Foundations of Law

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Foundations of Law

 

Justice is the foundation of law

If it is not the law becomes tyranny

Or rather an instrument of tyranny

Belonging to a tyrant

 

When the Supreme Court entertains

the notion of assassination for political

purpose as legal and beyond reproach

we are in grave danger

 

The attorneys for the United States are

too modest in their questioning

They should ask: if the president believes

in his heart and soul that certain justices

of the Supreme Court pose an imminent and

existential threat to American democracy

and the rule of law, could he order their

assassination as an official act without fear

of legal recourse?

 

Case closed. 

 

Insurrection Blues Redux

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INSURRECTION

Insurrection Blues Redux

 

Want to start an insurrection?

Want to turn over an election?

If you’re Donald Trump you’re fine

If you’re not you’re doing time

 

Asking congress to do their job

Of interpreting the constitution

Is an abdication of their duty:

Delivering just restitution

To a man guilty of treason

The court offers no solution

It goes beyond all reason

It’s a wicked convolution

In a convoluted season

 

You had the duty to decide

The pressing question of the day

Is Donald Trump qualified

Or is that a price he has to pay

For inciting insurrection

Back on Insurrection Day?

 

There are three levels of the law

One is for the rich

For whom the court is made of straw

Another is for the poor

For whom brutality is raw

A third is for the Donald

Whose defiance is in awe

 

The man is guiltier than guilt

The truth is plain to see

The Court is in his pocket

It’s a sad reality

 

(re: Supreme Court V. Colorado.)

Supreme Injustice Redux

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Supreme Injustice Redux

 

When you must explain to the Court

Why their rulings are painfully wrong

It’s plain to see by reason’s eye

These judges do not belong

 

Of course the states should not decide

Who can run for president

That’s why it went to the high court

Though you’re so afraid of precedent

 

So it’s another lame decision

By the worst court of our times

Whose decisions are so partisan

It is hard to make them rhyme

 

It seems we all must suffer through

The next few generations

For those who were wrongly chosen

To the highest court of the nation

 

(The Court rules in favor of

Trump’s eligibility in Colorado.)

Voting Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Voting Rights

 

When the Court gutted Voting Rights

Back in twenty and thirteen

It was no longer necessary

Said the Chief of the Supremes

Eleven years later we look at the divide

It is plenty clear to see

The Chief Justice lied

 

When you make it hard to vote

For voters with dark skin

You make it even harder

For their candidates to win

 

Alabama, Georgia, Texas

Mississippi, Tennessee

They’ve all embraced the principle

Of racial gerrymandering

 

If that was not enough

To push down turnout in the cities

They made them wait for hours

While they shrugged: Ain’t it a pity?

 

So they got what they wanted

They tipped the balance to their side

It should not come as a surprise

The Court of all courts lied

 

Supreme Wisdom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: SUPREME COURT

Supreme Wisdom

 

What is an insurrection?

First we must decide

Based on precedent however meager

What is what?

For What means many things to many people

What can stand alone or seek the company of others

What can be a verb

He did what to whom?

What can be a noun

His name is what?

What is what you call him

(only if he’s drunk)

If we survive the test of What

We move on to Is

Here we find precedent

A former president once said:

It depends on what Is is

Which raises the question of Isis

Is is Isis? What was she?

What is she? And how does she apply?

That leads us to An

As opposed to A

For An must always oppose A

It is written in the constitution

The constitution of grammar

A shall precede a noun beginning with a consonant

An shall precede a noun beginning with a vowel

With few exceptions

Should we endure this treacherous journey

Fraught with unforeseen pitfalls and

Duplicitous encounters

We arrive with due caution at the very

Heart of the matter: Insurrection

Quite frankly: We know it when we see it

Case closed!

Enemies of the Earth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Enemies of the Earth

 

Once there was a highest court

That cared about the air and water

The planet was our mother

The water was her daughter

But now the court is dark and grim

Guided by the holy dollar

The prospects of the planet dim

They care little for the land

As we stand before them pleading

The justices demand:

How much are you worth?

Bow down before your betters

The enemies of the earth

 

We bring a plague of shadows

We breathe a curse of hell

Our evil hearts begin to show

Sound warnings, ring the bells!

Who cares if skies grow darker?

What counts a million lives?

We’ve passed another marker

As corporate profits rise

To a generation of mutations

We will inevitably give birth

The future will remember us

The enemies of the earth

 

The Death of Civil Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: JUSTICE

The Death of Civil Rights

 

From the march across the Pettus bridge

To the martyrdom of the King

From the passage of Voting Rights

To the cry: Let Freedom Ring!

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The fading of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

The line of progress broken

The dream is in retreat

The betrayal goes unspoken

The circle incomplete

 

America must hang her head

Embarrassment and shame

The end of our great promise

Delivered in our name

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The dying of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

(Supreme Court ends Affirmative Action)

The Corrupt Court

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

The Corrupt Court

 

After decades of neglect

When the press turned their backs

As they did for American heroes

In a former time and frame of mind

The media shines its glaring light

On the infamous corporate court

The highest in the land

The institution beyond reproach

To reveal its corporate brand

 

Accepting bribes from billionaires

Elaborate gifts and housing deals

Has become a standard practice

For the members of this court

 

That there are two systems of justice

Is now an indisputable fact

One for the rich and privileged

Another for the poor, the black

The native, brown and homeless

On the other side of the tracks