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?