316 to 94 (Aid to Ukraine)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

316 – 94

 

The vote on the floor of the House

Ukraine 316, Russia 94

Zelensky 316, Putin 94

Biden 316, Trump 94

 

The vote left no doubt

America is still America

The Putin caucus lost its pull

Crushed by a wave of patriotism

Battered by old-time allegiance

We will not be the reason

The Soviet empire was reborn

The Iron Curtain reforged

The world redivided into us and them

The free world and the oppressed

We will not return to the Cold War

(a war that was never cold)

We will not yield democracy to Europe

Not yet

Not this time

 

We are America and we will not

go down without a fight

We will hold our ground

with a new coalition

A coalition of democrats and republicans

Small d and small r

We will defend our birthright

Our legacy and our ideals

Unite in purpose and cause

 

(House passes foreign aid bill 316-94.)

 

The Irony

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Irony

 

A change in the Oval Office promises

To bring a purge of the government

A purge of the FBI

A purge of the people’s house

A purge of the electorate

A purge of American citizenship

Just like the Red Scare of the fifties

 

The irony is:

This time the Reds will be doing the purge

This time the litmus test requires

An alliance to the Beast of the East

A betrayal of NATO

The abandonment of Ukraine

 

They call it America first

But it is Russia calling the shots

They call national patriotism

But it is loyalty to an adversary

They call it the voice of the people

But the people fall silent

In shock and awe

 

What have we done?

How can we make amends?

 

It is far easier to lose a democracy

Than it is to gain it back

 

Moral Dilemma

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Moral Dilemma

 

I believe in my bones conscription is wrong

As an army of conscripts is weak

I believe that the cause of Ukraine is strong

But the prospect grows dimmer to bleak

 

It is a dilemma that cannot be unwound

They are fighting a brutal beast

Yet they stand on shaky moral ground

Which path is offensive the least?

 

There must be a way to defeat this foe

Without becoming what we detest

The price for aggressive war must grow

In unity from the east to the west

 

The affront of Russia must never prevail

This evil must be stopped in its tracks

The way of war must be derailed

An end to all imperialist attacks

 

Until then we live in compromise

Until then these wars will not end

Until this world becomes more wise

Our moral foundations must bend

 

Contrasts (Light and Darkness)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Contrasts

 

How can we breathe the fresh clean air

When we know what is happening elsewhere?

In Haiti there is no order

In Nicaragua and Mexico

There is no border

 

How can we send our children to school

To teach and embrace the golden rule?

When schools in Kiev are underground

When there is no school in Gaza

In Yemen the schools left town

 

How can we enjoy our fresh cooked meals

When elsewhere there is starvation?

When hungry children go to sleep

There is no grain, there is no meat

When what you sow is what you reap

When rescue workers are killed or beat

 

How can we live in peace when

Around the world there is only war?

We fight for greed and vengeance

When men in power want only more

When more is never ever enough

When the wealthy consume the poor

 

How can we go on without care

With killing and hardship everywhere

How can we live our happy lives

When so many live in despair?

When we know we are no better than

When we know it is not fair?

 

Moscow Carnage

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Moscow Carnage

 

An attack on art

Is an attack on humanity

The attack outside of Moscow

On a gathering of concert goers

(like the concert goers in Israel)

Is beyond the pale inhuman

The perpetrators of the massacre

Though they wear religious guise

Are the scum of the earth

Self-righteous killers

Beneath contempt

 

But those who blame Ukraine

Knowing well the lie they tell

Deserve a one-way ticket

Straight to hell

 

How many concert halls and schools

Were targeted in Ukraine

How many hospitals and libraries

How many gyms and shopping malls

 

Those who attacked the Crocus Concert

Hall are evil terrorists

Just as Russia under Vladimir Putin

Is an evil terrorist nation

 

The Invisible Hand

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Invisible Hand

 

We have lost Ukraine

Or we are surely losing

Because our Republicans in congress

No longer feel the pain

They suffer from an invisible hand

Implanted deep within their brains

The hand of their invisible leader

Who himself suffers an invisible hand

Implanted within his brain

 

We are losing every battle

And soon we will lose the war

As the Republicans in congress plead:

  We have given enough already

  We cannot give you more

But the truth is another story

About a cancer in the halls of glory

The hands that pull the purse strings

Have closed the funding door

 

Don't Give Up!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Don’t Give Up (for Navalny)

 

They gathered in the heart of winter

In the belly of the beast

Knowing they could lose their lives

Knowing they could lose their freedom

Knowing they could lose their jobs …

They gathered to say goodbye

 

The martyr would have approved

In the event of his death he said:

It’s simple. Don’t give up!

It’s simple. Don’t give in.

The monster is afraid of them

Why else would he murder him?

Why else grant his martyrdom?

 

If everything is fine behind the curtain

If everything is under control

If the people are truly satisfied

If the people are content

If the people understand the war

If the people want oppression

If the people do not want their rights

If the people love their leader

Why is he afraid?

 

He is afraid the people love Navalny

He is afraid their love for him is false

He is afraid they see through his lies

He’s afraid they are not happy

He’s afraid of the martyr’s widow

He’s afraid of Navalny’s followers

He’s afraid they will rise

He’s afraid they will not give up

He’s afraid they won’t give in

Yulia Navalnaya

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Yulia Navalnaya

 

She is the widow of a hero

She is the widow of a martyr

She has sacrificed enough

We can ask of her no more

Yet she steps forward

 

She was his heart and soul

She gave to him her strength

She gave her love unselfishly

Asking little in return

His death should be an end

She is entitled to begin again

Yet she rises

 

She knows the danger

She knows as well as anyone

They killed her husband for speaking out

They’ve killed others for less

They kill journalists and dissidents

They imprison the oppressed

Yet she speaks out

 

We should all possess her courage

But we do not

We should all stand up for justice

But we do not

We should all feel her agony

Her passion and her rage

But we do not

 

If she must stand alone she would

But she will not

Boots on the Ground

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Boots on the Ground

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

They did not ask us to lend a hand

We fought our wars on their land

We hoped they’d understand

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

We put our boots on their ground

We asked them not to let us down

When we unleashed the hounds

 

Iraq is not Ukraine

The differences are plain

Like sunshine and forever rain

They do not want our soldiers

We do not want their grain

 

Ukraine is not Afghanistan

Though they share a common thread

The Russians once invaded them

An act they came to dread

An act the world condemned

 

Ukraine is not Vietnam

They do not want our troops

They don’t want our boots on loan

They only want their country

They want to defend their own

 

A Vote for War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Antiwar Vote

 

Do not be fooled into thinking that

A vote for Trump is a vote for peace

For while Trump would surrender Ukraine

War would envelop the Middle East

 

He has no knowledge of our alliances

On which our security depends

Netanyahu is sworn to war forever

And he is Trump’s sworn friend

 

A vote for Trump is a vote for Vlad

A vote for Vlad is a vote for war

All of Europe trembles at the thought

Of the horrors that lie in store

 

After Russia conquers Ukraine

At a cost of a million lives

He will take aim at Sweden

And Poland may not survive

 

So if you wish to vote for peace

Know well who you’re voting for

A vote for Trump is a vote for Putin

A vote for Putin is a vote for war

 

The Putin Caucus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Putin Caucus

 

It ain’t about the border

This is where the fight begins

Will Republicans find their courage

Or will the Putin Caucus win?

 

Ukraine is in the balance

Taiwan is nervous too

If the Putin Party gets their way

All free nations lose

 

The Israeli siege continues

There is no problem there

Bebe is the Donald’s friend

And Putin doesn’t care

 

We warned you this would happen

It’s as clear as it could be

The Donald serves Vladimir

Like a puppet on his knee

 

The writing is on the wall

It’s as predictable as rain

The only cause they serve today

Is cutting funding for Ukraine

 

America First

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

America First

 

There are those in the party of Lincoln *

Who loudly proclaim America First!

But when it comes to serving the nation

Their record could hardly be worse

 

Given a choice to protect the border

At the cost of supporting Ukraine

They turn their back on both causes

Like trading the wheat for the grain

 

The truth has now become clear

It’s not America first at all

For in the balance of global relations

Russia’s rise is America’s fall

 

We have witnessed a dark infiltration

Of our hallowed congressional halls

The subversion of our great nation

As support for our ally stalls

 

Who butters your bread Mister Johnson? **

Who tells you what you must do?

Do you know to whom he answers?

And whether his cause is true?

 

* Pre Civil War Republicans

** Speaker of the House

Zelensky Stands

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Zelensky Stands

 

He became the president of

A nation under siege

All of Ukraine shivers

Every time Russia breathes

 

Putin took Crimea and eastern Ukraine

Like Canada seizing New Hampshire and Maine

The American president gave him the shoulder

The White House reception could not have been colder

 

Against all odds he stood his ground

When the Russian invaders took their land

His courage was proven, his character sound

Four years later Zelensky still stands

 

Nobody knows what the future will hold

But in him we have witnessed the best of a man

His passion is true and his instincts are bold

When other would falter Zelensky stands