The Crusader

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

The Crusader (Pete Hegseth)

 

Those who do not know their history

Are most often condemned to repeat

They very worst of our worst atrocities

The Crusades ended in defeat

 

The Crusaders killed with utter pleasure

Annihilation was their only plan

They led massacres at their leisure

Killing children, woman and man

 

They believed their sword was blessed

Because they wore the Crusader’s cross

All sins forgiven when confessed

They never thought about the cost

 

In innocent lives and human suffering

In generations sworn to hate

All to grasp that illusive ring

To stake claim to their eternal fate

 

Now some would like a new Crusade

For another century of blood

Exchange the bullet for the blade

Watch the stream become a flood

 

(Trump’s choice for Defense Secretary

is a champion of the crusades.)

 

Trying Times

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Trying Times

 

“These are the times that try men’s souls…”

 

  -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

 

As it was in America circa 1774

So it is today in Ukraine

It is a hard fought and bitter war

Sometimes it seems in vain

But those who stand it now

Through winter’s harshest strain

Deserve the eternal blessings

Of all who love Ukraine

 

We cannot blame the ones who fall

Who can’t endure the pain

For many answer to the call

Before their hopes are slain

Who cannot climb another wall

Though their love will never wane

 

Forgive them for their changing hearts

Their loyalty is plain

The war has broken them apart

We fear it breaks Ukraine

But those who stay the course

Will stand forever tall

The heroes of this dirty war

The love of one and all

 

(Ukrainian soldiers flee the battlefield.)

 

Days of Change

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

 

 DAYS OF CHANGE

The assassinations of JFK, MLK & Bobby

Each event a nation mourned

Each event a hidden element celebrated

We wondered who benefited

Who struck a deal with the devil

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The killing of the kids at Kent State

The killings at Jackson State

Shit got real fast

We knew how they hated us

We did not know how much

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The resignation of LBJ

Now we knew we could bring change

We could stop an evil war

Bring peace to the killing fields

A new era of hope and wonder

That’s when they killed Bobby

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The resignation of Richard Nixon

The man who embraced China

The man who elevated dictators

The man who won 49 states

The man who hired burglars

And kept a long enemies list

Resigned in disgrace

Days of wonder

Days of change

 

The morning the twin towers fell

An act of unconscionable violence

The death of thousands

A declaration of vengeance

The global war on terror

Iraq and Afghanistan

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The reelection of Donald Trump…

Jack Random is the author of eight novels (including Pawns to Players and Wasichu), three collections of short stories, two volumes of plays, ten volumes of political essays (Jazzman Chronicles) and six books of poetry (including Life Songs and Lost in Her Soul).  His most recent works are Poemics Americana and Poemics International (Crow Dog Press).

We're Still There

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAQ

We’re Still There

 

We invaded Iraq without provocation

We created the backlash of ISIS

We proved ourselves an imperial nation

When we exploited the 911 crisis

 

ISIS became a growing concern

When we left Iraq in tatters

The conquering nations never learn

As every empire shatters

 

We left Iraq an absolute mess

Iran exploited our disaster

We did what often we do best

When ambition is our master

 

We lost the war to national pride

But not the kind you’re thinking

The pride was on the other side

Our ship of state was sinking

 

We left Iraq many years ago

We were caught in a dragon’s lair

As doubt in our intentions grow

We acknowledge we’re still there

 

Moving the Homeless

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HOMELESSNESS

Moving the Homeless

 

It doesn’t matter whether you call them

The unhoused, homeless or unsheltered

The unhoused are homeless

The homeless have no shelter

 

The homeless have always been

As long as the river runs

As long as the sun rises in the east

During the Great Depression

The homeless lived in Hoovervilles

Or followed the rails in hobo camps

There were soup kitchens for the poor

There were shelters from the storm

When times got rough in one place

The cops moved them along

The railroad bulls beat them

Catch em if you can

 

We’ve come a long way since then

But the homeless are still here

In ever increasing numbers

They camped in parks until the rangers

Came around to push them out

They camped by the riverside until

The river cops pushed them out

They camped on the streets until

The street cops pushed them out

 

I don’t know what the solution is

But pushing the homeless from one

Camp to another is not an answer

It’s just a way of avoiding the question

We have a right to expect some service

Of all individuals – even the homeless –

In exchange, individuals have a right to

Expect fulfillment of basic needs

Including food and shelter

 

The Strange Case (Julian Assange)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY

The Strange Case

 

The strange case of Julian Assange

Will be an anecdote in history

He exposed the dirty lies of war

But his motives were a mystery

When he aided by omission

The campaign of a pretender

He went after one candidate

But he spared the worst offender

Who ever landed on the stage

With the help of Brother Vlad

In defiance of his age

We went from good to bad

 

Those who were offended

By the consequence of his actions

Will not accept or forgive him

Or his strained loyal faction

We hold him much to blame

For the threat to our nation

He should hide his head in shame

He should forego the celebration

For his reasoning was lame

When he served the Russian station

Did he really go insane

Or did he just enjoy sensation?

 

America Found

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

America Found (the Awakening)

 

We have lost our way before

We are not a perfect nation

We regarded the protectors of the land

As something less than human

As beasts to be exterminated

Or tamed and put in cages

It took centuries to awaken

To know the error of our ways

But we have awakened

To set forth a better day

 

We enslaved generations of blacks

We denied their basic humanity

We put them in chains

When they demanded their freedom

We hunted them down like rabid dogs

We whipped and hobbled them

We killed and raped them

It took centuries to awaken

To accept the truth that we betrayed

But we have awakened

To a more enlightened way

 

We have fought unprovoked wars

Unjust wars of mass destruction

We have followed poor leaders

We have embraced corporate greed

We have turned the clock backwards

We have stripped away rights

We have sanctioned child labor

We have done evil things

In our God’s holy name

But we have always awakened

In the spirit of righteous shame

 

The Coup

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Coup

 

Maybe we’re all to blame

Maybe a change was overdue

Now we hang our heads in shame

We’ve legitimized the coup

 

We all witnessed an act of treason

Every one of us knows it’s true

Have we abandoned our sense of reason?

We have legitimized the coup

 

You might say nothing has changed

Days of old become the new

All the pieces are rearranged

We’ve legitimized the coup

 

Who’s to say when it will end?

Let’s give the other side its due

Will it break or will it bend?

We have legitimized the coup

 

This will live beyond tomorrow

They will wonder what we knew

We will hide our heads in sorrow

We legitimized the coup

 

Goosesteps in Red Square

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Goosesteps in Red Square

 

Tanks rolled in the Kremlin today

Soldiers goosestepped in Red Square

On a freezing cold and snowy day

Mother Russia remembers Victory Day

 

The Russians fought against the Nazis

Millions starved and died

But they held strong against the tide

Their hearts rightfully filled with pride

 

But the war they fight against Ukraine

An invasion of their choosing

We can’t pretend it is the same

And this time they are losing

 

America stood behind them then

Now we stand against them

They have the weapons and the men

But the civilized world condemns them

 

You cannot take a land by force

Because you held it long ago

We must not allow aggressive wars

To enable a nation to grow

 

Remember Kent State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Remember Kent State

 

Back in the year 1970

(most of you don’t remember)

The National Guard in the state of Ohio

Shot four students dead

They were not violent

They were not breaking the law

They were shot dead for being there

Shot dead for caring

Shot dead for the war machine

In Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

 

We knew they hated us

We didn’t know they’d kill us

After Kent State we knew

We’d never forget the bloodstained path

The tears of innocence

The end of an era of hope

 

More than any other event of the decade

Kent State divided the nation

Kent State burned itself into our psyche

It spawned a generation of distrust

A distrust of government and authority

Passed down the years to today

 

If you love this nation

If you love its principles and ideals

If you want America to endure

Then remember Kent State

Remember Jackson State

Remember the age of protest

Remember the disenchantment

And make sure it never happens again

Worse than Buchanan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Worse than Buchanan

 

Worse than Buchanan

Worse than Franklin Pierce

His defenders were none

His opposition remained fierce

 

Buchanan, Pierce and Fillmore

Paved the road to Civil War

As colossal failures to the union

You could hardly ask for more

 

Historians know the value

Of a president’s true worth

They chose our number 45

As the nation’s very worst

 

He betrayed our democracy

He failed to build his wall

He divided all Americans

As he fulfilled treason’s call

 

His followers stand by him

Despite his fatal flaws

His ego and his ignorance

His defiance of the law

 

No one could be worse than him

He’s as bad as it gets

Will the nation have him back again?

Who knows? Place your bets

 

Teaching True History

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Teaching True History

 

In Carolina the Underground Railroad

Was a smuggling operation

In Florida slavery was job training

In Alabama the Civil War was fought

Over economic differences

In Mississippi (goddamn) Strange Fruit

Were Kiwis and Kumquats

In Tennessee the Trail has no Tears

In Oklahoma Tulsa has no ghosts

In Texas the Rangers never killed Mexicans

In North Dakota Wounded Knee was a battle

In California we teach the truth

We didn’t always but we do now

 

If a child does not know where he came

From she will not know where to go

If a child does not know true history

He will not be prepared for the world

If a child is raised on mythology as if

It were the truth that child is condemned

To a future of disappointment

 

You cannot hide the truth forever

You can ban books but you cannot banish reading

You can bend facts but you cannot revise the truth

When you lie to your children over and

Over you guarantee disenchantment

And you will never win their trust

 

Teach your children the truth or

They will grow to resent you

And they will be right

 

Boots on the Ground

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Boots on the Ground

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

They did not ask us to lend a hand

We fought our wars on their land

We hoped they’d understand

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

We put our boots on their ground

We asked them not to let us down

When we unleashed the hounds

 

Iraq is not Ukraine

The differences are plain

Like sunshine and forever rain

They do not want our soldiers

We do not want their grain

 

Ukraine is not Afghanistan

Though they share a common thread

The Russians once invaded them

An act they came to dread

An act the world condemned

 

Ukraine is not Vietnam

They do not want our troops

They don’t want our boots on loan

They only want their country

They want to defend their own