Banned

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE PRESS

 

Banned

 

If he had read the first amendment

(some doubt he reads at all)

The work of our descendants

The free press cannot fall

 

But he doesn’t like their inquisition

The push him into a rage

They challenge all of his positions

Draw attention to his age

 

So he takes away their access

He throws them out the door

Like they’re all a bunch of pests

He won’t see them anymore

 

Yet he’ll see them on the daily news

He’ll see them at their best

He’ll see them when the people choose

The freedom of the press

 

They will yell it from the mountaintop

The president has no clothes

They’ll tell it when his rallies flop

And when resistance grows

 

He banned them from the White House

But he can’t take their right to speak

He’s as feeble as a field mouse

He’s a man well past his peak

 

And everybody knows it well

The people want him gone

We’d like to send him straight to jail

His kingdom for a pawn

 

The Fuehrer's Berlin

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

The Fuehrer’s Berlin

 

The fuehrer had elaborate plans

For the remaking of Berlin

A reimagining so far beyond grand

To immortalize the Nazi win

 

He used imprisoned labor

French prisoners, jews and gypsies

To build tributes to their savior

Under the watch of Nazi police

 

A triumphant arch so huge

It made small the arch in Paris

Lost in the allies deluge

We’ve forgotten the fuehrer’s kiss

 

His ego could not be contained

He imagined himself on a throne

All other kings would be plain

He would rise above them alone

 

The fuehrer saw it all in a dream

Just as someone sees it today

He would be the king of all kings

And to him the people would pray

 

A New Alliance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

 

A New Alliance

 

America’s loss is Europe’s gain

(if America is the United States)

While our relationship is feeling strained

The Europeans are feeling great

 

Our president wants to own them

Convert them to the 51^st state

He regards them as a northern gem

If only they’d cooperate

 

Canada has a different notion

An alliance with another union

Terms of agreement are in motion

Soon the deal will be done

 

Europe’s gain is America’s loss

A wider sphere of influence

They want a partner, not a boss

A measure of their defiance

 

They’ll try again when Trump is gone

They are tired trying to please him

They’ll wait until the coming dawn

Til then they’ll just release him

 

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

 

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

 

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!

 

 

Closed (Hormuz Strait)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

Closed

 

The Lincoln is abandoned *

The war still rages on

We’re down to muskets and cannons

Our fearlessness is gone

It’s a strange and deadly game

Where every turn seems wrong

The new military is dopin’

They are singing a new song

But the Strait is not open

And the war is getting long

 

We’re loud and we’re raging

We’re heading round the bend

Our ships and missiles aging

In a war that will not end

Our leaders are half mad

By now the whole world knows

It’s tragic and it’s sad

But that’s just how it goes

Everything is turning bad

And the Strait is still closed

 

It’s closed for the weekend

It’s closed another day

How long it’s closed depends

On what our leaders say

There is no way around

It might be closed til May

As our sense of outrage grows

And our hair is turning gray

But the Strait remains closed

And closed it will stay

 

* USS Lincoln

 

Big Tent Party

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Big Tent Party

 

The Democrats are on the run

The “Big Tent” party has failed

It allowed a right-wing charlatan

To run the nation off the rails

 

If you really want a Big Tent

Don’t attack the progressive wing

If you wonder where the voters went

They felt the corporate sting

 

Hey Big Brother, have you heard?

They’re leaving you behind

They aren’t afraid of “scary” words

The people make up their own minds

 

They like what the candidates represent

They like what they have to say

A party that falls short of Big Tent

Can only get in the way

 

Expand your way of thinking

There’s a mountain we must climb

The old party has been sinking

For a very, very long time

 

You’ve been losing all the races

We have lost our peace of mind

It is time to greet new faces

Of a new and fresher kind

 

We need a new unification

Of all parties in opposition

To save this faltering nation

With a new, enlightened mission

 

A Dagger to the Heart

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Dagger

 

Ukraine is desperate for supplies

Among them interceptors

To clear missiles from their skies

With defenders and detectors

 

But they were shipped to the Saud’s

To the Emirates and Bahrain

To defend against “the gods”

Instead of fighting for Ukraine

 

We let them fight the Russian beast

As if we didn’t have a stake

We helped Zelensky fight the least

We let go for Putin’s sake

 

We’re running short of munitions

All the experts will explain

Along with chronic indecision

We’ve betrayed brave Ukraine

 

And yet they found a way to fight

Against all odds with Europe’s aid

Knowing they were in the right

Knowing Trump was being played

 

Who among us did not see

That Netanyahu was insane?

This war for the Israelis

Is a dagger to the heart of Ukraine

 

 

The Smithsonian

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

 

The Smithsonian

 

To tell us what is false and true

You have to know your history

Racial bias is nothing new

Your motive is not a mystery

 

We built fortunes on our slaves

It’s a matter of solemn fact

Home of the free, land of the brave

With the exception of the blacks

 

God wasn’t always on our side

When we marked a westward trail

A little matter of genocide

While we built the golden rails

 

We imprisoned the Japanese

For the country of their origin

We abused and used the Chinese

For the color of their skin

 

We fought wars for faulty reasons

So many innocents have died

We’ve seen presidents commit treason

But the law was not applied

 

Now you’d like a different story

One of heroes and wonderment

Tales of courage and of glory

Not what was but what was “meant”

 

(Trump wants the Smithsonian to

label “false” or “misleading” displays.)

 

 

Reviled (Blind Revenge)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IRAN WAR

 

Reviled

 

The war in Iran is reviled

By all sides left and right

A war of spite and guile

A fight not worth the fight

 

We have aided the oppressors

And rallied the world against

We’ve grown weaker in every sector

We are weaker in our defense

 

Now we’re paying more for oil

And we’re paying more for food

We’re engaged on foreign soil

And our strategy seems crude

 

It’s a war that can’t be won

It’s a war for Netanyahu

It’s a war of shock and stun

Where we’re wrong in all we do

 

We are partners in a war crime

Against all of Palestine

It is so far beyond the time

To let this criminal war unwind

 

We remember October 7

It’s enough to make us cringe

But just like September 11

There is a limit to blind revenge  

Casualties of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Casualties of War

 

You gave us a promise on election day

No more stupid wars

America wanted another way

They chose to say: no more

 

So now we find ourselves at war

For Netanyahu and Israel’s sake

So we ask ourselves once more

How many must die for your mistake?

 

You don’t know how to say you’re wrong

You have played the warlord’s fool

Your sense of power far too strong

You forgot the golden rule

 

Don’t gamble more than you can lose

The very faith of MAGA nation

Now you cannot face the news

A sense of brazen indignation

 

This is the war you wanted

Now everything’s at stake

You pretend that you’re undaunted

How many will die for your mistake?

 

 

Yourself to Blame

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORRUPTION

 

Yourself to Blame

 

When we get the power back

You will hide your heads in shame

You pushed so hard you’re off the tracks

You’ll have only yourself to blame

 

You took in so much dirty money

You didn’t even try to hide it

It’s no longer even funny

All the billionaires confide it

 

You cooked up a thousand schemes

While taking money from the poor

You’ve destroyed the American dream

While kicking migrants out the door

 

When this chapter finally ends

The world will sigh with great relief

Not a soul will defend

The president who was a thief

 

When you take your final leave

A curse will be upon your name

When it happens you’ll believe

You’ll only have yourself to blame

 

 

The Klan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

The Klan

 

The Klan is alive and well

And thriving in D.C.

They’re pounding the Liberty Bell

They are soldiers and police

 

The Klan is in the White House

They are on the White House lawn

Feeling eager and aroused

Awaiting a new dawn

 

An age of white supremacy

The whites hold all the power

An old and well-worn legacy

The light in every tower

 

They’re armed and standing ready

Their commander is the president

They’re holding strong and steady

Their leaders are in residence

 

It’s a battle we must fight again

As long as freedom reigns

We don’t know or when

But the threat is more than plain

 

The Klan is a bold atrocity

A stain on our ideals

A deplorable philosophy

And yet it’s very real