Global Challenge

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Global Challenge

 

We have lost Venezuela

The Bolivarian promise is dead

Nicolas Maduro doesn’t care

As long as his treasure chest is fed

It will require many years

To unbreed what he has bred

To take the long road back again

To where Hugo Chavez led

 

 

We are challenged in Columbia

From Brazil to Ecuador

Throughout the world the battle rages

For the workers and the poor

A fight for dignity and wages

Just to even up the score

A battle for the ages

To fight back El Dictador

 

The oligarchs and billionaires

The monopolies and corporations

Are undermining governments

Taking over sovereign nations

In a fight that’s never-ending

The goal remains the same

Defending our democracies

In more than just a name

Spirits of Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Spirits of Christmas

 

The spirit of Christmas is giving

We celebrate with revelry

As long as we are living

We will decorate our tree

 

Unless of course we’re homeless

Or destitute and poor

Cursed with desperate loneliness

Then Christmas is no more

 

A holiday of majesty

A time of grace and cheer

Good fortune turns to tragedy

Our wonders turn to fear

 

So let us all be grateful

For the bounty we can share

As we enjoy our plateful

Let all know that we care

 

For the spirits are alive

Every day and every year

The giving spirit thrives

In all that we hold dear

 

Moving the Homeless

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HOMELESSNESS

Moving the Homeless

 

It doesn’t matter whether you call them

The unhoused, homeless or unsheltered

The unhoused are homeless

The homeless have no shelter

 

The homeless have always been

As long as the river runs

As long as the sun rises in the east

During the Great Depression

The homeless lived in Hoovervilles

Or followed the rails in hobo camps

There were soup kitchens for the poor

There were shelters from the storm

When times got rough in one place

The cops moved them along

The railroad bulls beat them

Catch em if you can

 

We’ve come a long way since then

But the homeless are still here

In ever increasing numbers

They camped in parks until the rangers

Came around to push them out

They camped by the riverside until

The river cops pushed them out

They camped on the streets until

The street cops pushed them out

 

I don’t know what the solution is

But pushing the homeless from one

Camp to another is not an answer

It’s just a way of avoiding the question

We have a right to expect some service

Of all individuals – even the homeless –

In exchange, individuals have a right to

Expect fulfillment of basic needs

Including food and shelter