To Kill a Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEATH PENALTY

To Kill

 

To kill a man in anger

To kill a man for cause

To kill a man for vengeance

To kill a man is wrong

 

I understand the rage

When an injustice is done

But there is no compensation

In picking up a gun

There is no grand salvation

In public execution

Let the hand of justice reign

Let it be firm and strong

But let it be without emotion

For that which soothes today

Tomorrow it may stun

 

To kill someone in anger

To kill someone for cause

To kill someone is wrong

Regardless of the laws

 

There are many who are evil

Who deserve a sudden death

Their crimes are so despicable

They steal away our breath

When justice takes them down

We will not shed a tear

We’ll celebrate the moment

And raise a rowdy cheer

But we will not kill in anger

To prove that we are strong

We will not kill for vengeance

Because killing is wrong

 

Mohammadi & Hamedi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

Iran: Mohammadi & Hamedi

 

Mahsa Amini lost her life

For sporting a forbidden style

Now the reporters who covered it

Are being brought to trial

 

Accused of being foreign agents

Working for the CIA

But they are only journalists

Reporting the news of the day

 

Imprisoned eight long months ago

How they’ve been treated we don’t know

Held in solitary confinement

The wheels of justice turning slow

 

That they don’t deserve such treatment

Is a fact beyond all doubt

We can only hope the outrage

Will turn Iran about

 

Hardship (for JFK)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Hardship

 

The road ahead is hard and treacherous

Powerful forces will oppose us

Many will fall by the roadside

Many will break our hearts

But as a great man* once said

We choose this path not because it is easy

We choose it because it is hard

Because it challenges the human spirit

Because it moves us toward the stars

It defines who and what we are

 

There will always be an easy way

The path of least resistance

Let the Russians take Ukraine

Let the rich have all while we pay

Let the garden of earth go untended

Let the waters fill with industrial waste

Let the wilderness be stripped clean

Let climate change and oceans rise

Let the rights of women and workers fall

Let the pain of others not move us

Let us wait and watch and let be

 

But that is not who or what we are

Not who we were meant to be

We rise to the challenge because we must

We meet our adversaries at the gates

We defend others as if they were ourselves

We protect our homes from plunder

We act with honor and with dignity

When pummeled and pushed we fight

We know the way forward is hard

But it is also good and right

That is why we choose it

 

* JFK

Brutality in Paris

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Brutality in Paris

 

As they labor on Notre Dame

As roses burst into bloom

As Paris blossoms in full spring

As Parisians and gardens sing

The Champs-Elysees explodes in protest

And the gendarme mows them down

With water cannons and riot sticks

The city of dreams and dreamers

The city of art and philosophy

The city of people’s rights and equality

Yields to the spirit of brutality

What price law and order?

What price economic austerity?

The city of lights should not hide in shadow

The city of enlightenment

Should not fear the cost of equity

The cradle of western civilization

Must always stand strong for

Liberty, fraternity, equality

 

When Paris yields to brutal tactics

The grand republic is tarnished

When Paris suppresses the people’s voice

The heart of democracy is stained

When Paris unleashes her vicious sting

Her beauty is diminished

Paris has lost her way before

But she has always found her balance

She has always restored her soul

May she do so now without delay

The world should move toward France

Not the other way around

 

Vladimir Kara-Murza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIAN OPPRESSION

Vladimir Kara-Murza *

 

To the defenders of Russian actions

To the apologists for Putin’s aggression

To those who curse the western reaction

As they point to our past oppression

 

If you resided in the Kremlin today

You would be facing a charge of treason

There’d be nothing you could do or say

There would be no point to your reason

 

If you but dared to criticize the leader

Or spoke out against the nation

You’d be labeled a trouble breeder

A spreader of “false information”

 

You would spend your life behind bars

Never again to breathe free air

No longer to gaze at the stars

Would you finally begin to care?

 

To you who disseminate Russian lies

We know who butters your bread

Respect for the truth defies

All the falsehoods that you spread

 

And there is no just compensation

For the evil that you have served

You have lost all hope of salvation

May you get what you richly deserve

 

* Russian journalist and critic sentenced

to 25 years in prison.

 

Ironies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Ironies

 

The irony is

Poverty hits hardest those who

don’t believe in helping the poor

 

The irony is

Global warming most victimizes

those who deny its very existence

 

The irony is

Homelessness comes to those

who least expect it

 

The irony is

Those who condemn sins most

loudly are most likely to be tempted

 

The irony is

Those who cry injustice are often

those who are most unjust

 

Life is filled with ironies

There runs a steady stream

On the daily news

In our daily lives

In the lives of those we know

In the lives of those we don’t

 

In a world of the extraordinary

The extraordinary becomes ordinary

 

Ironic, isn’t it?

 

Dehumanization

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Dehumanization

 

Dehumanization begins with

The delineation of classes

Be it royalty or wealth

The division of the masses

Into higher and lower beings

Enables cruelty and neglect

To those of lesser means

The undeserving of respect

Born to serve their betters

Those of higher pedigree

Those of wealth, the jetsetters

Those who brandish their degrees

From institutions of privilege

Harvard, Yale and Trinity

 

They’re simply better than the ones

Who sweat for their next meal

The ones who live by their hands

The ones who often beg and steal

Won’t they ever understand

By the turning of the wheel

They’re simply cruder, lesser than

The ones who carry the great seal

The royal bloodline of the grand

 

Within the circles of the few

Who speak in whispers soft but sure

There is nothing we can do

To ease their suffering

We are the chosen, wise and pure

While they are something more obscure

Dare I say (something less than human)

 

West Bank Genocide

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

West Bank Genocide

 

And so it begins

Empower extremists from the far right

Strip the judiciary of their lawful authority

Wait til the world is distracted

And launch an offensive in the West Bank

A policy of genocide under cover of constraint

Take their lands, take their homes,

Take their livelihoods, take their lives

 

Where is the Israeli press?

Where is the law of nations?

Where are the people in the streets?

 

If Russian aggression cannot stand

How can Israel be allowed the same?

 

If Putin is a pariah and a war criminal

A scourge on the human race

What then is Netanyahu?

 

If brutality and aggression against the

People of Ukraine is an outrage

How is it not an outrage when the

Victims are Palestinian?

 

Stop the outrage

End the occupation

Stop the brutality

End the genocide

In the West Bank, in Ukraine

And everywhere

 

The Martyr

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

The Martyr (Mohsen Shekari)

 

A child grows up wanting to be

A firefighter, a police officer, a doctor

A lawyer, a cowboy, a chief

 

No one grows up wanting to be a martyr

No one aspires to be stoned

by the morality police

No one wants to be remembered

for their sacrifice

 

But we do want to be heroes

We do want to be remembered for

standing strong on principle

We do want our names to be passed on

to future generations

We do want to be known for the

courage of our convictions

 

Let the name of Mohsen Shekari be

etched in the stone of martyrdom

alongside Mahsa Amini

 

Let their courage and conviction be

Known throughout Iran and across

the world to the end of time

 

He did not wish to be martyred

yet his martyrdom speaks of honor

and his honor lives on

 

Dreamers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DREAM

Dreamers

 

In all my days I’ve wanted nothing more

Than to dream and act on my dreams

Our lives have so much hardship in store

Our ambitions are just what they seem

 

We want a chance at higher education

We want jobs at a decent wage

We want to live in a fair and thriving nation

We want to see an enlightened age

 

We are the ones who believe in the dream

The ones who will carry the light

We wish to join the American team

We will keep our goals in sight

 

We are really no different than you are

We desire the same things you do

A home, a family a working car

To prove that the dream is still true

 

Enemies of God

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

Enemies of God

 

Those who proclaim their adversaries

The enemies of God

Are twisted in their righteousness

Their vision warped and odd

 

They kill dissidents in Tehran

They sentence protesters to death

If they could hear the word of God

It would still their very breath

 

For there is no greater crime

Than to kill in your God’s name

God is merciful and kind

Vengeful zealots will face shame

 

I do not know the word of God

I do not pretend to know

But if you use his name to kill

I believe his wrath will show

 

Political Prisoners (Alaa Abdel Fattah)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

Political Prisoners (Egypt)

 

Alaa does not eat

Alaa does not drink

He is an activist for democracy

He is protesting his imprisonment

For speaking out against tyranny

Alaa is one of thousands

People jailed for their dissent

Victims of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

 

Alaa’s family pleads with the west

To support their righteous cause

The cause of human rights

The cause of justice

The cause of democracy

El-Sisi’s Egypt is a totalitarian state

An enemy of enlightenment

 

The cause of human rights

Does not end in Ukraine

That which applies to Russia

Must also apply to others

 

The dissidents of Egypt do not want war

They do not ask for military aid

They ask only for words

They ask only for justice

They ask only for respect

 

Free Alaa Abdel Fattah!

Free Leonard Peltier!

Free Brittney Griner!

Free political prisoners everywhere!

 

The Flood in Nigeria

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Flood

 

Nigeria faces an epic flood

Ethiopia confronts biblical starvation

While the world discusses climate change

Much of Africa pleads for salvation

 

The flood in Nigeria reminds us

That those who pay the greatest price

Of global warming are often those

Who gained the thinnest slice

 

The famine in Ethiopia informs us

That the effects of industrialization

Do not spare the relatively innocent

But impact equally all nations

 

Islands sink in the deep blue sea

Crops fail and rivers run dry

We pray to our gods but cannot wonder

The clear and obvious reasons why