The Day that Shook the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Day that Shook the World

 

We should have seen it coming

The writing was on the wall

The day that shook the world

May be the day that we fall

 

Europe stands on edge

Ukraine is on the line

NATO is forming contingencies

For a world that is realigned

 

Vladimir Putin wears a smile

That will last until tomorrow

The dictators are in ecstasy

The free world is in sorrow

 

A new age has begun

Filled with worry and despair

The autocrats are in power

And corporations do not care

 

About the warming of the planet

About protecting human rights

About the fall of a republic

We watch it vanish from our sight

 

The Love Letters

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Love Letters

 

Remember those charming love letters

That our (former) president loved so much

Written with boundless affection

With a gentle and giving touch

 

All of you who have spoken ill

Of the man in the Oval Office

Who have blasted your obscenities

From the beds of moving trucks

If we lived under Kim Jong-un

You would find yourself imprisoned

Incapacitated or worse

Condemned to reeducation

Under the cloud of the leader’s curse

 

Remember the brotherly romance

Of our then president and the Vlad

The animosity that we showed him

Made our leader extremely sad

 

All of you who have expressed doubts

About the sanctity of our elections

If we lived under Putin’s rule

Your votes would be cast out

You children would be sent to fight

For the conquest of Ukraine

Your freedom would be compromised

Beyond all recognition

You would find yourself against a wall

In a compromised position

 

Be grateful for what we have

Be careful not to lose it

If democracy is not your bag

We can end it if you choose it

 

The Invisible Hand

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Invisible Hand

 

We have lost Ukraine

Or we are surely losing

Because our Republicans in congress

No longer feel the pain

They suffer from an invisible hand

Implanted deep within their brains

The hand of their invisible leader

Who himself suffers an invisible hand

Implanted within his brain

 

We are losing every battle

And soon we will lose the war

As the Republicans in congress plead:

  We have given enough already

  We cannot give you more

But the truth is another story

About a cancer in the halls of glory

The hands that pull the purse strings

Have closed the funding door

 

Trump to NATO: Drop Dead!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Trump to NATO: Drop Dead!

 

He doesn’t know our history

And frankly does not care

The future is no mystery

We’re caught in Putin’s lair

If Donald wins the White House

We’d better say our prayers

Before we lay down to our beds

For Trump will say to NATO:

Drop dead!

 

He loves the world’s dictators

From Erdogan to Xi *

He finds them most appealing

As he considers what will be

An American dictator

Would lead a new alliance

Democracies not welcome

A new Europe in defiance

The world will long remember

The day the Donald said:

Dear NATO: Drop Dead!

 

* pronounced She

Orban the Horrible

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Orban the Horrible

 

Something is rotten in Budapest

Europe is going insane

NATO is doing the best it can

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

Ever since Orban ascended

We have suffered from his reign

Now he stands in the way of progress

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

The European Union

Must stand for something plain

The basic right of democracy

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

Orban is a Putin ally

His mark on the map is stained

Serve notice to every tyrant

Trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

We hold nothing against the people

Condemnation we must refrain

Reclaim you democratic ways or

Trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

The Western Alliance

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Western Alliance (for Macron)

 

The strength of the western alliance

Had endured a multitude of tests

It has survived a president’s defiance

To affirm the unity of the west

 

Along comes Macron and Xi

With an awkward shake of the hand

A man too eager to please

Devalues the democracy brand

 

Does Macron speak for his nation

Or does he only speak for himself?

Does he work for the world’s salvation

Or is NATO now on the shelf?

 

We know that you are afraid

Of the Russian Chinese threat

But the price of Chinese trade

May not exceed the morality debt