every lever

To get his forces armed and roused

 

ICE is his gestapo

Brown Shirts and the Guard

We don’t know where it goes

But we’re sure it goes down hard

 

Our democracy is at stake

She is trembling with desperate fear

Her defenders better stay awake

Or the end times will be here

 

 

The Resistance Grows

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

The Resistance Grows

 

We don’t know how it began

We don’t know how it will end

But we know and understand

What lies around the bend

 

We’ve all seen this act before

Like a nightmare in repeat

It’s a scene of blood and gore

They’re all pounding out the beat

 

We’ll be heading out tomorrow

To see what we can do

We’ll take what we could borrow

To see our mission through

 

The men in masks will follow

Wherever we may roam

Their hearts and souls are hollow

They’ll hunt us to our homes

 

They’ll take away our families

They’ll threaten all our friends

They’ll call us all the enemies

From which they must defend

 

But the people won’t believe them

They’ve seen enough to know

Too often they’ve deceived them

Their sense of outrage grows

 

 

A Thousand Little Fires

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

A Thousand Little Fires

 

You cannot fight a war

With water guns and whistles

It does no good to roar

When the enemy’s firing missiles

 

He starts a thousand little fires

He knows we can’t address them all

Before long we’ve grown tired

We just can’t answer every call

 

He lights a fire in Ukraine

He lights another at the border

He pretends to be restrained

He cries out for law and order

 

He wants Greenland under ice

He wants Canada to pay

He’d like us to pay the price

To send our working force away

 

There are a thousand little fires

Every single one is burning bright

Every circumstance is dire

It’s all too much for us to fight

 

So choose your battle and take aim

Keep your target in your sights

Exposing lies and naming names

Holding justice to the light