Enemies and Friends

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHINA

 

Enemies and Friends

 

China is not our enemy

But she is not our friend

She reminds us what we want to be

On democracy depends

 

She has billions in cheap labor

Yet she’s progressing over time

She is not a gracious neighbor

There are mountains she must climb

 

She does not need our trade

But with it she has prospered

With the profits she has made

She’ll be receiving offers

 

We can help her moving forward

But not without conditions

We’ll both give our solemn word

We won’t alter our positions

 

Taiwan remains independent

Despite Chinese demands

Just like Canada and Greenland

A message must be sent

 

We can work it out together

Without bitterness or war

The future will be better

If we’d give a little more

 

 

Bravo Mark Carney!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Bravo Mark Carney

 

Prime Minister Mark Carney

Stood tall and strong in the Hague

He declared his case for liberty

On the biggest European stage

 

The United States under Donald Trump

Has betrayed our closest allies

He faced a choice to take the lumps

Or to be stronger, smarter, wise

 

His word were proudly spoken

Of common principles and foundations

He spoke of his true devotion

To his people and his nation

 

Our president may forsake it

But he has pushed them to this act

Now he’ll have to grin and take it

Or accelerate his attack

 

Canada will stand up strong

They have given us fair warning

They’ve put up with him far too long

Now we awaken to a new morning

 

It’s the only way to deal with him

The biggest bully on the block

Rise up and his light will dim

He is running out the clock

 

A New Alliance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

A New Alliance

 

America’s loss is Europe’s gain

(if America is the United States)

While our relationship is feeling strained

The Europeans are feeling great

 

Our president wants to own them

Convert them to the 51^st state

He regards them as a northern gem

If only they’d cooperate

 

Canada has a different notion

An alliance with another union

Terms of agreement are in motion

Soon the deal will be done

 

Europe’s gain is America’s loss

A wider sphere of influence

They want a partner, not a boss

A measure of their defiance

 

They’ll try again when Trump is gone

They are tired trying to please him

They’ll wait until the coming dawn

Til then they’ll just release him

 

Dear Canada

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

 

Dear Canada

 

Dear Canada,

Before our prospects dim

We implore you take us at our word

Despite whatever you have heard

We … are not him

 

We know you are a valued friend

Our alliance we hold high

We promise we will make amends

We vow that we will try

 

He treats our friends like enemies

Our enemies like friends

The great majority does not believe

The messages he sends

 

He will not be here much longer

Though we know he will apply

The opposition grows much stronger

We’ve grown tired of his lies

 

So please … a grain of salt

Although the next year may be grim

Understand it’s not our fault

For we … are not him

 

Standing with Canada

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Standing with Canada

 

Canada is our neighbor

She is not our enemy

We are not Canada’s savior

In Canada we believe

 

They are proud of their nation

Just as we are proud of ours

They are not under subjugation

They will not hide and cower

 

We stand with our neighbors

To the north and to the south

In trade and in shared labor

Our government should butt out

 

We would like cooperation

Not the bully on the block

Respect for every nation

Not the policies of shock

 

We extend our hand in friendship

We apologize for our leader

Someday maybe he’ll get a grip

And withdraw the tariff meter

 

Soon he’ll lose his leverage

We will take a different track

We will end this tariffs stage

And walk all his policies back

 

Canadian Trade Deal

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Canadian Trade Deal

 

Canada is not our friend

That’s just the way they treat us

We would rather break than bend

We’re worried they’ll defeat us

 

Trade talks are suspended

PM Carney says they’re done

Trump says he’s offended

He thinks he’s got them on the run

 

They are talking with two tongues

They share no sense of trust

They’ve reached the bottom rung

They only talk because they must

 

The Canadians are proud

Something we don’t understand

They won’t listen when we’re loud

They’ll dig in and make a stand

 

We began this war of trade

Thinking they would simply yield

As all hopes of fairness fade

It’s not a level playing field

 

You don’t treat your friends this way

That’s not how this should work

We’ve invited them to play

But they are dealing with a jerk

 

Oh Canada (Canadian Wildfires)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Canadian Wildfires

 

Much of Canada is on fire

From the Territories to Newfoundland

From Vancouver to Ontario

The threat could rise much higher

 

Remember back in ‘23

When the smoke transformed New York

From a city geared to please

To a landscape gray and orange

 

Where there’s smoke there’s fire

Or so it has been said

But there are winds that never tire

That take the smoke where it is led

 

Minnesota and Wisconsin

Parts of Michigan as well

They’re breathing in the toxins

Like they’re under a poison spell

 

They days ahead are treacherous

For anybody in the path

These wildfires can be lecherous

For the damage do the math

 

So you don’t believe in the Warming?

It’s long past your wake-up time

You’ve received your final warning

In Canada they’re not blind

 

And they dig for dirty oil

In the lands that were pristine

They contaminate the soil

For a wealth that isn’t clean

 

Canada Stands Strong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Canada Rises

 

Carney* secured his leadership

With a resounding Liberal victory

He tightened his party’s grip

And secured his people’s loyalty

 

He has led his sovereign nation

In the spirit of independence

They’ve rejected subjugation

Along with our president

 

The Canadians have learned

That if they try to play his games

Their people will get burned

To our own eternal shame

 

Our alliance remains on hold

For as long as he’s in power

Our relationship grows cold

In this most critical of hours

 

Here here! to your fair nation

For upholding your convictions

We give you our appreciation

For standing strong in opposition

 

* PM Mark Carney

 

 

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

 

Tumbler Ridge

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Tumbler Ridge

 

Below the border it would not be news

Or rather it would not be shocking

We line them up and light a fuse

And we spend a few days talking

 

But changes never happen

We don’t operate that way

We wave our hands and wonder when

But the outrage never stays

 

In Canada they feel the pain

It just doesn’t happen here

It puts society under strain

The whole nation sheds a tear

 

The time has come to rein it in

The right to purchase arms

It cannot be the way it’s been

For the risk is too much harm

 

What passed at Tumbler Ridge

Should never be allowed

Maybe they should cross that bridge

And the people should be proud

 

A New World Order

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

A New World Order

 

Europe and India have made a pact

China and Canada follow suit

How will the United States react?

With a handshake or the boot?

 

The American leader has changed it all

Beginning with his infernal wall

He’s thrown out all our former friends

Creating wounds that may not mend

 

What sort of order will evolve?

An American hemisphere domination?

There are problems now we cannot solve

We may become an isolated nation

 

Nobody informed our president

The colonial age is done and gone

Now he wonders where our allies went

A new world order has dawned

 

Now the president sits in his tower alone

He cries out in lonely despair

No one will even pick up the phone

Not even the sycophants care

 

Carney Stands Strong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Carney Stands Strong *

 

Canada is standing strong

Against the bully to its south

A deal with China isn’t wrong

When faced with all this doubt

 

When most of Europe comes along

The US may be out

His arrogance does not belong

That’s not what we’re about

 

There’s only so much you can take

Before the bindings snap

The alliances are bound to break

Our friendships will collapse

 

Those who stand in opposition

Can face the coming days

With the pride of knowing their decisions

Will light a better way

 

The day will come when all will see

Through the bluster and vainglory

This president was a tragedy

The villain in this story

 

* Prime Minister Mark Carney

 

 

Alien Nation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Alien Nation

 

Canada forms a new alliance

With a China trade agreement

Breaking up their old reliance

On American investment

 

All of Europe stands with Norway

On Greenland’s independence

If the US wants to play its games

The world’s patience has been spent

 

We’ve become an alien nation

We are running out of friends

In our quest to create sensation

The American age is at an end

 

We do not own Venezuela

Arctic Greenland or Australia

If we continue on this path

We’ll have earned the free world’s wrath

 

It is past time to mark an end

To this mindless game of power

To strike a balance we depend

On a trust beyond the hour

 

Friends and Adversaries

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRADE 

 

Friends and Adversaries

 

We used to be the best of friends

Now we pose a threat

On trade our friendship now depends

The balance of our debt

 

For Canada and Mexico

Our patience has grown thin

The tariff threat will come and go

And neither side will win

 

Brazil was once our ally

When Bolsonaro was in charge

But Trump and Lula will not lie

Their relationship is hard

 

We used to like democracies

At the least we gave the lie

Now we only like autocracies

That virtue would defy

 

We need to find our truth again

We’ve lost it in the haze

Let’s move to where we’ve never been

Those better, brighter days

 

 

Tanks on the Streets

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Tanks on the Streets

 

Tanks on the streets of Washington

A show of military force

A democratic abomination

Revealing the president’s course

 

He wants to build an empire

That will stand a thousand years

His thirst will never tire

For admiration built on fear

 

He would love to enfold Canada

Into these United States

Next he’ll annex Greenland

It is written in the book of fate

 

He demands the commendation

Of all nations across the globe

It may require the exhumation

Of our collective frontal lobe

 

This drive for global power

Is an insult to us all

If his push outlasts the hour

The dominoes will fall