Contingencies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Contingencies

 

What will Zelensky do

When Trump betrays Ukraine?

What will the continent do

When Russia makes it plain

That they will not stop the war

As long as Putin reigns

As long as there is more

To load on Russia’s train?

 

What will America do

When Europe does not fold?

What will China do

When Putin’s act grows old?

When the whole world realigns?

When democracies grow bold?

When India reads the signs?

 

What will the world do

When all are forced to choose?

Old ties or something new?

Who wins and who will lose?

When the people finally rise?

To claim their sovereign prize

And affirm their best allies? 

 

India and Russia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIA

 

Russia and India

 

When you’re in bed with a beast

A rank purveyor of war

Do not pretend you love peace

Your reputation is less than poor

 

Modi wants what Putin has

A stranglehold on power

He’ll play the game as long as

It is not the China hour

 

The man from Moscow plays it cool

Both sides against the middle

The American is his fool

But Modi is his fiddle

 

China’s Xi remains a mystery

In this strange triangulation

It will go down in modern history

The day that Modi sold his nation

 

For just a moment in the sun

With the planet’s greatest threat

By the time this deal is done

They will be buried in Russian debt

 

 

Putin and Xi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Putin and Xi (and Modi)

 

Putin meets with Xi

The monster of the north

Meets the beast of the east

What does it mean going forth?

 

The invasion carries on

As the monster stakes his claim

The whole world knows he’s wrong

We will not forget Ukraine

 

Kiev expresses fear

That America will refrain

That the end is drawing near

But we won’t forget Ukraine

 

Ukraine would be the first

But it would not be the last

Nor would it be the worst

Another war would come to pass

 

Thanks to Putin and to Xi

The end of human rights

A massive loss of dignity

Democracy in plight

 

Now Modi joins the fray

On the wrong side of the line

From the republic he will stray

To lead his nation in decline

 

 

Parade of Pariahs in Moscow

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Parade of Pariahs

 

In the parade of pariahs

Showing solidarity with the beast of brutality

from the northern empire

The most surprising of these is

Lula da Silva of Brazil

We expect little of those nations that live

in the shadow of the former Soviet empire

We expect little of the Chinese dictator

We expect nothing less from those who

survive at the mercy of Russian military aid

But we expect better of Lula

The elder statesman who revived Brazilian democracy

The man who defeated the Trumpian tyrant wannabe

Even Modi of India refused the embarrassment

of associating with the world’s leading oppressors

The republic of the United States of America is

suffering at the moment but we have not stooped

to the level of Vladimir Putin

It is you who should be embarrassed now

You betray your own democratic ideals

You give legitimacy to the invasion of Ukraine

Step back, Lula da Silva, and reevaluate

Russian oil and military aid is not worth the

sacrifice of sacred principles

 

Kashmir

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Kashmir

 

When the British drew the border

They divided the state of Kashmir

They knew it would cause disorder

And a perpetual state of fear

 

Between India and Pakistan

Two fierce and nuclear powers

A battle over no man’s land

Would break out every hour

 

It’s a war that none can win

Without a chance of annihilation

Every time the fight begins

It’s a threat to every nation

 

Where then is the calm negotiator?

Who will bring them to the table?

The vengeful and the rabid haters

There is no one who is able

 

We must live in constant fear

That vengeance will win out

As the days of reckoning near

The planet’s future is in doubt