Kicking the Hornets' Nest

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

Kicking the Hornets’ Nest

 

When you initiate a war

You ought to know what’s in store

It shouldn’t be just a guess

When you’ve kicked the hornets’ nest

 

The Hormuz Strait is still closed

Iran is shooting down our jets

The sense of failure only grows

For we have kicked the hornets’ nest

 

The whole region is inflamed

The whole world is feeling pressed

We all know who’s to blame

For he has kicked the hornets’ nest

 

Now we are offering a deal

Though it seems it is in jest

These ultimatums are not real

For we have kicked the hornets’ nest

 

Now Iraq is up in arms

What happens next is just a guess

Every move will promise harm

For we have kicked the hornets’ nest

 

Get out now while there’s still time

Get out yesterday is best

As all our enemies fall in line

We have kicked the hornets’ nest

 

The Costs of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

The Cost of War

 

We really don’t need healthcare

We don’t need housing anymore

We can use that money elsewhere

We can fund the Iran War

 

We don’t need to feed the homeless

We don’t need shelters from the storms

We don’t need highways in the west

So we can pave the road to war

 

We don’t need public education

We don’t need to help the poor

We don’t need walls or space stations

Let’s fund the Iran War

 

After all it is our mission

We are destined to want more

He has made this bold decision

We must fund the Iran War

 

To hell with all our handouts

To hell with building up our shores

Tell the world to have no doubts

We can fund our dirty wars

 

 

Back to the Stone Age

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

Back to the Stone Age

 

America is great

America is strong

If you doubt us just wait

We will send all Iran

Back to the stone age

To where they belong

We’ll show you our rage

We’ll sing you our song

 

Ninety million people

Living in the dark

Ninety million people

The vision is stark

Ninety million people

Without power or defense

Wipe the slate clean

Is that what he meant?

The greatest ever seen

A president that’s bent

 

Lay waste to all the land

Ancient Persia is no more

Destruction is his brand

He’s the master of war

He did it because he can

Now he seems a little bored

He’s desperate for fans

He did it for the Lord

 

War for Jesus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

War for Jesus

 

“Jesus don’t like killing no matter

what the reasons for…”

 

John Prine, Flag Decal

 

Jesus was a man of peace

Do not prostitute his name

The man who turned the other cheek

Would fill your soul with shame

 

You’re the Secretary of War

That much you have proclaimed

You are the president’s little whore

You’re supposed to take the blame

 

So don’t shift it all to Jesus

Do not blame it on the lord

Did you think that it would please us?

Calling Jesus to your war

 

Blame it on your raging boss

This is a war of his choosing

He tossed the dice and lost

We’re accustomed to his losing

 

(Note: Pete Hegseth makes appeals

to Jesus in the war effort.)

 

Advice to Young Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CONSCRIPTION

 

Advice to Young Men *

 

It may be hard to believe

They used to send us to war

They lied and deceived

They never said what for

 

They gave us a number

They took away our names

Then we went into slumber

It all felt like a game

 

They wanted us to fight

Without question or doubt

It would all turn out right

When we figured it out

 

So they sent us off to war

To kill and sometimes die

On a far, faraway shore

And still we never asked why

 

Now here’s my sage advice

Do not answer that call

Let them ask you more than twice

Do not answer them at all

 

It goes against humanity

To send our young to die

It smells of rank insanity

When they cannot tell you why

 

* and women

 

 

America Stands Alone

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

America Stands Alone

 

The Middle East is on fire

The Strait of Hormuz is closed

We are balancing on a wire

Our president is loathed

 

Betrayed at every turn

Europe goes its own way

When will we ever learn?

This is the price we pay

 

Netanyahu is our only friend

The Israelis tire of his act

We all demand that this war end

Before the next attack

 

Another hundred billion dollars

To be thrown into the flames

The debt keeps growing taller

Just to glorify his name

 

The world has lost its breath

Seems his heart is made of stone

Mass destruction, pointless death

And America stands alone

 

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