Showing posts with label History. Show all posts
Showing posts with label History. Show all posts

Monday, September 11, 2023

Twenty-Two Years

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY


Twenty-two Years (IXXI)

 

Twenty-two years

We remember clearly

What happened that day

Where we were

What we were doing

How it was first relayed

A plane flew into the World Trade Center

I once lived just down the avenue

Took the elevator to the top

Top of the world, ma!

Top of the world!

There was a transparent walkway

Connecting the two towers

Like the walkway over Grand Canyon

A sight so inspired you could

Hear the heartbeat of God

 

It was a mystery at first

A horribly tragic mystery

How could anyone fly into the tower?

Then it happened again

A plane hit the second tower

That’s when we knew

This tragedy – unlike so many others –

Would alter the fabric of our world

 

Twenty-two years later

We bear witness to what happened

That dreadful imprinted day

And all the horrors that followed

The mistakes that we made

 

Twenty-two years later

We know the Saudis were responsible

Not Iraq, not Iran, not Afghanistan

But the Saudis were our allies

Our oil buddies

Someone else had to take the blame

 

Twenty-two years later

We live with the consequences of

Decisions made that day

For those who do and those who do not

We bow our heads and pray

 

(For all the heroes of that fateful day

and all the days that followed.)

Sunday, September 10, 2023

Colossal Errors

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY


Colossal Errors

 

It was a mistake to allow the electoral

college to survive beyond the year 2000

 

It was a mistake to waste decades pretending

manmade climate change was not real

 

It was a mistake not to prosecute LBJ

for the Gulf of Tonkin mythology

 

It was a mistake for Gerald Ford to pardon

Richard Nixon quid pro quo for his

crimes against democracy

 

It was a mistake to sacrifice American workers

to the gods of cheap labor in China, India and

other third world nations

 

It was a mistake to imprison millions of

poor Americans in the name of

the war on drugs

 

It was a mistake to attack Afghanistan and

Iraq for the crimes of a Saudi terrorist sect

 

It was a mistake not to outlaw designer

districting and disenfranchisement

long, long ago

 

It was a mistake to rip the heart out

of Voting Rights and Civil Rights

 

Our proud nation has neglected so many

essential institutions of democracy for

so very long it would take a miracle to

save it now without unspeakable hardship

Wednesday, September 06, 2023

The Bush Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY


The Bush Men

 

Some never know when to move on

They hang on past their expiration date

It happens to old baseball players

It happens to actors and politicians

It happens to people who can’t let go

They become the subjects of pity

They become jokes at cocktail parties

They misinterpret the laughter as joy

Sometimes we can share the laughs

Other times it’s just too pathetic

It summons memories of tragedy

It recalls hypocrisy and lies

It brings an ache to our hearts

For example: The Bush Men

The neoconservative war mongers

The ones who dragged us into war

On the pretense of global terrorism

The lies still bite

The wounds still bleed

Their crimes against humanity

Still beg for retribution

Lower the curtain, turn out the lights

And bid them walk away

They have no place on the world stage

Walk away and say goodnight

 

Saturday, August 26, 2023

The Rhine (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES


The Rhine (River Series)

 

Among the most glorious rivers of Europe

The Rhine courses through six nations

From its birth in the Netherlands

It traces borders dividing Switzerland and

Lichtenstein, between Austria and Germany

It defines much of the French-German border

The magnificent Rhine graces the grand cities of

Cologne, Duesseldorf, Rotterdam and Strasbourg

Combined with the Danube it fed and fueled

The Holy Roman Empire

To know the Rhine is to know much of the

History of Europe

A history of triumph, conquest and tragedy

For civilization follows the path of the great rivers

Wars are drawn to their boundaries

Fates are determined by their bounty

The Rhine is the glory of Europe

And yet may mark its decline

Saturday, August 05, 2023

A Hero

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY


A Hero

 

At times in our history

  A story marked with war

A person rises from obscurity

  Or from a distant shore

Who calms our insecurities

  Who rises to the test

Who grabs the call to destiny

  The finest and the best

Who honors truth and dignity

  Who guides us on the way

Who grabs us by the collar

  Who knows just what to say

No need to scream or holler

  A gentle touch will do

Who makes us stand much taller

  The false against the true

 

We need such a hero

To save us from ourselves

To lift us from our blindness

To deliver us from hell

 

We need a Joan of Arc

Without the supposition

A Napoleon Bonaparte

Without the bold ambition

 

We need a coalition

United to do good

Without the inhibitions

To do the things we should

 

Wednesday, August 02, 2023

Floridian History

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY


Floridian History

 

Native Americans were given land grants

West of the Mississippi, north of the Rio Grande

 

Choctaw and Cherokee were awarded free

Passage to Oklahoma where the wind blows

Free and the antelopes run wild

 

General Crook bravely led his troops against

A band of seasoned warriors, women and children

At Sand Creek and Washita River

 

The gallant Colonel Custer withstood a savage

Attack of Lakota and Cheyenne warriors

At the battle of Little Big Horn

 

The importation of African slaves was an

Opportunity enhancement program to prepare

Unskilled labor for the modern economy

 

The razing of Black Tulsa was the result of

Riots and angry mobs objecting to the violence

Suppression measures of law enforcement

And deputized lawful citizens

 

Lynching was the occasional result of over-

Zealous citizens taking the law into their

Own hands

 

The internment of Japanese Americans during

The Great War for freedom was simply for

their own protection

 

Prohibition and the enfranchisement of women

Were the result of wrong thinking and

Unfortunate misinformation

 

The separation of church and state goes

Against the constitution and the word of God

 

Donald Trump won two presidential

Elections by a landslide of law abiding free

White citizens

 

Monday, July 31, 2023

Go North (The Great Migration)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

 

Go North (Northward Migration)

 

There was a time in the long ago

When the young listened to the old

I know it’s hard to believe it so

The old were wise, the young were bold

 

Go west, young man! the old advised

Where the air is clean and fresh

Give up your aged and tattered ties

The future’s in the west

 

So westward bound they rose and went

With dreams of wealth and health in tow

The fortunes saved were often spent

The westward trek was long and slow

 

Now the cry goes out once more

To those who seek a brighter day

The only way to go is north

A place where kids can run and play

 

Go north, young man, where hope survives

Go north to breathe clean air

Go north to keep your dreams alive

Go north if you still dare

 


Monday, July 17, 2023

Crazy Horse

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY


Crazy Horse (Heroes)

 

Never a chief

But a leader of men

A warrior not by nature

But the fiercest of all warriors

He went to the sacred mountains

To cry for a vision

The spirits blessed him with sight

He would never be killed

By a white man’s bullets

But a friend would betray him

He could take no honors

He would not be proud

He would take no more than he needed

He would live and bleed for his people

He betrayed his vision only twice

Laying with another man’s wife

Taking the honor of a shirt bearer

Both times nearly cost him his life

He proved his courage at the Greasy Grass

What the whites call Little Big Horn

He fought with the strength of seven warriors

His vision proved true at last

He knew this world was but a dream

He believed the dream world real

He went to the other side without regret

His image the whites would not steal

His spirit live on in the sacred Black Hills

Where his truth is forever revealed:

 

“My land is where my people lay buried.”

 

Crazy Horse

Wednesday, July 05, 2023

The Revolutionary War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


The Revolutionary War

 

The American Revolution 1776

A war for independence

The colonists took their licks

But they fought back like lions

A righteous cause was theirs

When France became our allies

‘Twas too much for England to bear

 

They were mostly farmers and tradesmen

Who had no real taste for war

But they fought because they believed

In liberty to the very core

When the English brought their best

And the rebels asked for more

They brought the Hessian mercenaries

All ties of blood were torn

 

Franklin, Paine and Jefferson

Stood with the rabble crowd

The monarchy was overthrown

Democracy stood proud

 

What is lost in this proud story

Are the natives and the blacks

The blacks remained in slavery

The natives were pushed back

 

Thursday, June 22, 2023

The Ballad of Christopher Wray

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Ballad of Christopher Wray

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

How many crimes did you ignore today?

 

You were in the highest position of power

As we marched toward the critical hour

We assumed a position of supplication

When insurrection threatened the nation

While you stood down in a state of denial

Democracy faced its greatest trial

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Who paid you to get out of the way?

 

When the nation needed a strong hand

You flatly refused to take a stand

With the strength and courage you clearly lack

We finally took our country back

Oh the stories you might tell

Instead you’ll take them straight to hell

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Why do you still hold office today?

 

Monday, June 19, 2023

Nine Eleven Generation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY


Nine Eleven Generation

 

The Vietnam generation grew up knowing

America was not always right

We attacked other nations without

Provocation just to prove we were the

Biggest baddest nation on the block

LBJ fed us to the meat grinder of war

And asked us to salute the flag in humble

Servitude to the mythology of USA!

Chanting: USA! USA! USA!

Nixon raised the stakes and fed a hundred

Thousand more knowing we were losing

Knowing we would lose the war

USA! USA! USA!

Some did as they were told

Some rebelled

 

The nine eleven generation grew up

Witnessing our nation under attack

They learned not to ask why

The sorrow of that day became a rage

That would last beyond a lifetime

One nation under God!

My nation right or wrong!

America love it or leave it!

They learned to follow without doubt

War for the sake of war

USA! USA! USA!

The nine eleven generation became

The Trump soldiers marching in lockstep

To destroy the very nation

They are pledged to defend