Any War Will Do

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Any War

 

Because the president says it

Does not mean that it is true

The president wants a war

Almost any war will do

 

There is no trouble in Liberia

No Christian genocide in Nigeria

We have no business in Siberia

There is no reason for hysteria

 

He’s waging war on Venezuela

Cuba, Haiti and Brazil

He’s sending troops to Arcadia

He wants an enemy he can kill

 

If we are waging war on ISIS

Set the target within Sahel

There you will find a crisis

Turning villages into hell

 

But you don’t want a righteous war

When any third world war will do

You don’t care the reasons for

You don’t need a cause that’s true

 

You’ll keep on throwing bombs

To distract us from the truth

It’s an old familiar song

To be answered in the booth

 

 

The Ugly American

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

The Ugly American

 

The ugly American has come to pass

We know his name and number

We hope his reign will not last

The dream is in a slumber

 

It seems we don’t like anyone

Who isn’t white and wealthy

Until this wave is finally done

Our nation is not healthy

 

We’ve fallen to the right extreme

The ones who do not care

They never liked the fabled dream

To them it seems unfair

 

That whites are not the ruling class

All others get in line

Money is the only pass

To drink the finest wine

 

We are the world’s worst nightmare

Until that distant day

When the light of reason fills the air

And this one goes away

 

 

Budapest Rising

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Budapest Rising

 

An election is coming to Budapest

As we hear a rising sound

The people march in protest

As scandals shake the ground

 

Corruption and rank abuse

Has shaken Hungary to its core

Orban’s grip is coming loose

Change is knocking at the door

 

Pedophilia and prostitution

An abomination to the masses

When it invades your institutions

It rips apart your ruling classes

 

When you’re a strongman at the helm

You believe there are no rules

You have gone beyond the realm

Of the morbid and the cruel

 

How long as this gone on?

This unspeakable reign of horror

Was it happening all along?

Listen! Hear the people roar!

 

The great reckoning is coming down

Like a hammer to your head

They don’t want your kind around

Try democracy instead

 

 

The Imperial President

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Imperial President

 

If I say it’s the law it’s the law

If I say it’s a crime it’s a crime

The imperial president’s flaw

Puts the nation in a bind

 

We are complicit in our silence

As the president does his will

Acts of war and criminal violence

He has claimed the right to kill

 

In this country we don’t have a king

And we do not have a god

The blowback he will surely bring

The outrage and the fraud

 

He is itching for a fight

To distract us from the files

Whether wrong or whether right

Someone’s bound to get riled

 

As we take another step

Toward losing our republic

As the founding spirits wept

As the clock begins to tick

 

May we change the way we’re thinking

Before we lose it all

The ship of state is sinking

In the days before the fall

 

 

Contingencies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Contingencies

 

What will Zelensky do

When Trump betrays Ukraine?

What will the continent do

When Russia makes it plain

That they will not stop the war

As long as Putin reigns

As long as there is more

To load on Russia’s train?

 

What will America do

When Europe does not fold?

What will China do

When Putin’s act grows old?

When the whole world realigns?

When democracies grow bold?

When India reads the signs?

 

What will the world do

When all are forced to choose?

Old ties or something new?

Who wins and who will lose?

When the people finally rise?

To claim their sovereign prize

And affirm their best allies? 

 

War Crimes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

War Crimes

 

War crimes are as old as war itself

 

The Revolutionary War

  The Sullivan Expedition

 

The Civil War

  Sherman’s March to the Sea

 

Civil wars are never civil

 

The Indian Wars

  The Trail of Tears

    Wounded Knee

      The Sand Creek Massacre

 

Nits make fleas

 

WWI

  Pillage and Plunder

 

To the victor goes the spoils

 

WWII

  The bombing of Dresden

    Internment of the Japanese

      Nagasaki / Hiroshima

        The Nuremberg Trials

 

War is hell

 

Korean War

  No Gun Ri Massacre

 

Vietnam

  My Lai Massacre

    Carpet bombing

      Free fire zones

 

Asians don’t value life as we do

 

The Gulf War

  Radioactive munitions

    Gulf War Syndrome

 

Iraq War / War on Terror

  Abu Ghraib

 

The Narco Terror War

  Extrajudicial execution

    No survivors

 

Where there is war

There are war crimes

War itself is a crime against humanity

 

 

Hypocritical Oath

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VENEZUELA

 

Hypocritical Oath

 

There is no Cartel of the Sun

It is only a figure of speech

Until this nasty business is done

Maduro is beyond their reach

 

The real leader of a Narco State

The former president of Honduras

Will help make America great

The convicted Juan Hernandez

 

What did he promise our president

In exchange for a blanket pardon?

Money given or money lent

Or a plush Honduran garden?

 

He doesn’t care about democracy

It’s all about the bottom line

He flaunts his crude hypocrisy

And declares that all is fine

 

Maduro sees what’s going on

He needs to strike a deal

It’s not about what’s right or wrong

His wounded pride will heal

 

Our president needs a victory

Any foreign war will do

He doesn’t need our sympathy

And doesn’t care what’s true

 

Wag the Dog (Venezuela)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

Wag the Dog (Venezuela)

 

What do presidents do

When the bottom drops out?

When they’ve already lost one shoe

And there’s little left but doubt?

 

They start a war with paper tiger

Someone that doesn’t have a chance

Someone who will not push it higher

But will show up for the dance

 

It seems Maduro fits the bill

He’s well known as a bad guy

If we don’t get him someone will

We’ll frame him with a lie

 

Just like we did in Vietnam

The Gulf of Tonkin Resolution

We don’t really give a damn

But we’ll make it a solution

 

The problem is it never works

The people will strike back

The invaders are always seen as jerks

When a foreign force attacks

 

It didn’t work in Vietnam

In Afghanistan or Iraq

The people sense a phony scam

Like a rabbit smells a hawk

 

BBC V. Donald Trump

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

  

BBC V. Donald Trump

 

The Donald took his shakedown

Across the Atlantic Sea

But his vengeance cruise ran aground

When he faced the BBC

 

We all watched as it went down

A clear attempt at a violent coup

Their report* was on solid ground

Though the Donald’s rage but grew

 

He challenged an angry mob

To assault the people’s house

He proclaimed revenge as his job

Whipped them up til they were roused

 

He told them he would lead them

Like a commander leads an attack

In the end he’d only bleed them

Before he finally walked it back

 

The man was guilty as bloody hell

The BBC should stand its ground

The day the republic almost fell

Their report was fully sound

 

* BBC report on January 6^th

Orban the Despotic

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Orban the Despotic

 

Victor Orban and Donald Trump

The despot and the wannabe

When Orban yells his people jump

The dream the Donald dreams

 

There is no opposition

He puts them all in jail

He believes in superstitions

Orban the Great can never fail

 

They share an admiration

For the empires of old

They’d love to lead their nations

In thrones of purest gold

 

They subvert their constitutions

With every kind of measure

Like destroying institutions

That expose their dirty pleasures

 

Orban should go back home

We don’t need his tactics here

Your final days will come

We pray those days are near

 

 

War with Venezuela

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

War with Venezuela

 

We’re preparing for war with Venezuela

On the pretense of Narco Terror

Like the Russians invading Australia

The debt belongs to the bearer

 

What fool dreamed up this adventure?

Bush’s folly was not enough

Is this how the man derives pleasure?

By proving he’s bold and tough

 

Just as Putin did in Ukraine

The US will go it alone

An invasion that drags on in vain

An occupation in the American zone

 

Turn back before it’s too late

Like Bush you will stumble and lose

You wanted to show yourself great

Instead you will pay your dues

 

Like Nam, Iraq and Afghanistan

You’ll go down in a flurry of flames

Just another imperialist plan

That forever degrades our name

 

Let’s pretend you’re still a peacemaker

Let’s pretend you don’t want war

You’re a giver not a taker

You can find the other shore

 

The Illusionist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP DAZE

 

The Illusionist

 

He creates a stunning façade

All that glitters is not gold

He perceives himself a god

His magic sparkling and bold

 

He vanquished part of the White House

Gone in rubble and dust

He will stage a spectacular roust

Shazam! There goes all trust!

 

But the Gaza destruction goes on

The wars he stopped were never there

Putin still strings him along

And the markets are chasing the bear

 

He instigates violence in the cities

He creates an illusion of order

The illusion is quick and pretty

He should use it on the southern border

 

He pretends that everything’s grand

He celebrates before it’s done

Have a party, strike up the band

Once again the king has won

 

But all he’s done is not real

He just spins his webs of illusion

A toss of the great spinning wheel

When he’s done there’s mass confusion

 

Trashing the White House

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Trashing the White House

 

He’s trashed part of the White House

For a big and gilded ballroom

We’re all quiet as a mouse

As he destroys the nation’s heirloom

 

The destruction of antiquities

As bad as it may seem

Is nothing to the liquidity

Of the great American dream

 

The constitution is imperiled

The world’s order is in danger

The White House has gone feral

All our friends are now strangers

 

So he’s tearing the West Wing down

Like it’s a condo on the beach

All in service to his crown

There is little beyond his reach

 

He’s closing in on Mount Rushmore

What a conquest that would be

A golden bust that he’ll adore

Large enough for all to see

 

All the strongmen will agree

He’s the greatest show in town

For a modest if tainted fee

You can break the White House down