Not Warming

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Not Warming

 

The climate isn’t warming

The heat in Tulsa isn’t real

And the toxic sky isn’t harming

Or affecting how we feel

 

The snowpack isn’t down

The floods aren’t getting worse

It isn’t drying out the ground

It’s not the global warming curse

 

The price of oil isn’t higher

We aren’t burning more each day

And the kids aren’t getting tired

Of nearly everything we say

 

We’re not fighting a needless war

In a place so far from here

We’re not tearing up the shore

And the end ain’t drawing near

 

We aren’t losing jobs to robots

We aren’t making people poor

And we aren’t twisted into knots

Trying to squeeze a little more

 

We aren’t living in a nightmare

We are living in a dream

And no one we know is scared

That’s just the way it seems

 

 

In Good Faith

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

In Good Faith

 

When we bargain with Ukraine

We serve as Putin’s protégé

When we talk with Tehran

We’re like a puppet on a stage

 

Trump has lost his dirty war

Vladimir is off his game

Netanyahu keeps the score

Every party shares the blame

 

We do not bargain in good faith

We make demands and threats

You can’t negotiate with hate

The wars are piling up the debts

 

In the end we’ll have won nothing

But a damaged reputation

To give it credence is insulting

Time to face the implications

 

That our leader is a child

Bomb the world to have his way

The laws of reason he’s defiled

For these acts we’ll have to pay

 

 

The Rise of China

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Rise of China

 

While we invested in coal and war

China invested in electric cars

While we renewed drilling offshore

They got power from the planet’s star

 

As the price of oil keeps rising

The result of our dirty war

Our ignorance becomes surprising

We’ve opened China’s door

 

And yes Russia applauds the price of oil

It’s the heart of the Russian economy

As the losses mount on American soil

We’ve delivered a free world lobotomy

 

As America wallows in stubborn denial

And Russia is mired in the pit of Ukraine

China is throwing a party in style

The Chairman is sipping champagne

 

Is this what the big man intended?

A world where we fall behind

An age when the nation descended

When our leader was out of his mind

 

 

No Peace

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

No Peace

 

There is no peace in Syria

where forever war still reigns

in Yemen or Nigeria

where war’s an old refrain

 

In Gaza there’s no peace

in Israel or Ukraine

in Russia there’s a beast

whose war is now ingrained

 

There is no peace in Pakistan

the old war rages on

no peace in Afghanistan

the Taliban is not gone

 

There’s no peace in any nation

where the iron fist is strong

there is no celebration

where everything is wrong

 

There is no peace in India

in China or Taiwan

in Asia or in Africa

in Thailand or Saigon

 

There is no peace in Paris

in Berlin or Brazil

as long as terror scares us

the threat of war is real

 

 

Shockwaves over Caracas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

Shockwaves over Caracas

 

Venezuela is in turmoil

Maduro has been captured

America claims her oil

On this winter day the third

 

Bright flames light up the sky

Explosions fill the air

The world must wonder why

This president has dared

 

He thinks they will surrender

Without offering up a fight

But this day they’ll remember

For the dimming of the light

 

All the world must now tremble

In fear and trepidation

The world order is dissembled

By a rogue and brutish nation

 

Like Russia in Ukraine

Without cause or provocation

Our actions leave a stain

There can be no salvation

 

We’ve learned nothing from the past

A war for oil in Iraq

Unlawful gains will never last

Once they absorb the shock

 

 

Russian Mercenaries

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

 

Russian Mercenaries

 

They don’t have enough soldiers

To fight their war against Ukraine

But they’re sending mercenaries to Mali

To join a war of the insane

 

They don’t believe in their cause

Because the cause is not their own

They’re fundamentally flawed

Like a heart made of stone

 

They pay the North Korean poor

To boost their numbers in Ukraine

But every mercenary war

Is a war fought in vain

 

They ignore all human rights

They practice torture and abuse

When they have lost the will to fight

Their iron grip will shake loose

 

The Russians are a scourge

On the entire human race

Their forces should be purged

From each and every civilized place

 

 

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? 

 

The Darkest Hour

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

The Darkest Hour

 

When given immoral dictums

You have a right to refrain

When the righteous are the victims

As they are in fair Ukraine

 

It seems America has abandoned

The democratic cause

With the Kremlin in tandem

We are down to last straws

 

We ask little of the aggressor

We demand much of Ukraine

A territorial divestiture

The resistance was in vain

 

But Ukraine is not alone

Europe will not turn its back

They will stand up for their own

Until the cause is back on track

 

We are in the darkest hours

It seems the walls are closing in

An alliance of dark powers

Let us pray they do not win

 

If the allies would prevail

In the defense of fair Ukraine

Before the path grows stale

We must endure greater pain

 

 

India and Russia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIA

 

Russia and India

 

When you’re in bed with a beast

A rank purveyor of war

Do not pretend you love peace

Your reputation is less than poor

 

Modi wants what Putin has

A stranglehold on power

He’ll play the game as long as

It is not the China hour

 

The man from Moscow plays it cool

Both sides against the middle

The American is his fool

But Modi is his fiddle

 

China’s Xi remains a mystery

In this strange triangulation

It will go down in modern history

The day that Modi sold his nation

 

For just a moment in the sun

With the planet’s greatest threat

By the time this deal is done

They will be buried in Russian debt

 

 

Putin's Shadow

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Putin’s Shadow

 

In the shadow of aggression

All of Europe is on alert

History has taught a lesson

Pressing though it may hurt

 

Germany has raised the alarm

With incentives to build their forces

Although none would wish to harm

There are few alternative courses

 

The continent must be prepared

For whatever the beast has in mind

If captured in the monster’s lair

The world would be in a bind

 

Conscription is an unthinkable crime

Let us hope we’re not headed there

The road ahead is a difficult climb

Every nation must do its share

 

Denmark is drafting women

France is offering more

Finland expands its conscription

In preparation for a coming war

 

We pray for a world in peace

For an end to wars of all kinds

But the Kremlin is home to a beast

To that fact we cannot be blind

 

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 

Corruption in Ukraine

Is an affront to humankind

Negotiations become strained

It puts her allies in a bind

 

To betray your country is a sin

To betray your country at war

Is a sin beyond redemption

It is corruption to the core

 

While the battlefield rages

While you plead for more arms

This is a treachery for the ages

That could do irreparable harm

 

The guilty must be punished

Before the cause is lost

The corruption must be banished

The corrupted must be tossed

 

Ukraine remains at war

In a battle for existence

An evil enemy at the door

All their people in resistance

 

Their leaders must be pure

Their president must stand tall

For the people must be assured

Or Ukraine will lose it all

 

 

No More Tears

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

No More Tears

 

A torrent of rain

So many people dead

From Gaza to Ukraine

No more tears to shed

 

The wars keep raging on

More hatred being bred

The fire in Hong Kong

No more tears to shed

 

The unsheltered army grows

The hungry are not fed

No jackets or warm clothes

No more tears to shed

 

A murder in the capitol

Our strength is being bled

Our promises grow cold

There’s no more tears to shed

 

The retribution tour

The sky is turning red

A smell like a sewer

We’ve no more tears to shed

 

We’re tired and we’re old

The end is drawing near

Our rights are being sold

But we have no more tears

 

 

Rewarding Aggression

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Rewarding Aggression (Ukraine)

 

A brutal legacy of destruction

The invasion of Ukraine

We demand its reconstruction

Reparations in the main

 

You cannot reward aggression

If you want a world of peace

The time has come for this lesson

The brutality must cease

 

All of Europe is united

They have frozen Russian funds

This wrong cannot be righted

Without depleting Russian guns

 

So many lives have been lost

We all know who’s to blame

The one and only Kremlin boss

Whose lasting mark is shame

 

Take away all his wealth

Strip him of his power

He has claimed it all by stealth

Make him face his final hour

 

Let him roam the barren earth

A man who walks alone

Let his home be built of dirt

Let his comfort be his groans

 

The War Must End

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

The War Must End

 

The people of Gaza are tired of war

The Israeli people must bend

Let the waves of hatred be no more

It is time for the war to end

 

The Russian people have had their fill

Too long the Ukrainians defend

Their leaders must swallow a bitter pill

It is time for the war to end

 

Yet Putin will never give up the fight

As long as his pride depends

As long as the people believe he’s right

This war will never end

 

The Israelis will bomb to the end of days

As long as there’s money to spend

Their destructive might is on display

And the war will never end

 

When the Russian people are ready for peace

This message they will send

Putin’s vengeance must finally cease

It’s time for the war to end

 

When the Israeli people are ready for peace

This message they will send

Netanyahu’s war must finally cease

It is time for the war to end

 

As long as vengeance rules the day

The wounds of war will not mend

Subversion will always find a way

And the wars will never end