How Many?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

How Many?

 

A child born in Rafah

Just an hour before his fate

He had nothing to do with the raging war

His existence was soon erased

 

They are heaped in massive trenches

Like victims of a deadly plague

How horrid the stench of death

Like a nightmare from a lost dark age

 

A dozen here, a thousand there

They no longer have names or faces

The Gaza Strip is a hell on earth

The worst of the hellish places

 

We no longer want all the answers

We no longer want to know why

The only thing we want to know is:

How many more must die?

 

You once taught us to care for others

Now we’ve discovered it was a lie

If we fail to stop this brutal attack

How many more will die?

 

(re: Chris Hayes of MSNBC)

The Warlord of Israel

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Warlord of Israel

 

He is the saboteur of war

Taunting all his foes

Betraying his alliances

Disseminating woe

 

A constant state of war is

All that this man knows

With every act of cruelty

The bloodshed only grows

 

Disproportionate retribution

Strikes beyond the border

The warlord of Israel

Brings chaos and disorder

 

The man will not be satisfied

Until the world’s on fire

A never-ending state of war

His ultimate desire

 

Take from him his weapons

Swipe away his power

Cast him to the winds of war

And praise his final hour

 

The Crimes of Netanyahu

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Crimes of Netanyahu

 

The crimes against humanity

Continue without pause

Netanyahu flicks his thumb at us

In defiance of all laws

 

Another thousand dead

Another week of terror

Netanyahu shrugs his shoulders

As if it was random error

 

The war continues on

Until his anger is abated

How many more must die

Before his rage is satiated?

 

We must find another way

And we must find it yesterday

For what Hamas started

Future generations will pay

 

For now there is no answer

There is only blood and pain

The violence will continue

Like a cruel and endless chain

 

Enemies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Enemies

 

Our enemies wear many faces

Some poison our water and air

Some despise the darker races

Nearly all pretend they care

 

Netanyahu is an enemy of peace

Elon Musk is an enemy of truth

Vladimir Putin is a villainous beast

We’ll decide in the voting booth

 

There are many who have sold their souls

For some money or a piece of the action

There are many who play lesser roles

Who charade as an angry faction

 

To defeat our true enemies all

We must recognize who they are

One by one we must see them fall

To lift up our virtuous star

The Children of Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Children of Gaza

 

The act of genocide

Can no longer be denied

The death and destruction

Cuts deep inside

 

When will we make an end?

On what does it depend?

A policy of vengeance

We can no longer defend

 

There are too many dead

Too many without bread

And none of us believe

A word Netanyahu said

 

We must end our support

Take the murderers to court

Put a stop to the killing

Playing out like a sport

 

The children are dying

Their mothers are crying

And all we can do

Is to say we are trying

 

End the war!

End the occupation!

Now!

 

End the Occupation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

End the Occupation

 

On peace in the Middle East

Our democracy may depend

A ceasefire is not enough

The occupation must end

 

We remember how it started

But it no longer really matters

The Palestinians of Gaza

Have been brutalized and battered

 

We demand an end to violence

We demand an end to war

We cannot sustain our silence

We will endure it no more

 

They are forgotten people

Denied hope, denied a home

The wandering tribes of Palestine

Abandoned and alone

 

You have pushed beyond the limits

Of our capacity to defend

You’ve become what you abhor

This occupation must end

 

Rafah (Never-ending War)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Rafah

 

So begins the siege of Rafah

As millions of innocents flee

But no one knows where they will go

A sea of refugees

 

The slaughter is unspeakable

The destruction is complete

Will anyone be spared

The stench of this defeat?

 

This war has cost too many lives

Or cast them into hell

Never will it be forgot

Palestinians remember well

 

The siege of Rafah will go on

This war defies an end

The bloodshed and the misery

This hatred will not mend

 

Until the darkness lifts

Until their hearts will bend

The horrors born of Rafah

Will plead for more revenge

 

Both sides will take a vow

To fight forever more

All of Palestine and Israel

The never-ending war

The Putin Caucus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Putin Caucus

 

It ain’t about the border

This is where the fight begins

Will Republicans find their courage

Or will the Putin Caucus win?

 

Ukraine is in the balance

Taiwan is nervous too

If the Putin Party gets their way

All free nations lose

 

The Israeli siege continues

There is no problem there

Bebe is the Donald’s friend

And Putin doesn’t care

 

We warned you this would happen

It’s as clear as it could be

The Donald serves Vladimir

Like a puppet on his knee

 

The writing is on the wall

It’s as predictable as rain

The only cause they serve today

Is cutting funding for Ukraine

 

Ceasefire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Ceasefire

 

The time has come

to raise our voices all in one

This massacre must end

This onslaught must be done

On this our trust depends:

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Netanyahu must go

A lasting peace cannot be found

If nothing else we know

When Netanyahu is around

The hatred only grows

And shakes the hallowed ground

Not another blow:

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Two states born of one

It is the only way

The terrorists are stunned

Let’s bow our heads and pray

Hamas is on the run

Let it be today

This battle has been won

Ceasefire in Gaza now

 

Idiot Wind

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Idiot Wind *

 

We know that Netanyahu

Is a force against democracy

A voice for vengeance

A proponent of endless war

A perpetrator of genocide

But if you believe that Israeli forces

Dug the tunnels, planned and executed

The massacres of October 7^th

A brutal execution of their own people

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the vacuum of your mind

There is no end to fantasies

That prejudice can find

 

We know that Netanyahu failed

Failed to protect his people

He knew what was about to happen and

Failed to respond in time

We know that he is guilty of

Crimes against humanity

Crimes against civilization

Mass destruction and reckless

Disregard for innocent life

But if you believe the Israelis

Have no cause for rage and revenge

A rage founded in antiquity

A rage recorded for all time

The idiot wind is blowing

Through the missives of your kind

Through eyes that have been

Rendered selectively blind

 

* A song by Bob Dylan

 

Blind Vengeance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Blind Vengeance

 

People of Israel

Do you know the crimes

committed in your name?

 

What began as self defense

surrendered that rationale

when Netanyahu decided civilians

were subject to extermination

 

People of Israel

Have you seen the destruction

delivered in your name?

 

Hospitals are not hiding enemies

Schools are not training sites

An ambulance is not a target

Children are not expendable

Palestinians are not Hamas

Mothers are not soldiers

 

People of Israel

Do you know the blood your

leaders are spilling in your name?

 

I am not a terrorist apologist

I lament the unconscionable act

that unleashed this chain of horror

but just retribution has turned

into blind and brutal vengeance

 

People of Israel

I believe in your humanity

Help us to help your nation

return to the path of peace

 

Genocide in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Genocide in Gaza

 

The holocaust that some deny

The annihilation of the Jews

When millions of people died

Though the Nazi side would lose

 

While the destruction of Gaza fails

When a comparison is applied

To reach that horrific scale

It should not be denied

Israeli vengeance is off the rails

And the world cannot abide

 

The forced removal of a people

From the place where they reside

The destruction of their homeland

So vast, so deep, so wide

The mass killing of civilians

With nowhere to run or hide

There is no other word

No other construct to describe

A deliberate state of madness

That word is genocide

 

(South Africa accuses Israel before

the International Criminal Court.)

Tears of Palestine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: JERUSALEM

Tears of Palestine

 

“I walk and count the bones of my beloveds

Along the Valley of Destruction.”

 

Wm. Blake, Jerusalem (1820)

 

The tears of Jerusalem became the tears of

Palestine that together formed a river  

that flowed into the sea.

 

Endless is the sorrow and the mourning of

the mothers and the anger of the fathers

and the vows of vengeance that the sons

and daughters carried through the ages

of antiquity.

 

The tears of Palestine became the tears of

Jerusalem that together formed a river

that flowed into the sea.

 

There is no peace on earth

Nor can there ever be

Until at last we find a cure

for this ancient blood disease