Putin's Shadow

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Putin’s Shadow

 

In the shadow of aggression

All of Europe is on alert

History has taught a lesson

Pressing though it may hurt

 

Germany has raised the alarm

With incentives to build their forces

Although none would wish to harm

There are few alternative courses

 

The continent must be prepared

For whatever the beast has in mind

If captured in the monster’s lair

The world would be in a bind

 

Conscription is an unthinkable crime

Let us hope we’re not headed there

The road ahead is a difficult climb

Every nation must do its share

 

Denmark is drafting women

France is offering more

Finland expands its conscription

In preparation for a coming war

 

We pray for a world in peace

For an end to wars of all kinds

But the Kremlin is home to a beast

To that fact we cannot be blind

 

 

Rewarding Aggression

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Rewarding Aggression (Ukraine)

 

A brutal legacy of destruction

The invasion of Ukraine

We demand its reconstruction

Reparations in the main

 

You cannot reward aggression

If you want a world of peace

The time has come for this lesson

The brutality must cease

 

All of Europe is united

They have frozen Russian funds

This wrong cannot be righted

Without depleting Russian guns

 

So many lives have been lost

We all know who’s to blame

The one and only Kremlin boss

Whose lasting mark is shame

 

Take away all his wealth

Strip him of his power

He has claimed it all by stealth

Make him face his final hour

 

Let him roam the barren earth

A man who walks alone

Let his home be built of dirt

Let his comfort be his groans

 

Moldova Chooses Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Moldova Chooses Freedom

 

Maia Sandu remains president

In a free and fair election

Vladimir Putin is feeling spent

With his candidate’s rejection

 

The people of Moldova

Choose democracy once again

Putin tried to interfere

But he was denied a win

 

The affirmation goes to show

When the people have a choice

The desire for freedom grows

They will exercise their voice

 

We salute fair Moldova

While NATO lies in wait

Russia is like a melanoma

A disease is their estate

 

The future now looks bright

Form Moldovan democracy

Again they’ve seen the light

A stern rejection of autocracy

 

 

Xi Takes the Lead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Xi Takes the Lead

 

While America proclaims a hoax

China moves ahead

Making Xi a little more woke

And lessening the dread

Of a climate change denier

Living in the White House

A dirty coal supplier

A deal with Doctor Faust

 

Reducing carbon emissions

In the interest of humankind

Reduces our suspicions

Of what China has in mind

For all our best decisions

Depend on what we find

In the hope of nuclear fission

And the global warming bind

 

As America steps back

The Chinese take the lead

Where science is under attack

All of Europe feels the need

There’s something that we lack

When the whole world plants a seed

While we run off the tracks

In record numbing speed

 

 

Provocation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

 

Provocation

 

He is the neighborhood bully

Poking your friend in the chest

If we could understand it fully

It is a provocation to the west

 

Drones over Europe

Fighter jets in NATO airspace

A strategy of drip drip drip

Putting NATO in its place

 

It is a reckless game

That only Putin would engage

But it is more of the same

From the man on center stage

 

Will he stimulate defiance?

Another war, an arms race?

Will he weaken the alliance?

Will he back down with grace?

 

In the days and years ahead

He will put us to the test

It could be a world of dread

Unless we unify the west

 

Drones over Poland

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Drones over Poland

 

Russia is testing the west

Sending drones over Polish skies

Putin is pounding his chest

To see how the allies fly

 

The threat is abundantly clear

They’re pushing as far as they can

An agenda designed to spread fear

Throughout all western lands

 

NATO must stand united

Against the allies of Russian aggression

These wrongs can only be righted

With a strong, united expression

 

Ukraine will not be the lamb

Sacrificed to appease the beast

Together the alliance must stand

To demand the aggressor cease

 

Only then will the world find peace

Only then will aggression end

The path of resistance least

Is that NATO will not bend

 

Military Conscription

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Military Conscription in Germany

 

When counting crimes against humanity

Do not neglect armed conscription

It is a symptom of our insanity

A morally bankrupt predilection

 

The desperate hour is drawing near

And we are desperate for solutions

Our trepidations and our fears

Are leading us to devolution

 

An army of conscripts will not serve

With the force of volunteers

A cause that’s just does not deserve

A fighting force that’s commandeered

 

We are not like the North Koreans

We do not do what despots do

That is not the right idea

To raise an army fair and true

 

If a great army must be raised

Let us appeal to the heart and mind

Move beyond conscription daze

Leave those evil ways behind

 

(Germany considers conscription)

 

Summer Winds

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Summer Winds

 

The summer winds blow hot this year

Sparking dry brush into flame

The people run or hide in fear

On the outskirts of Marseille

 

For this the French are well prepared

They halted trains and planes

Though the fire spread and flared

It was tempered in the main

 

Wildfires strike across the globe

The floods and monster storms

Catastrophes will come in droves

As the planet has grown warm

 

It’s far too late to stem the tide

Disasters will come hard and fast

Destruction will be far and wide

The damage done will last

 

Tell your leaders everywhere

In every town and nation

The time is now to get prepared

For the great acceleration

 

 

Heat Wave in Europe

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Heat Wave

 

All of Europe is on fire

From Madrid to Istanbul

The temperature is higher

No matter where you go

 

Everywhere the warming

Is driving through the air

Everywhere the harming

Is much too much to bear

 

The children are surviving

The heat is bearing down

Relief is not arriving

The waves are all around

 

You want to run for shelter

But shelter’s hard to find

A dash through helter skelter

An unforgiving bind

 

We all become believers

When children start to die

We’ll curse the rank deceivers

Who let us live the lie

 

The warming is upon us

The time has come to pass

Recall the ones who conned us

The flags will fly half mast

 

 

Ukraine Strikes Back

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE WAR

 

Ukraine Strikes Back

 

Deep in the heart of the Kremlin

They are feeling Ukrainian pain

The work of intelligence gremlins

Has left a lasting stain

 

Now the war will take its toll

Beneath all Russian eyes

Vladimir will blame the whole

On Ukraine and Europe’s spies

 

But that is not the story

As Vladimir knows too well

For starting this wrong war he

Will find his place in hell

 

For Dante knew his kind

His greed and thirst for power

As time and fate unwinds

He nears the desperate hour

 

And no one will take pity

On the man who would be king

For the bombing of the cities

The consequence will sting

 

 

 

 

Germany Steps Up

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Germany Steps Up

 

In the absence of an American ally

To lead in the defense of Ukraine

Chancellor Merz has applied

With a promise of critical aid

 

There will be no limitations

On the range of Ukrainian strikes

Next target the Moscow station

Raining missiles into the night

 

Now Russia reaps what it sows

And Putin takes the blame

He is lost on a lonesome road

That leads to nowhere but shame

 

If this is what is required

To bring Putin to negotiations

Then set the Kremlin on fire

Let them plead for salvation

 

They did not want this fight

But they will surely answer back

They stand firm for what is right

Against a brutal Russian attack

 

Now your people will feel the pain

That proceeds from your dirty war

When there is nothing more to gain

What are you fighting for?

 

 

Power Failure

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TECHNOLOGY

 

Power Failure

 

Power outage across Portugal and Spain

Life goes on without electricity

The fuel that runs our electric brain

That powers our towns and cities

 

No one knows what caused the shock

But everyone feels the pain

Get out of your cars and take a walk

Your legs may feel the strain

 

We had to know this day would come

Our computers run the world

Without their power they soon go dumb

All their systems come unfurled

 

We are left to ponder the consequence

Of our dependency on machines

We are meant to question what we’ve spent

And to wonder what it means

 

We await the coming of the night

When all the cities will go dark

Will the people calmly seek the light

Or will madness light a spark?

 

Broken Promise

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP & PUTIN

 

Broken Promise

 

He promised to end the war

With fairness, honor and dignity

Instead his clumsy White House roar

Called for surrender without indemnity

 

If you don’t intend to keep your word

Let it be behind closed doors

For now all the world has heard

Your betrayal on the war

 

You are a Putin underling

You answer to his orders

When he snaps his fingers you must sing

Expand the Russian borders

 

You’ve broken this and every other

Promise that you’ve made

For you are Putin’s little brother

The best of plans you’ve laid

 

To redraw the world’s geography

The Russian American empires

To write a new biography

To set the world on fire

 

The whole of Europe is alarmed

They will not let this pass

They will not yield to Putin’s charm

Or bow down to the American …

Evolution of World Order

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MAGA

 

Evolution of World Order

 

We are no longer the leader of the free world

We are the leader of the autocrats

We form a front of imperial powers

We desire to expand our territory

We are willing to use force (if necessary)

We will show no preference in trade

We will gradually withdraw from NATO

We will treat Europe as an adversary

We will absorb our northern neighbor

We will take control of Panama

We will take control of Greenland

We will hold Mexico in trust

 

It is a new world order

With America as its king

An America with borders

Of thee I sing

 

We welcome those with money

All the rest can serve as slaves

Those who dare defy us

We’ll haunt you to your graves

 

It is a new world order

The one we’ve wanted all along

Filled with chaos and disorder

Let us sing the MAGA song

An American in Munich

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

An American in Munich

 

He is not loud and brash

Like the despots he admires

He has no zealotry or flash

He pretends to put out fires

 

But he hides an evil motive

Beneath his tortured rationale

He promotes an ugly votive

To raise his fascist nationale

 

He appeal for lack of reason

To the enemies from within

In Munich it’s known as treason

As if we don’t know where they’ve been

 

The despots are his allies

He has no sympathy for friends

He doesn’t hear the warning cries

That our alliance is at an end

 

We know he does not care

Where Europe goes from here

It’s clear he does not share

What Europe holds most dear

 

(JD Vance lectures Munich officials

on accepting the far-right parties.)

 

Tesla Falls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Tesla Falls (Ode to Elon)

 

Sales of Tesla fall in France

The end of a green romance

The same holds true in Denmark

Where sales have lost their spark

They’ve lost their wonder in Berlin

In the Netherlands they cannot win

Tesla falls across the sphere

Wherever they can see and hear

The end of Tesla drawing near

They’ve seen it and they fear

 

They do not welcome autocrats

Who flaunt their rabid power

Those billionaires and greedy cats

Who build their faulty towers

The oligarchs and fascist pigs

Who flaunt their Nazi loyalties

Who celebrate at fascist gigs

As if they’re fascist royalty

 

So take your piles of dirty cash

And toss them down a hole

They’ve tired of your act at last

A man who lacks a soul

 

The Balance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Balance

 

The despots have their champion

With his money and his fame

He yearns to carve an empire

And brand it with his name

 

He’s on the march in Britain

He has headquarters in Berlin

As for the rest of the world

Where do we begin?

 

There’s trouble in South Korea

The Middle East is in flames

Poland, France and Hungary

To our eternal shame

 

There’s panic all around the globe

As we count the final hours

There is no place beyond the reach

Of a madman’s quest for power

 

From Syria to Ecuador

From Columbia to Spain

The fear of falling victim

Like the victims in Ukraine

 

When we lose our sense of balance

Our bond of unity may fall

When the oligarchs take over

It will threaten one and all