Remembering Navalny

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

 

Remember Navalny

 

The evidence is finally in

Though it comes in very late

It was no one but Vladimir Putin

That sealed Navalny’s fate

 

He was in a Russian prison

So there can be no doubt

It was Vladimir’s decision

To take Navalny out

 

Still the struggle rages on

Without an end in sight

But Navalny is gone

So it is a leaderless fight

 

But the people are aware

That their leader is a killer

They are waiting everywhere

The next chapter in this thriller

 

Alexei Navalny is dead

But his spirit still lives on

If we follow out the thread

There may be a new Russian dawn

 

Mourning in Iran

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN

 

Mourning in Iran

 

If you kill thousands of your people

You do not get to mourn the dead

Beyond the push of the martyrs’ pull

Accept the fury you have bred

 

Blame it on the foreign agitators

Though all the world can see the lie

Blame it on domestic instigators

Blame it on the star-crossed skies

 

Even you can see and smell the truth

When so many have been killed

The rising of an outraged youth

They have expressed their will

 

All the nation is in mourning

For the martyrs you have decried

To all oppressors here’s a warning

History isn’t on your side

 

In time the righteous will prevail

Though it may take a hundred years

In time the oppressors will be jailed

And none will shed a martyr’s tears

 

Workingman Poor

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

 

Workingman Poor

 

The unions have no power

Losing workers shore to shore

Lower wages by the hour

The working man is poor

 

We can’t afford a living space

Debtors knocking at the door

We’re falling back in every race

For the working man is poor

 

Robotics on the assembly line

Automation in the stores

The oligarchs are more than fine

But the working man is poor

 

Those who need get less and less

Those who don’t get more

The system doesn’t pass the test

When the working man is poor

 

The corporate beast is growing

Good jobs are getting rare

The economy is slowing

But the wealthy grab their share

 

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

 

 

Tumbler Ridge

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Tumbler Ridge

 

Below the border it would not be news

Or rather it would not be shocking

We line them up and light a fuse

And we spend a few days talking

 

But changes never happen

We don’t operate that way

We wave our hands and wonder when

But the outrage never stays

 

In Canada they feel the pain

It just doesn’t happen here

It puts society under strain

The whole nation sheds a tear

 

The time has come to rein it in

The right to purchase arms

It cannot be the way it’s been

For the risk is too much harm

 

What passed at Tumbler Ridge

Should never be allowed

Maybe they should cross that bridge

And the people should be proud

 

Sanae Takaichi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Sanae Takaichi

 

Sanae Takaichi of Japan

Has been given a dramatic mandate

She will balance if she can

The nation’s debt against its fate

 

She wants to cut the tax on food

Not a radical proposition

Her defense of Taiwan may seem rude

If you’re a Chinese institution

 

The Japanese demand change

They were tired of being bullied

A reversal of fortune may seem strange

But their dignity was sullied

 

Known for stoic conservatism

Takaichi deserves a chance

To deliver a novel populism

If the working folks advance

 

Managing debt will not be easy

It may require sacrifice

The results may not be pleasing

But the rich must pay the price

 

 

Luminaries of Peace

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Luminaries of Peace

 

Never has there been

Such a luminous group of men

Dedicated to the cause of peace

From Pakistan to the Middle East

 

They’ve all put up a stake

A pact they’ve promised not to break

From Hungary’s Orban

To Mohammed bin Salman

And Turkey’s infamous Erdogan

From Pakistan’s Zardari to Javier Milei

They take their parts in Donald’s play

 

Did I mention Subianto?

There may be others we don’t know

The notorious MBZ

And bin Hamad the Qatari

And oh yes, Netanyahu

Who has yet to pay his dues

All gather around their chair

The heavyweight with golden hair

 

He is seated in perpetuity

To collect his grand annuities

As he greets them at the door

They will put an end to war

 

 

Trump’s Board of Peace:

Javier Milei, Argentina

Viktor Orban, Hungary

Prabowo Subianto, Indonesia

Asif Ali Zardari, Pakistan

Mohammed bin Salman, Saudi Arabia

Recep Erdogan, Turkey

Mohamed bin Zayed (MBZ), UAE

Tamom bin Hamad, Qatar

Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel

 

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

 

 

A Thousand Little Fires

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

A Thousand Little Fires

 

You cannot fight a war

With water guns and whistles

It does no good to roar

When the enemy’s firing missiles

 

He starts a thousand little fires

He knows we can’t address them all

Before long we’ve grown tired

We just can’t answer every call

 

He lights a fire in Ukraine

He lights another at the border

He pretends to be restrained

He cries out for law and order

 

He wants Greenland under ice

He wants Canada to pay

He’d like us to pay the price

To send our working force away

 

There are a thousand little fires

Every single one is burning bright

Every circumstance is dire

It’s all too much for us to fight

 

So choose your battle and take aim

Keep your target in your sights

Exposing lies and naming names

Holding justice to the light

 

 

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

 

 

Losing Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Losing Democracy

 

When the oligarchs bought the news

We did not sound the alarm

We’ve other sources we can choose

What could be the harm?

 

When the bought our elections

After buying out the courts

It’s just natural selection

It happens in due course

 

Now they’re controlling information

What we see and what we think

We’ve become a hollow nation

In time our ship will sink

 

They control our foreign trade

And all the laws that we defy

All the fortunes that were made

By selecting winning sides

 

The oligarchs are rising

Like the waves in a monster storm

There are no measures we’re devising

That can save the ones we mourn

 

But we can save our nation

If we rally to the cause

And we can save our reputation

As a nation ruled by laws

 

Cowards

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Cowards

 

The Speaker of the House

A once revered position

Cowers like a timid mouse

Defending treason and sedition

 

The party of corporate greed

Taking profits for themselves

While the constitution bleeds

They’ve got seats reserved in hell

 

The wicked wealthy oligarchs

Who paid for influence and power

May your kingdoms fall apart

May there come a reckoning hour

 

The corrupted Court Supreme

They’ve tossed away their dignity

While their hands were never clean

They are now the court of infamy

 

The party of the opposition

Where is your urgency of now?

If we were in your position

We would never bend or bow

 

Now’s the time to rise as one

Join the people in the streets

Now is your moment in the sun

Get off your bum and on your feet

 

Seize the moment and the day

I’m not advocating violence

We all have our parts to play

Do not squander it in silence

 

A New World Order

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

A New World Order

 

Europe and India have made a pact

China and Canada follow suit

How will the United States react?

With a handshake or the boot?

 

The American leader has changed it all

Beginning with his infernal wall

He’s thrown out all our former friends

Creating wounds that may not mend

 

What sort of order will evolve?

An American hemisphere domination?

There are problems now we cannot solve

We may become an isolated nation

 

Nobody informed our president

The colonial age is done and gone

Now he wonders where our allies went

A new world order has dawned

 

Now the president sits in his tower alone

He cries out in lonely despair

No one will even pick up the phone

Not even the sycophants care

 

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?