Impunity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Impunity

 

“Nothing’s more dangerous than

power with impunity.” 

 

Isabel Allende, Portrait in Sepia

 

 

Nothing speaks of insanity

Nothing could be more extreme

Than a president with impunity

Decreed by the Court Supreme

 

One wonders what they were thinking

On that misbegotten day

When the ship of state was sinking

And they helped it on its way

 

They gifted him immunity

The people did not have a say

They assured enduring disunity

For as long as he would stay

 

So now he’ll stay forever

He will never leave the house

He’s pulling each and every lever

To get his forces armed and roused

 

ICE is his gestapo

Brown Shirts and the Guard

We don’t know where it goes

But we’re sure it goes down hard

 

Our democracy is at stake

She is trembling with desperate fear

Her defenders better stay awake

Or the end times will be here

 

 

The Resistance Grows

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

The Resistance Grows

 

We don’t know how it began

We don’t know how it will end

But we know and understand

What lies around the bend

 

We’ve all seen this act before

Like a nightmare in repeat

It’s a scene of blood and gore

They’re all pounding out the beat

 

We’ll be heading out tomorrow

To see what we can do

We’ll take what we could borrow

To see our mission through

 

The men in masks will follow

Wherever we may roam

Their hearts and souls are hollow

They’ll hunt us to our homes

 

They’ll take away our families

They’ll threaten all our friends

They’ll call us all the enemies

From which they must defend

 

But the people won’t believe them

They’ve seen enough to know

Too often they’ve deceived them

Their sense of outrage grows

 

 

The Washington Post

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE PRESS

 

The Post

 

The Post is dead

(long live the Post)

The Washington Post is dead

Jeff Bezos’ Post to Trump is wed

The revered Post is dead

 

And Bezos is the killer

A real-life reporter’s thriller

He shot the famed newspaper dead

He favors propaganda instead

Bezos is the killer

 

Does anybody care?

The press is running scared

Replaced by sycophants and bums

The retail journalistic scum

Does anybody care?

 

The gestapo is in place

They cover up their faces

They threaten violence everywhere

Defy them if you dare

The gestapo is in place

 

So who will tell the truth

About the voting booth?

They’re setting up the lie again

Who will lose and who will win?

And who will tell the truth?

 

Our democracy is in danger

We’re run by wealthy strangers

When you lose free press

You will lose the rest

Our democracy is in danger

 

 

Where Were You?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Where Were You?

 

We were taught that everyone is free

We were taught that all belong

We were taught that everyone has needs

To neglect them would be wrong

 

Where were you when the icemen came?

Were you hiding in your shed?

Did they have a list that had your name?

Did they tell you where it led?

 

This country is a melting pot

That’s what our teachers said

It can’t be something we forgot

It was planted in our heads

 

So where were you when the men in green

Came knocking at your door?

What terror did their knocking bring?

Did it shake you to your core?

 

Remember when we sang our songs

This land of liberty

To discriminate was plainly wrong

We pledged equality

 

So where were you when the whistles blew?

Did you run or did you hide?

And where were you when you finally knew

That the ones we trusted lied?

 

 

The Killing

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PROTEST

 

The Killing

 

They’re killing us on the streets

Just for being who we are

They’re killing us in our cars

A sense of heartbreak and defeat

 

We remember Rodney King

We remember George Floyd

Through our tears we feel the sting

When the soldiers are deployed

On the streets of our cities

In the center of our nation

Have you no heart and no pity?

Have you no sense of indignation?

 

We remember Kent and Jackson State

That’s when we knew they were willing

To shoot us down at the gates

To answer protests with killing

That’s when we had to contemplate

The cost in blood and the chilling

That’s when we knew the rabid hate

In their thugs they were instilling

 

Now we’re back to where we were

Law and order is their cry

Before the dead have been interred

They are spreading deadly lies

 

(In memory of Renee Good & Alex Pretti) 

 

The Iceman Cometh

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

The Iceman Cometh *

 

She wasn’t an activist

(so what if she was)

She was a mother who dropped her child

off at school

She wasn’t obstructing the Icemen

(so what if she was)

She was trying to get away

when she found herself in a situation

Surrounded by angry men

Heavily armed, armored and vested

Some yelling at her to get out

Some yelling at her to move on

Was she frightened?  Maybe

When the Iceman cometh you should

be frightened

 

She tried to move on and they shot her

Not one of them came to her aid

Not one of them voiced disapproval

They blocked a doctor on the scene

They covered the truth

They lied

They called her a dirty red

She deserved to die they said

 

When the Icemen come to your town

Beware

Beware if you stand in their way

Beware if you tell them you’re not angry

Beware if you don’t move fast enough

Beware if you’re startled and afraid

They have proclaimed the right

to shoot you dead

 

When the Iceman cometh hide away

When the Iceman cometh bolt your door

When the Iceman cometh do not stray

When the Iceman cometh: war

 

* A play by Eugene O'Neill  

 

It Shouldn't Matter

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ICE

 

It Shouldn’t Matter

 

It shouldn’t matter that she was a mother

But it does

It shouldn’t matter that she was beloved

But it does

It shouldn’t matter that she was white

But it does

It shouldn’t matter that she was a citizen

But it does

It shouldn’t matter that she was a poet

But it does

It shouldn’t matter that she was trying

to do the right thing

But it does

 

She was a human being

That’s all that matters

She was trying to live a decent life

That’s all that matters

She stood in the way of injustice

That’s all that matters

She didn’t deserve to be shot down

Like a rabid dog

That too matters

She had a name: Renee Nicole Good

That matters

She had children

That matters

Her killing brings a torrent of tears

It shouldn’t matter but it does

 

 

ICE Cold Killer

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

 

ICE Cold Killer

 

An alleged officer of the law

Drew his gun and killed her dead

The video footage may be raw

But it fill all decent folks with dread

 

They closed ranks and tried to blame her

For simply wanting to survive

As time goes on they’ll try to shame her

But someone filmed it live

 

Now we’re recalling George Floyd

And all that happened in his name

Our sense of justice was destroyed

A lasting legacy of shame

 

There is no peace across the land

It is a time of rage and strife

The evil ones have made a stand

Renee Good has lost her life

 

She was a mother and a friend

Tonight she is no longer

A precious life has found an end

The resistance must grow stronger