No Time for War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

No Time for War

 

A crisis around every corner

Never knowing what’s in store

When you’re fighting for survival

There is no time for war

 

The beasts of the apocalypse

Come knocking at our door

Fire, flood and pestilence

There is no time for war

 

The rising tides of warming

Are swallowing the shores

If you’re inside the danger zone

There is no time for war

 

The cost of finding shelter

From the deadliest of storms

When no one has an answer

This is no time for war

 

The pillars of our society

Are shaken to the core

The pressures and anxiety

This is no time for war

Sanity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Sanity

 

Hold on to your sanity

When the world is slipping into madness

Do not yield to your vanity

When the world is drowned in sadness

 

For we are not the center

Nor are we at the core

When the world descends to hellish grief

We are not the reasons for

 

In a world of gloom and horror

The sullen one is king

In a town of scream and shudder

The quiet one can sing

 

We have lost our equilibrium

We are reaching out for kindness

The ones who guide our passing

Are lost in moral blindness

 

If you want a world of sanity

Know that it begins at home

Take pity on humanity

For we are not alone

 

Flames of Paradise

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Flames of Paradise

 

Pasadena, Santa Monica, Pacific Palisades

If paradise is an inferno

No place on earth is safe

Carried on the violent winds

Another home is laid to waste

These were the homes of millionaires

Stars of music, stage and screen

But there are working people too

Living out their hope filled dreams

 

Walk a mile in their shoes

See the horror through their eyes

As the flames are drawing nearer

As the smoke consumes the sky

You’ve lost all your belongings

You tell your friends goodbye

Your dreams go up in fire

No one can tell you why

 

What will tomorrow hold for you?

The promises are strained

No one can tell you what to do

Hold on and pray for rain

Be grateful you’re still breathing

Be grateful you can rise

As fire sweeps away the dream

Be grateful for your lives

(Prayers for the people of LA.)

A Monster Storm

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

A Monster Storm

 

Ice, wind and rain

A blast of swirling snow

Rolling thunder in the strain

The harshest winds will blow

From Florida to Maine

From Kansas to the sea

The climate goes insane

These monster storms will be

Arriving like a freight train

Like an army on attack

Before the next one ends

The last is coming back

To visit where we’ve been

With brutal wind and ice

A hundred thousand men

Build shelters through the night

It is not if but when

The storm will strike again

 

We know what it’s about

The climate war is raging

Let there be no doubt

The battles we are staging

Are ones of life and death

In a war that we’ll be waging

Until our final breath

Until our kids are aging

 

Climate Year in Review

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Climate Year in Review

 

The hottest January in recorded history

A drought in southern Africa

Crops and cattle die in masses

El Nino and the Warming

 

A March of oceanic rising

Average surface temp of 70 degrees*

The bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef

Threatening thousands of ocean species

 

An April heat wave in southern Asia

Too hot for schools in India

Too hot in Bangladesh

Too hot in the Philippines

 

From bad to worse in May

Wildfires incinerate wetlands in Brazil

The effects of warming and deforestation

 

In July Hurricane Beryl decimates Grenada,

Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

 

August crowns the hottest summer ever

Wildfires strike the heart of Europe

 

September comes without relief

Floods destroy crops and displace hundreds

Of thousands in Chad and Nigeria

 

Hurricane Helene wreaks havoc in the

Southeast of the United States

 

October rain in the south of Spain

Strikes like a blast of thunder

A year’s worth of rain in a day

Killing over two hundred in Valencia

 

A rare November drought in the northeast

Of the USA turns leaves into tinder

And warming heat into flames

 

In December it’s official

The hottest year in millennia

Another year of climate change disasters

Another year of human neglect

 

We know what lies ahead

By observing what we left behind

Catastrophe after catastrophe

We simply put it out of mind

 

* Fahrenheit

Remember Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Remember Me

 

Remember me when the stars fall

From a sky of floating ash

Remember those who warned you

The end was coming fast

 

I know there is no comfort

In seeing past the bend

Where all is dread and dreary

Where darkness never ends

 

But do not fear or worry

There is little we can do

The die is cast in sorrow

The debt is coming due

 

Embrace your friends and family

As if it’s Christmas Eve

Their love will guide and warm you

When it’s time to mourn and grieve

 

When my time comes remember

I was one who saw it clear

The hard times and the warming

The end time drawing near

 

But hope will not abandon

For every end brings a new start

A vision of a better world

When this world falls apart

 

Malibu Mourning

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Malibu Mourning

 

Flames rage through Malibu

Home to the rich and famed

Howling winds of Santa Ana

Feed the anger of the flames

 

Run to save your lives

Run and don’t look back

Your homes and your belongings

Slowly fade to black

 

This is a place of beauty

Nature’s best and brightest star

We know you will come back

But we cannot know how far

 

This is only a beginning

Of the tragedies to come

It doesn’t matter where you live

Or where you traveled from

 

The warming comes a rising

Like a wave of thrumming dread

How many homes will vanish?

How many will be dead?

 

The Air in Delhi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Air in Delhi

 

They have closed the schools in Delhi

There is poison in the air

The smoke and dust of industry

Is more than anyone can bear

 

They are breathing fine particulates

That climb into their lungs

It is killing off their elders

It is poisoning their young

 

All this to serve the masses

To meet the world’s demands

The toxic air is spreading outward

From India to Pakistan

 

They know well it is not healthy

But they feel there is no choice

The people have a desperate need

Though they have a quiet voice

 

They breathe the air they’re given

They will sacrifice their health

Their growing numbers in cheap labor

Supply much of the nation’s wealth

 

Flames of November

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Flames of November

 

As fire rips through the great northeast

We will long remember

The flames of November

As the warming gathers its feast

 

We look back on the days not long ago

When the soil was too wet for flames

The season passed through November slow

And the seasons were largely the same

 

Now the laws of nature no longer apply

The flames find root in dry ground

We are not at leave to wonder why

Though the naysayers still astound

 

The age of the warming will take its toll

Beware the flames of November

The vast destruction was foretold

For those who care to remember

 

Now the world is in its final throes

Though the world will not surrender

We will live to sing our song of woe

Just remember the flames of November

 

Wind and Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Wind and Fire

 

Wind and fire, thunder and rain

The world we live in

Is a world of pain

From Southern Cal to the south of Spain

Wind and fire, thunder and rain

 

We don’t believe in the warming earth

Our faith can stop the rain

To a new world we are giving birth

Our powers will not wane

 

Fire and smoke, wind and rage

The time we live in

Is an angry age

In every nation on the world stage

Smoke and fire, wind and rage

 

We the people have lost our way

We’ve sold out to the money crowd

If you have the money they’ll let you play

No dissident or dissent allowed

 

Flood and storm, wind and fire

We’re balanced on

A high tightwire

With consequence both harsh and dire

Raging storms, wind and fire

Weight of the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Weight of the World

 

The weight of the world bears down on us

Like a constant pounding storm

A chain of twisters surrounding us

On a planet that’s growing warm

 

Democracy is under siege

Everywhere across the globe

War and hunger, people grieve

We will fear what we don’t know

 

Our media institutions fail

We have chosen not to believe

We have placed our faith in holy grails

While we lose on every lead

 

And still the world grows warmer

The weight is bearing down

We’re in love with a snake charmer

As we run the ship aground

 

We hold out for better days

May the good and right prevail

May we strive to solve the maze

With all at stake we best not fail

 

Back to Ashes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Back to Ashes

 

The Phoenix in mythical lore

Rose from the ashes of destruction

Soon as the warming takes its toll

She will return to the ashes once more

 

One hundred days at one hundred degrees

An average low of eighty-seven

A constant wave of human suffering

Brought to bear by the earth’s disease

 

Go north the old folks tell their young

Where the warming has some mercy

North where the ice and snow will melt

Not here where our song is sung

 

Don’t wait for the matter will get worse

The streets will feel like the sun

When the grid falters and fails to run

It will strike like the final curse

 

Back to the ashes is our sad fate

No gods of redemption can save us

We’ve built our city of sand and dust

Our understanding came too late

 

(The temperature in Phoenix AZ ran over 110

degrees Fahrenheit for 80 days in 2024.)

 

Between Helene & Milton

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Between Helene & Milton

 

Between Milton and Helene

As we await the latest word

The most powerful we have seen

What horrors we have heard

 

Did you heed the latest warning?

Did you board it up and leave?

Will you hunker down ‘til morning?

Will your friends and family grieve?

 

We have heard it all before

The largest storm in history

Like the victims in a war

No longer a great mystery

 

Are you still living in denial?

Make a wish it isn’t so

Take an inch and give a mile

Every day the crisis grows

 

Can we ever make amends

For the decisions that we made

Is this how the story ends

With a bang and slowly fade

 

(My heart goes out to all those in

the path of Helene and Milton.)

 

As Election Day Draws Near

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Election Day (Clear Choice)

 

If you believe in a right to choose

The choice is absolutely clear

Down the line your vote is blue

As election day draws near

 

If you believe in a free Ukraine

An untethered Putin you should fear

The truth is absolutely plain

As election day draws near

 

If you want to end the Gaza war

If the genocide draws your tears

There’s only one way to close that door

As election day draws near

 

If you favor our democracy

If the founders you hold dear

If you don’t want an autocracy

The choice is very clear

 

If you believe in labor rights

Your choice is very clear

Who stands beside you in your fight

As election day draws near?

 

If you fear the planet’s warming

As the phony naysayers jeer

If you find the giant storms alarming

Your choice is beyond clear

 

Come November 5: Vote!

 

Highway to Climate Hell

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Highway to Climate Hell

 

“We’re playing Russian roulette with our

planet and we need an exit ramp off the

highway to climate hell.”

 

Antonio Guterres, UN Secretary General

 

 

The hottest summer in recorded time

Year after year after scorching year

Yet still there are those who will deny

  Don’t worry, friends, have another beer

  Ours is not to wonder why

  Have a laugh and ring the bell

  We’re on the road to climate hell!

 

We could help if only we had the will

That we don’t is becoming clear

We’ve leaders yelling drill baby drill

  Have a party and raise a cheer

  Sit back and take a pill

  There is no need to fear

  In the end by God it turns our well

  On the road to climate hell!

 

The Age of Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Age of Fire

 

We are in the age of fire

Of that there is no doubt

There are consequences dire

There are no easy ways out

 

You can hope and you can pray

If it helps you to feel good

But we will have to face the day

When we must do the things we should

 

We are in the age of fire

The age of industry is done

We must raise our spirits higher

As we throw away our guns

 

There is far too much to lose

Without power hungry wars

A better way is ours to choose

We must open every door

 

To a safer way of being

A way to tame the fire beast

A way of living and of seeing

That will harm the planet least

 

A Legacy of Fire

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Western Wildfires

 

From California throughout the west

We’ve put firefighters to the test

So here’s to all you climate deniers

Your legacy is a trail of fire

 

Massive swaths of land destroyed

Pristine forest and small towns

Villages and country schools

Fields of green are turning brown

 

The land grows dry and brittle

A desperate need for rain

Branches crack and fall to earth

Whole crops of fruit and grain

 

We know we’re in for hard times

We are paying for our past

We acted out of avarice

We knew it could not last

 

We wish we’d done things differently

We catered to deniers

Now we watch our homelands burn

In a legacy of fire

 

Day of Change

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Day of Change

 

What will we do when the lights go out?

When the grid no longer holds?

Will we find a place to hide away?

Or has our refuge since been sold?

 

What will we do when the lakes go dry?

When the rivers no longer flow?

Will we steal away our water supply?

Will we pack our bags and go?

 

A day of change is coming

We can feel it in the air

The ties that bind have come undone

It is much too much to bear

 

Will we sacrifice our decency?

Our sense of right and wrong?

Will we cast aside our dignity?

Have we known it all along?

 

That day of change is coming

The pounding of the sun

Best settle in the best we can

There is no place to run