The Nordic Front

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

The Nordic Front

 

Putin made a fool of our president

Laying on the authoritarian charm

But he signed a deal that delivered

To Kiev most critical arms

 

Funded by the Nordic front

Sweden, Denmark and Norway *

We hope that Russians feel the brunt

Before their attentions stray

 

America will not take the lead

All of Europe will do their share

We no longer feel a pressing need

The burden now is theirs

 

But the Nordic front is next in line

If his thirst is not contained

Poland, Hungary, Liechtenstein

May begin to feel the strain

 

For now it is a regional war

Confined to former Soviet states

But victory leads to desire for more

Wake up before it’s too late

 

America will be left behind

With a leader who is sleeping

And a congress that is nearly blind

May leave the whole world weeping

 

* and the Netherlands

 

Putin and Xi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Putin and Xi (and Modi)

 

Putin meets with Xi

The monster of the north

Meets the beast of the east

What does it mean going forth?

 

The invasion carries on

As the monster stakes his claim

The whole world knows he’s wrong

We will not forget Ukraine

 

Kiev expresses fear

That America will refrain

That the end is drawing near

But we won’t forget Ukraine

 

Ukraine would be the first

But it would not be the last

Nor would it be the worst

Another war would come to pass

 

Thanks to Putin and to Xi

The end of human rights

A massive loss of dignity

Democracy in plight

 

Now Modi joins the fray

On the wrong side of the line

From the republic he will stray

To lead his nation in decline

 

 

Balance of Powers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Balance of Powers

 

Russia is an imperialist nation

The United States* should know

We’ve tried our hand at occupation

We wanted our empire to grow

 

We tried to conquer Afghanistan

After the Soviets came up short

We tried to conquer Vietnam

To make Saigon an American fort

 

We tried to subjugate Iraq

In the false name of democracy

Forced to give their country back

And admit our own hypocrisy

 

I truly hope we’ve changed our ways

But no one can be sure

When we invade we tend to stay

Our motives aren’t quite pure

 

Now Putin wants his empire

He wants Georgia and Ukraine

He’d rather set it all on fire

Than admit it’s all in vain

 

The world is balanced between powers

Russia, China and the western states

As we near the final reckoning hour

We must place our trust in fate

 

* United States of America

 

The Fate of Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

The Fate of Ukraine

 

Ukraine is a sovereign state

In whole or in part?

Subject to negotiations

That long forgotten art

 

Zelensky may not attend

Discussions of his country’s fate

Europe’s promise to defend

Ukraine may come too late

 

Trump and Putin will decide

The nature of this “compromise”

They think Zelensky must abide

Despite the fact that Putin lies

 

Will we reward his war crimes?

His brazen act of aggression?

If we give him what he wants this time

What then will be the lesson?

 

That power trumps the force of law

That nations can be occupied

That everything we know is flawed

That decency can be defied

 

Do not allow this travesty

This outrageous abomination

For that would be a tragedy

Akin to subjugation

 

Protests in Kiev

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Protests in Kiev

 

Divisions in the ranks

Protests in Ukraine

Rubles in the bank

All efforts are in vain

 

Putin puts his dirty hands

In places they don’t belong

A sour note inside the band

Will fracture every song

 

It’s hard to maintain unity

In the face of constant pressure

But unity is what we need

With faith in equal measure

 

Russian hands are everywhere

Beware the infiltrators

Pretending that they really care

When all along they’re traitors

 

Do not forget democracy

Without it we are lost

We can’t afford hypocrisy

One man is not the boss

 

Military Conscription

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Military Conscription in Germany

 

When counting crimes against humanity

Do not neglect armed conscription

It is a symptom of our insanity

A morally bankrupt predilection

 

The desperate hour is drawing near

And we are desperate for solutions

Our trepidations and our fears

Are leading us to devolution

 

An army of conscripts will not serve

With the force of volunteers

A cause that’s just does not deserve

A fighting force that’s commandeered

 

We are not like the North Koreans

We do not do what despots do

That is not the right idea

To raise an army fair and true

 

If a great army must be raised

Let us appeal to the heart and mind

Move beyond conscription daze

Leave those evil ways behind

 

(Germany considers conscription)

 

BRICS in the Wall

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

BRICS in the Wall

 

Lula took aim at the US of A

The Saudis looked on silently

The Iranians had much to say

The Emirates could hardly breathe

 

They all blasted the Israelis

As they were right to do

The Palestinians are on their knees

With no one left to sue

 

But when you blast the warmongers

Yet fall silent on Ukraine

You should hold your tongues longer

Before singing that refrain

 

The Russians have no virtue

The Chinese little more

Give credit wherever it is due

Give none to the masters of war

 

Stand up for all democracies

Oppose the bold oppressors

Call out all those hypocrisies

As something less than lesser

 

 

 

Ukraine Strikes Back

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE WAR

 

Ukraine Strikes Back

 

Deep in the heart of the Kremlin

They are feeling Ukrainian pain

The work of intelligence gremlins

Has left a lasting stain

 

Now the war will take its toll

Beneath all Russian eyes

Vladimir will blame the whole

On Ukraine and Europe’s spies

 

But that is not the story

As Vladimir knows too well

For starting this wrong war he

Will find his place in hell

 

For Dante knew his kind

His greed and thirst for power

As time and fate unwinds

He nears the desperate hour

 

And no one will take pity

On the man who would be king

For the bombing of the cities

The consequence will sting

 

 

 

 

Germany Steps Up

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Germany Steps Up

 

In the absence of an American ally

To lead in the defense of Ukraine

Chancellor Merz has applied

With a promise of critical aid

 

There will be no limitations

On the range of Ukrainian strikes

Next target the Moscow station

Raining missiles into the night

 

Now Russia reaps what it sows

And Putin takes the blame

He is lost on a lonesome road

That leads to nowhere but shame

 

If this is what is required

To bring Putin to negotiations

Then set the Kremlin on fire

Let them plead for salvation

 

They did not want this fight

But they will surely answer back

They stand firm for what is right

Against a brutal Russian attack

 

Now your people will feel the pain

That proceeds from your dirty war

When there is nothing more to gain

What are you fighting for?

 

 

Appeasing Vlad

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP & PUTIN

 

Appeasing Vlad

 

If you appease a war criminal

In a position of power

You are a war criminal

In his darkest hour

 

If you simply do not care

How many children die

If you are minimally aware

If you have never asked why

 

You’re the one who feeds the beast

You’re the one who lets it pass

You’re the host of the disease

You’re the flag at half mast

 

This war will never end

As long as Vladimir perceives

The Americans are his friends

Their leader will appease

 

The world must be appalled

Ukraine must feel betrayed

The ceasefire talks have stalled

Don’t you know you’re being played?

 

Around the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Around the World

 

The war in Gaza rages

The war in Yemen holds

The wars progress in stages

The Ukrainians will not fold

 

The tariff wars intensify

Across the global stage

Our leaders taking foreign bribes

The Saudis are in play

 

Everywhere we plant a seed

The future is in doubt

Autocracies grow like weeds

Democracy is out

 

The war is raging everywhere

Our rights are on the run

Those in power do not care

The reckoning has begun

 

The warming is the greatest threat

To all that live on earth

We’ve just begun to pay the debt

How much is the planet worth?

 

The Day Saigon Fell

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Day Saigon Fell

 

The day that Saigon fell *

Ended fifty years of hell **

Fifty years since that day

We’ve learned there’s a price to pay

 

For fighting endless wars

That wound us to our core

Wars in other people’s lands

Iraq and Afghanistan

 

Wars that leave a lasting stain

Yemen and Ukraine

I wonder if we’ve learned at all

Fifty years since the fall

 

We’ve pledged to end all war

We’ve sworn to fight no more

But then the bugle sounds

And another war goes down

 

Soldiers by the thousands die

As mothers wonder why

Their children are deceased

When will we live in peace?

 

* April 28, 1975

** British, French and American wars

Parade of Pariahs in Moscow

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Parade of Pariahs

 

In the parade of pariahs

Showing solidarity with the beast of brutality

from the northern empire

The most surprising of these is

Lula da Silva of Brazil

We expect little of those nations that live

in the shadow of the former Soviet empire

We expect little of the Chinese dictator

We expect nothing less from those who

survive at the mercy of Russian military aid

But we expect better of Lula

The elder statesman who revived Brazilian democracy

The man who defeated the Trumpian tyrant wannabe

Even Modi of India refused the embarrassment

of associating with the world’s leading oppressors

The republic of the United States of America is

suffering at the moment but we have not stooped

to the level of Vladimir Putin

It is you who should be embarrassed now

You betray your own democratic ideals

You give legitimacy to the invasion of Ukraine

Step back, Lula da Silva, and reevaluate

Russian oil and military aid is not worth the

sacrifice of sacred principles

 

The Martyrdom of Darya Kozyreva

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN'S RUSSIA

 

Darya

 

Darya Kozyreva is nineteen

She loves poetry and yearns for freedom

Darya Kozyreva will spend three years

in the gulag for poetic dissidence

 

She pasted a verse from a Ukrainian poet *

on his statue in St Petersburg Square:

 

O bury me, then rise ye up

And break your heavy chains

And water with the tyrant’s blood

The freedom you have gained

 

It did not use the tyrant’s name

It did not need to

It didn’t mention the war in Ukraine

It was self-evident

 

Darya Kozyreva was a known dissident

Now she is a known hero

She valued truth over her own freedom

She felt the suffering of her Ukrainian friends

She refused to remain silent

 

She is one of hundreds in Russian jails

For speaking out against their president

For speaking out against his dirty war

 

In America we do not imprison dissidents

We detain and deport foreign students

For writing anti-Israeli editorials

 

In America we find more creative ways

to punish those who criticize the president

and his oppressive policies

 

We are not Russia but we are on the path

that Putin laid out before us

where dissent is outlawed

and public protest is treason

where even listening to an opposing view

is a punishable offense

 

* Taras Shevchenko

Escalation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Escalation

 

The war in Yemen escalates

The war in Ukraine accelerates

The war in Gaza venerates

A once and would-be king

 

He was the master deal maker

He promised war would end

He was a giver not a taker

His deals would make amends

 

The bombs in Yemen fall

The missiles in Ukraine

They’re building up the walls

Mass destruction is in vain

 

All his promises are broken

His words a waste of breath

All his efforts are a token

To a world of endless death

 

The war in Ukraine escalates

In Yemen war accelerates

A land that Israel decimates

A long-forgotten king

 

Open Letter to the Russian People

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

 

Open Letter

 

People of Russia I humbly speak

I appeal to your humanity

If peace is what you seek

Do not yield to your vanity

Don’t believe that we are weak

 

You are not your dark leader

We are not the same as ours

In a forest of hard cedar

We have both built our towers

We have listened to deceivers

 

But we do not desire war

Despite all you might have heard

When you knock upon our door

We will hear your honest word

And we will travel to your shore

 

As for the matter of Ukraine

We believe in basic rights

Let us make it very plain

We do not believe in might

We will not embrace the pain

 

We believe in sharing views

We believe in compromise

Let us walk in common shoes

Let us form more common ties

If we fail both sides will lose

 

For the world and for ourselves

We must end this bitter hate

Put our differences on the shelf

Let us forge a better fate

Let’s regard each other well