The Cycle

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

 

The Cycle

 

Killing children in Minneapolis

The vicious cycle repeats

The cycle of the irrational

The cycle is never complete

 

Killing children in Gaza

The cycle of killing goes on

The deliberate killing of journalists

The infinite cycle of wrong

 

The cycle of endless violence

We hear the tired voices

Calls for prayer, moments of silence

We’re left without any choices

 

We pray to the second amendment

To protect us from all harm

With guns we live in contentment

While we fail to raise alarm

 

The cycle goes on forever

As we live in a world of hate

If the right to arms is revered

The cycle is our fate

 

Security

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PEACE

 

Security

 

Security cannot be achieved through firearms

Security cannot be achieved by force

Though desired by all and everywhere

Security is a matter of course

 

We are not made safe by walls and fences

We are not made safe by arms

If we wish to erect our best defenses

We must honor the saying: Do no harm

 

No one wants to live danger

Yet danger lives most everywhere

It might be a friend or an unknown stranger

It may glance at you or stare

 

You will know it when it takes its place

You will know it when it acts

When it takes you in its cold embrace

Your whole world will turn to black

 

Love your neighbor as you love yourself

Be as fair and honest as you know how

Every human should be treated well

More than ever we need it now

 

The Core of Violence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VIOLENCE

 

The Core of Violence

 

The core of violence is hatred

Hatred of self and others

It is not inherited but bred

A resentment of our brothers

 

How do we learn to hate?

It rises from deep inside

We are taught an intolerant state

From which we cannot hide

 

We learn to hate ourselves

When we’re taught to hate the other

We would rather go to hell

Than have love for one another

 

From this most violence springs

That hatred of the self

It spreads on hatred’s wings

It rings the vengeance bell

 

If we wish to curb the violence

We must learn to love ourselves

We can’t sit still in silence

While we’re captured in its spell

 

The Killing of Lorenz

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE VIOLENCE

 

The Killing of Lorenz

 

Maybe he lost his mind

No one really seems to know

Were the police color blind

Or did their bias show?

 

He sprayed gas into a crowd

What kind they didn’t know

He seemed mad and crazy loud

He absorbed five killing blows

 

He was dead right on the spot

And the people gathered round

Was this a terrorist plot?

Was the shooting sound?

 

We may never know the answers

Why this young black man is dead

Is this an incident or a cancer?

A day all Germans dread

 

He was victim number 22

For the year 2024

In the red, white and blue

There were 1,343 more

 

(A black man shot by police

in Oldenburg, Germany.)

 

Casualties of Culture

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GUN CONTROL

Casualties of Culture

 

How many dead?  How many wounded?

That’s all we want to know

How many dead?  How many wounded?

Our sense of helplessness grows

 

What if you knew them?

What if your child was dead?

Would you still say the pledge?

Would you still vote red?

 

We kill more people than any other nation

With our guns and our right to arms

We shed more tears for the innocent

With our guns we do more harm

 

We have been here many times before

And we have rarely taken action

For the countless victims of gun violence

There is no satisfaction

 

They wring their hands and say their prayers

They will hang their heads in mourning

They will act as if they really care

We will let that serve as warning

 

Nothing ever changes unless we vote

For change.

 

Mass Murder in Bohemia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Mass Murder in Bohemia

 

The ratatatat of murder

Splits the scene in the city of bridges

City of Kafka, Dubcek and Havel

Destroying the Christmas calm

Shattering the peace

A lone gunman with a submachine gun

A weapon meant for war

A killer of many humans

A reaper of death in numbers

 

He opened fire on his fellow students

As if it was a war zone

As if it was Gaza or Bakhmut

As if he sought revenge for the killing

Of his people, his friends, his family

But he was not a soldier

He was the killer of his father

He was the killer of his friends

As if he had friends

But a mass murderer has no friends

He traded them for weapons

He bartered them for blood

 

To those who thought this could not

Happen in Europe

That only foreign terrorists could strike

At the heart of European peace

That Europeans would not kill their own

In numbers greater than one

You were wrong

 

Prague is a victim of the American disease

The unfettered right to carry arms

The availability of killing machines

Now Bohemia must decide how many

Lives the right to arms is worth

Weapons of war

Armor piercing bullets

Weapons of mass destruction

How many lives are they worth?

The Right to Kill

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

The Right to Kill

 

What is it with all these madmen?

Does it give them a twisted thrill?

The right to arms has now become

A sordid right to kill

 

They do not care what others think

The world belongs to them

We never asked them what they thought

Who are we to condemn?

 

They kill because they have the right

They kill because they can

They kill because they fear the night

Will no one understand?

 

There are more of them each day

They are arming to the hilt

If you ask them why they will proclaim

They have the right to kill

 

I did not give them weapons

I will not share the blame

But when he pulls the trigger

He does it in our name

Angry Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GUN CONTROL

Angry Men

 

We breed angry men in this country

Like they breed cheese in France

Like they breed horses in Kentucky

Like golfers on the Texas plains

Like ballplayers in Puerto Rico

 

We cultivate them from the cradle

We nourish them on entitlement

We embitter them with injustice

We embolden them with glory

We trigger them with rage

 

When they ready to explode

We offer no compassion

We offer no understanding

We offer no means of cooling down

We offer no pause for reflection

 

We give them guns and ammunition

We give them weapons of mass destruction

We give them military killing machines

We give them media of hate and rage

We point them the way to glory

And feign outrage when they kill

American Killers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GUN CONTROL

American Killers

 

Who buys an AR-15 and

Fifty rounds of ammunition?

American Killers

 

Who drives 300 miles

To kill brown people in Texas?

American Killers

 

Who sprays a nightclub with bullets

Because they can’t get a date?

American Killers

 

Who amasses an arsenal of weapons

To attack a synagogue or church?

American Killers

 

Who wakes up in the morning

And says: Today is a good day to kill?

American Killers

 

Who protects the right of the mentally

Deranged to possess weapons

Of mass destruction?

American Killers

 

Only in America does this happen

Because the same court that decided

There is no right to vote

That corporations have the rights of citizens

That elections can be sold to

The highest bidder

Decided that individuals have the right

To bear arms without regard

To well-regulated militias

 

Who enables mass murder?

Politicians and the Supreme Court

American Killers

 

Serbia Leads

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Serbia Leads

 

Faced with mass casualty gun violence

Serbia chose to take action

No false tears and deliberations

They won’t stop short of satisfaction

 

A two-year ban on gun sales

Universal background checks

Mandatory prison sentences

Immediately take effect

 

Serbia has done what we could not do

To save their people from gun violence

When the citizens rose to demand change

They broke the code of silence

 

Bless the Serbian government

For doing what republics should do

While others only pay lip service

The Serbians listened to truth

 

Crack in East LA

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Crack in East LA

 

Remember back in the nineties

When the CIA delivered crack cocaine

To the gangs in East LA

Transforming the crips and the bloods

Into well-armed citizens militias

The CIA used the money to finance

The Contras of Nicaragua

A force against democracy

The CIA doesn’t push drugs anymore

But the gangs don’t need drug money

To buy weapons of mass destruction

It’s easy to buy guns

Any kind of guns

From sawed-off shots to M-16s

If you’ve got the money

They’ve got the guns

The forces of law’n’order don’t need

To start wars in the hood

To kill off the poor people

The people of color

The people who don’t vote

The people who don’t matter

Give ‘em the guns and they’ll

Do it themselves

Shoot ‘em up bang bang

Another black or brown dead

Why not give ‘m an education

Instead?