Dear Canada

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

 

Dear Canada

 

Dear Canada,

Before our prospects dim

We implore you take us at our word

Despite whatever you have heard

We … are not him

 

We know you are a valued friend

Our alliance we hold high

We promise we will make amends

We vow that we will try

 

He treats our friends like enemies

Our enemies like friends

The great majority does not believe

The messages he sends

 

He will not be here much longer

Though we know he will apply

The opposition grows much stronger

We’ve grown tired of his lies

 

So please … a grain of salt

Although the next year may be grim

Understand it’s not our fault

For we … are not him

 

The Moneyed Class

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Moneyed Class 

 

Elon Musk and the president

Have more than they can spend

Enough to fund an endless vent

Enough to make amends

 

Can money make you say

You’re contented when you’re not?

Can money make you go away?

Can it signify you’re bought?

 

They may offer up a treasure

And promise you a coat

Just for your viewing pleasure

If you offer them your vote

 

The price of gas is no concern

The price of food? Who cares?

We’ll let the redwood forest burn

We’ll let you have a share

 

You say don’t believe?

How much money would it take?

They will dazzle and deceive

Then they’ll toss you in the lake

 

You might as well give in

They are the moneyed class

They’re the ones who always win

Are they lying? Don’t ask

 

Fire in Big Sur

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Fire in Big Sur

 

The place where Kerouac wrote his dirge

Somewhere along the coast

The place where Miller carved his words

Haunted by his ghosts

 

Big Sur is a place of legends

Nature’s beauty all around

A place some compare to heaven

It’s giant redwood trees astound

 

Now the legends are on fire

To the north and to the south

Some say it’s like a funeral pyre

Travelers choose another route

 

It’s a shame when nature’s treasures

Are cast into the flames

Such beauty cannot be measured

It’s beyond all common names

 

The placid oranges of Big Sur

Now give way to the fires’ rage

We’ll remember how they were

Like a painting on the stage

 

We know that beauty will survive

Though it may be an altered state

Nature’s glory will revive

For that we all must wait

 

We cannot fight the coming waves

Those events will stay the course

We’ll endure the trying days

We’ll be awed by nature’s force

 

(Jack Kerouac’s Big Sur)

(Henry Miller’s Big Sur & the Oranges

of Hieronymus Bosch)

 

 

A Dangerous Game

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VLADIMIR PUTIN

      

A Dangerous Game

 

Putin thinks he is immune

To the consequence of his actions

He may learn very soon

Every action has a reaction

 

His attempted attack on Germany *

Though it failed to hit its mark

Was reckless beyond reckoning

For the fires it could spark

 

If Berlin is under attack

All of NATO is obliged

To strike the aggressor back

By invoking Article Five

 

He is playing a dangerous game

That could thrust the world into war

It’s further evidence he’s insane

He acts like a rabid boar

 

He will strike out in all directions

Without strategy or care

He would spread a grim infection

If it serves the Russian bear

 

It is time to rein him in

This has gone on far too long

In a war he will not win

The opposition must be strong

 

* Drone attack at Leipzig/Halle Airport

 

Cruel and Unusual

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

 

Cruel and Unusual

 

Deported to the C.A.R.*

For helping our nation in war*

Condemning them for who they are

To settle the president’s score

 

Cruel and unusual punishment

Is banned by our constitution

Is this what our president meant

As an immigrant solution?

 

A curse upon his family

A curse upon his head

This action is a travesty

The world is seeing red

 

Has the president no shame?

Does he know what he’s about?

He’s disgraced his family name

Our foundation is in doubt

 

His crimes are growing daily

His common decency is lost

He has no inkling of civility

And all must pay the cost

 

If we had a Court of Law

Instead of sycophants and slugs

We’d reverse these horrid flaws

Like a pesticide kills bugs

 

* Afghan refugee deported

  to the Central African Republic

 

North Texas Blaze

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

North Texas Blaze

 

As North Texas feels the blaze

As they struggle to contain

The question must be raised

Should Texans pray for rain?

 

We all know they were deniers

That delusion still remains

Now they witness warming fires

So our efforts were in vain

 

California knows it well

We have fought back all we could

The day the redwoods fell

The burning of the woods

 

We’re all in this together now

All hands must be on board

We’ll figure out the why’s and how’s

We will strike a new accord

 

For all of us will suffer

Regardless of our past

We will need to build a buffer

We will need to build it fast

 

The change has come upon us

Far faster than we knew

We’re all riders on the same bus

An now we know the truth

 

Venezuela Suffers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Venezuela Suffers

 

Nicolas Maduro is long gone

Delcy Rodriguez is in power

We promised to right all wrongs

But that promise begins to sour

 

Our president wants their oil

To fatten his own coffers

He doesn’t want Venezuelan soil

But he is open to all offers

 

The people still live in poverty

Blackouts are a way of life

Nothing’s changed in their society

Their lives are daily strife

 

There are no elections scheduled

They live under the oligarchs rule

All those promises have cooled

The believers look like fools

 

Will democracy ever return?

Will the oligarchs ever surrender?

Will the people still get burned?

Who will be the people’s defender?

 

Our president has no answers

We are in it for the oil

Our presence there is a cancer

Get off Venezuelan soil!

 

 

Berlin Beware!

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Berlin Beware!

 

The Neo-Nazis are gaining ground

In the land of the Fuhrer’s rise

Listen closely to that sound

As it rips the German sky

 

They may say it’s not white pride

But there’s no one else around

They are pushing it nation wide

To the Fatherland they are bound

 

Beware!

 

They have preached this line before

They want to make the nation great

They would welcome civil war

That would end in a Nazi state

 

Don’t let yourselves be fooled

They’re exactly what they seem

They’ll demand a white man rule

They’ll name it the German dream

 

Beware! 

 

They would pull you into the past

A time when Germany was disgraced

A people divided by race and class

Don’t be dragged into that place

 

 

Attack on Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SUPREME COURT

 

Attack on Democracy

 

Seventy days before the election

And the Court is out of wack

They delivered a strained defection

That allows a bold attack

 

Our democracy is in danger

That much cannot be in doubt

Every day they make it plainer

That’s what they’re all about

 

The constitution makes it clear

The vote is governed by the states

As our election day draws near

Our officials must now wait

 

Vote-by-mail may be banished

If we don’t give up our rolls

Our rights will have vanished

Our republic without its soul

 

They will tell us who can vote

They will tell us who cannot

We’ll be sliding down that slope

That all dictators have wrought

 

 

Standing with Canada

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Standing with Canada

 

Canada is our neighbor

She is not our enemy

We are not Canada’s savior

In Canada we believe

 

They are proud of their nation

Just as we are proud of ours

They are not under subjugation

They will not hide and cower

 

We stand with our neighbors

To the north and to the south

In trade and in shared labor

Our government should butt out

 

We would like cooperation

Not the bully on the block

Respect for every nation

Not the policies of shock

 

We extend our hand in friendship

We apologize for our leader

Someday maybe he’ll get a grip

And withdraw the tariff meter

 

Soon he’ll lose his leverage

We will take a different track

We will end this tariffs stage

And walk all his policies back

 

The Bubble (AI)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TECHNOLOGY

 

The Bubble

 

It happened in real estate

I remember it quite well

It’s much too much to contemplate

When the markets ring the bell

 

We’re invested in technology

Beyond the limits of a dream

We’ve banked on mass psychology

Much louder than a scream

 

We have rolled our assets over

A billion times or more

When the markets start to hover

There’s no more keeping score

 

When the bubble starts to burst

They’ll assure us all is sunny

But before it gets much worse

They will try to hide their money

 

We all know what happens next

They will ask us for a bailout

That’s the way it all connects

That is what it’s all about

 

They’re too big to be denied

They’re too big to place a bet

Before we reach the other side

We’ll all be buried in their debt

 

They will tell us it’s okay

That’s just the way it rolls

Here tomorrow, gone today

Until we’re deep inside the hole

 

Tears for Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Tears for Hong Kong

 

As much as ten years in jail

For the crime of peaceful protest

Hong Kong’s democracy has failed

Yet their spirits must be blessed

 

We remember Tiananmen Square

As if it happened yesterday

A display of courage rare

That spirit lives on to this day

 

The people rallied to their cause

They voiced their disapproval

Repeal all oppressive laws

Some called for their removal

 

The Party came to their decision

Without principled assistance

To prevent a deep division

They will punish all resistance

 

Yet the resistance will endure

Despite all oppressive measures

Of that much we can be sure

For their freedom is their treasure

 

A hundred years and more

We’ll remember Tiananmen Square

What they were fighting for

Is something we all share

 

 

Canadian Trade Deal

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

Canadian Trade Deal

 

Canada is not our friend

That’s just the way they treat us

We would rather break than bend

We’re worried they’ll defeat us

 

Trade talks are suspended

PM Carney says they’re done

Trump says he’s offended

He thinks he’s got them on the run

 

They are talking with two tongues

They share no sense of trust

They’ve reached the bottom rung

They only talk because they must

 

The Canadians are proud

Something we don’t understand

They won’t listen when we’re loud

They’ll dig in and make a stand

 

We began this war of trade

Thinking they would simply yield

As all hopes of fairness fade

It’s not a level playing field

 

You don’t treat your friends this way

That’s not how this should work

We’ve invited them to play

But they are dealing with a jerk