Not Warming

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Not Warming

 

The climate isn’t warming

The heat in Tulsa isn’t real

And the toxic sky isn’t harming

Or affecting how we feel

 

The snowpack isn’t down

The floods aren’t getting worse

It isn’t drying out the ground

It’s not the global warming curse

 

The price of oil isn’t higher

We aren’t burning more each day

And the kids aren’t getting tired

Of nearly everything we say

 

We’re not fighting a needless war

In a place so far from here

We’re not tearing up the shore

And the end ain’t drawing near

 

We aren’t losing jobs to robots

We aren’t making people poor

And we aren’t twisted into knots

Trying to squeeze a little more

 

We aren’t living in a nightmare

We are living in a dream

And no one we know is scared

That’s just the way it seems

 

 

War Fever

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

War Fever

 

War is like a fever

It rises and it spreads

When she speaks we believe her

In her wickedness and dread

 

From Israel to Lebanon

From Tehran to the Strait

She whispers and you’re gone

The reach of war is great

 

She tugs at all of Europe

The price of oil spreads the pain

The costs are going up and up

From the Emirates to Ukraine

 

Once you start a war it rages

Like a spiral out of sight

A scourge upon the ages

Until she saps your will to fight

 

The besieged people of Iran

They were slaughtered by their leaders

Now they’re dying from our bombs

Some were fooled by the deceivers

 

When the fever takes her toll

She will break a thousand hearts

She will pierce your very soul

She will tear your world apart

 

 

In Good Faith

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

In Good Faith

 

When we bargain with Ukraine

We serve as Putin’s protégé

When we talk with Tehran

We’re like a puppet on a stage

 

Trump has lost his dirty war

Vladimir is off his game

Netanyahu keeps the score

Every party shares the blame

 

We do not bargain in good faith

We make demands and threats

You can’t negotiate with hate

The wars are piling up the debts

 

In the end we’ll have won nothing

But a damaged reputation

To give it credence is insulting

Time to face the implications

 

That our leader is a child

Bomb the world to have his way

The laws of reason he’s defiled

For these acts we’ll have to pay

 

 

Advice to Young Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CONSCRIPTION

 

Advice to Young Men *

 

It may be hard to believe

They used to send us to war

They lied and deceived

They never said what for

 

They gave us a number

They took away our names

Then we went into slumber

It all felt like a game

 

They wanted us to fight

Without question or doubt

It would all turn out right

When we figured it out

 

So they sent us off to war

To kill and sometimes die

On a far, faraway shore

And still we never asked why

 

Now here’s my sage advice

Do not answer that call

Let them ask you more than twice

Do not answer them at all

 

It goes against humanity

To send our young to die

It smells of rank insanity

When they cannot tell you why

 

* and women

 

 

America Stands Alone

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

America Stands Alone

 

The Middle East is on fire

The Strait of Hormuz is closed

We are balancing on a wire

Our president is loathed

 

Betrayed at every turn

Europe goes its own way

When will we ever learn?

This is the price we pay

 

Netanyahu is our only friend

The Israelis tire of his act

We all demand that this war end

Before the next attack

 

Another hundred billion dollars

To be thrown into the flames

The debt keeps growing taller

Just to glorify his name

 

The world has lost its breath

Seems his heart is made of stone

Mass destruction, pointless death

And America stands alone

 

Netanyahu's War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR IN IRAN

 

Netanyahu’s War

 

A billion dollars a day in Netanyahu’s war

The man has gone insane

As he asks for billions more

It’s the Middle East refrain

You can hear the lions roar

You can feel the grief and pain

And we know what lies in store

 

You have sacrificed your cause

The way the Dubya did before you

You have trashed international laws

The economy must have bored you

Now all you had is lost

Nothing will restore you

And we will pay the cost

 

Now boots are on the ground

In a war that never ends

Until a bitter truce is found

Though the wounds will never mend

The whole world hears the sound

On oil we all depend

And the markets will go down

And down and down again

 

Nightmare in Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR IN IRAN

 

Nightmare Scenario

 

We answered the killing of civilians

By killing hundreds more

In a contest of crude reptilians

How should we keep the score?

 

They’ve closed the Strait of Hormuz

To us and all our friends

When you “win” this war you lose

It has no foreseeable end

 

So the price of gas will rise

And economies will fall

As toxins fill the skies

So Netanyahu can stand tall

 

Our alliances are on the block

Our people feel the pain

Our enemies will not talk

Our relationships are strained

 

All because we chose a war

Without a solid plan

We still don’t know what for

We may never understand

 

 

Contempt

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Contempt

 

The president has contempt for democracy

The president has contempt

The president has contempt for

Freedom of speech

Freedom of the press

Freedom of thought

Freedom of expression

 

The president has contempt

For the right to vote

For the right to dissent

The right to gather in protest

The right to write and publish

The president has contempt

 

The president loves autocracies

Where no one asks questions

Where the leader’s word is gold

Where the opposition is oppressed

Where activists are jailed

Where protestors are shot

Where the people bow before him

Where judges are compliant

Where the people have no voice

 

The president has contempt

For all that we hold dear

Freedom, independence, individuality

The right to be ourselves

 

 

LA Heat Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

LA Heat Wave

 

With so much trouble in the world

We forget about the warming

With all these missiles being hurled

We didn’t hear the warning

 

Oh we recall when it was the rage

The sky is falling, falling

We’ve entered the disaster age

We can hear the siren calling

 

Now the heat is coming back again

There is nothing we can do

Hide away and count to ten

Please tell me when it’s through

 

But there’s no brushing this aside

The warming takes its toll

It’s going to be a bumpy ride

For the planet as a whole

 

Forget about these brutal wars

We’re all in this together

This is a glimpse of what’s in store

This ain’t no change in weather

 

 

The Hope of Hungary

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Hope of Hungary

 

The struggle to dethrone Orban

Is a struggle for us all

For Budapest it’s a new dawn

If the people answer the call

 

Orban controls the airwaves

He has the police in his hands

He has his propaganda slaves

Who march at his command

 

And yet the opposition grows

Behind Peter Magyar’s quest

For each and every Hungarian knows

It could be their last test

 

Once dictatorship takes hold

It is hard to strike it down

The opposition must be bold

They must stand on solid ground

 

Orban will fight until the end

The truth must fight him back again

Vladimir Putin will depend

On the operatives he has sent

 

Stand and let your strength be known

Let the government hear your cry

Stand and know you’re not alone

This time you will rise

 

 

United Against the War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

United Against the War

 

If the Democrats aren’t united

Against the Iranian War

They will lose the next election

It’s not enough to be against the

Oligarchs and for the poor

We demand a different direction

 

Don’t lose yourselves in strategic detail

Don’t pause to salute the troops

Don’t let the wind escape your sails

Don’t get caught in an infinite loop

 

This is not a war of necessity

This was a deliberate choice

To say anything else is a travesty

You will lose your persuasive voice

 

Stand together united in principle

This war is damnably wrong

No empire is invincible

The opposition must hold strong

 

Don’t say it needs deliberation

Don’t hem and haw like you did before

We are not an imperialist nation

Stand strong against this war

 

 

The Rise of China

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Rise of China

 

While we invested in coal and war

China invested in electric cars

While we renewed drilling offshore

They got power from the planet’s star

 

As the price of oil keeps rising

The result of our dirty war

Our ignorance becomes surprising

We’ve opened China’s door

 

And yes Russia applauds the price of oil

It’s the heart of the Russian economy

As the losses mount on American soil

We’ve delivered a free world lobotomy

 

As America wallows in stubborn denial

And Russia is mired in the pit of Ukraine

China is throwing a party in style

The Chairman is sipping champagne

 

Is this what the big man intended?

A world where we fall behind

An age when the nation descended

When our leader was out of his mind

 

 

The Lies of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

One Lie after Another

 

They were going to hit us so we hit first

They had neither capacity nor plan

Netanyahu’s plan is an avenger’s curse

So we went along to show we can

 

They were weeks away from a nuke

They were years away by all accounts

Months ago you gave your rebuke

Warheads they could not mount

 

We did it to secure the oil supply

The supply was already secured

Securing oil is a well-worn lie

We need not be assured

 

The Ayatollah was insane

But it was Putin who bombed Ukraine

Bombing civilians without restraint

Your ambitions are very plain

 

Iran was a broken nation

Long before these attacks began

There was no contemplation

Of attacking any other land

 

We want peace in the Middle East

Yet you have started forever war

The Ayatollah is deceased

But you’ve opened Pandora’s door

 

 

Demolition Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP DAZE

 

Demolition Man

 

I am the Great Destroyer

I will lay your lands to waste

I have a thousand crooked lawyers

Just begging to take the case

 

I’ll take your country down

I don’t care how many die

I’ll shake the very ground

On which your families lie

 

Don’t tell me I can’t do it

By God I can and will

Watch! There’s nothing to it

How many can I kill?

 

Before my reign is done

The world will be a wasteland

The gods of war are stunned

When they peek at what I’ve planned

 

Give me more guns and treasure

Whole mountains will explode

They are living at my pleasure

They are following my road

 

It is the road to devastation

There’s no mercy to be had

Until they bow in subjugation

Their demise is ironclad

 

For I am the Demolition Man

No soul could take my place

I am your Retribution Man

I will demolish time and space