Homeless in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Homeless in Gaza

 

Homelessness in Gaza

Is beyond out of control

These people need a job

Filling up their many holes

They’re lazy and they’re useless

There’s so much to be done

Give them all a shovel

A home for everyone

If they cannot find a home

Send them out the door

If they cannot find a job

Learn how to be poor

 

This homelessness must end

There can be no excuse

Let them go to Egypt

Let them be of use

Working in their homes

Working in their fields

Slavery is just a word

Working for a meal

It’s better than being homeless

It’s better than the war

If Gazans do not like it

Show them what’s in store

 

(Trump suggests sending Gazans

to Egypt and Syria.)

 

No Time for War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

No Time for War

 

A crisis around every corner

Never knowing what’s in store

When you’re fighting for survival

There is no time for war

 

The beasts of the apocalypse

Come knocking at our door

Fire, flood and pestilence

There is no time for war

 

The rising tides of warming

Are swallowing the shores

If you’re inside the danger zone

There is no time for war

 

The cost of finding shelter

From the deadliest of storms

When no one has an answer

This is no time for war

 

The pillars of our society

Are shaken to the core

The pressures and anxiety

This is no time for war

Wings of Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR & PEACE

Wings of Freedom

 

Freedom rides on the wings of hawks

Peace rides on the wings of doves

What freedom hides the peace unlocks

Both thrive on the wings of love

 

We’ve lived with war so very long

It’s like the air and water

Our need for war has grown so strong

We neglect our sons and daughters

 

We must always strive for freedom

We must always work for peace

We must strive as if we need them

May this need for violence cease

 

They tell us it’s a solemn choice

That the price of freedom is war

They would silence every peaceful voice

And cast us to the farthest shore

 

For we should never sacrifice

Our freedom for the peace

To do so would be like trading

Our home for a temporary lease

 

(Wings of Freedom is the Israeli name

for the program to return the hostages.)

Sanity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Sanity

 

Hold on to your sanity

When the world is slipping into madness

Do not yield to your vanity

When the world is drowned in sadness

 

For we are not the center

Nor are we at the core

When the world descends to hellish grief

We are not the reasons for

 

In a world of gloom and horror

The sullen one is king

In a town of scream and shudder

The quiet one can sing

 

We have lost our equilibrium

We are reaching out for kindness

The ones who guide our passing

Are lost in moral blindness

 

If you want a world of sanity

Know that it begins at home

Take pity on humanity

For we are not alone

 

Putin: Without Restraint

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Putin: Without Restraint

 

Bombing without restrictions

Killing without restraint

Killing journalists and children

They will hear no complaints

 

Kiev is in tatters

Ukraine is bombed to shreds

Putin does not care

How many families are dead

 

There’s a new sheriff coming

He will arrive in several weeks

Kill as many as you can

You can’t be seen as weak

 

They are killing throughout Kharkiv

Luhansk is laid to waste

Any chance of lasting peace

Will be lost in Putin’s haste

 

To slaughter all their enemies

To alienate their friends

To kill with full abandon

Before the war can end

 

To Kill a Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEATH PENALTY

To Kill

 

To kill a man in anger

To kill a man for cause

To kill a man for vengeance

To kill a man is wrong

 

I understand the rage

When an injustice is done

But there is no compensation

In picking up a gun

There is no grand salvation

In public execution

Let the hand of justice reign

Let it be firm and strong

But let it be without emotion

For that which soothes today

Tomorrow it may stun

 

To kill someone in anger

To kill someone for cause

To kill someone is wrong

Regardless of the laws

 

There are many who are evil

Who deserve a sudden death

Their crimes are so despicable

They steal away our breath

When justice takes them down

We will not shed a tear

We’ll celebrate the moment

And raise a rowdy cheer

But we will not kill in anger

To prove that we are strong

We will not kill for vengeance

Because killing is wrong

 

Trying Times

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Trying Times

 

“These are the times that try men’s souls…”

 

  -- Thomas Paine, The American Crisis

 

As it was in America circa 1774

So it is today in Ukraine

It is a hard fought and bitter war

Sometimes it seems in vain

But those who stand it now

Through winter’s harshest strain

Deserve the eternal blessings

Of all who love Ukraine

 

We cannot blame the ones who fall

Who can’t endure the pain

For many answer to the call

Before their hopes are slain

Who cannot climb another wall

Though their love will never wane

 

Forgive them for their changing hearts

Their loyalty is plain

The war has broken them apart

We fear it breaks Ukraine

But those who stay the course

Will stand forever tall

The heroes of this dirty war

The love of one and all

 

(Ukrainian soldiers flee the battlefield.)

 

Bombing Beirut

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Bombing Beirut

 

The eldest of the elders still remember

When Beirut was Paris of the Middle East

Today’s Beirut is a river of tears

 

Once the envy of the world for its

Culture, art and ancient architecture

Now it is a wasteland of ruin

 

Once prominent on the list of destinations

For wealthy tourists from Europe

Today it is a forbidden city

 

Israeli bombs shatter the air in Beirut

For the crime of housing their enemy

 

Israel no longer remembers

The Paris of the Middle East

 

Israel does not remember its beauty

Or its once famed hospitality

 

Israel bombs its enemies into oblivion

History and Beirut be damned

 

No Words

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

No Words

 

Masha has no father, no family

She has no words for Vladimir Putin

She is from Kiev

To be from Kiev is to know sorrow

The sorrow of losing loved ones

The sorrow of losing one’s home

The sorrow of losing a life

She has no words for Vladimir Putin

She has only hatred

 

The war drags on like a stubborn storm

Like an illness that won’t go away

An aching throbbing persistent pain

A disease of the heart and soul

Like a never-ending rain

 

We have no words for Vladimir Putin

He has no heart for us

He has no care for human suffering

He has only his ambition

He feels nothing for anyone but his self

 

If the world is to find a way forward

We must move forward without him

He is a growth that must be removed

He is the heart of all our sorrow

We have no more words for him

Only hate

Only pity

Only sorrow

Drones Over Moscow

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Drones over Moscow

 

What goes up must come down

What moves forward will move back

What you reap will come round

The train called Payback is on track

 

There are drones over Moscow

Armed with deadly force

More than reason would allow

Ukraine will stay on course

 

Vladimir is running scared

How could such a thing occur?

It isn’t right! It isn’t fair!

Let’s go back to how things were

 

But things will not go back

Things are moving straight ahead

Ukraine will launch its next attack

Russia’s forces will be bled

 

Call off your dogs and go home

Bring your war to an end

A losing Russia stands alone

Without an ally or a friend

 

Find the Light

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PEACE

 

Find the Light

 

In a world of constant trials

Where tragedy tempts the heart of darkness

Where catastrophes strike with little notice

Where the innocent are unprotected

Where women and children die on

Battlefields and paths of destruction

Where greed has become a virtue

Where homelessness awaits misfortune

Where compassion is a weakness

Where vengeance is admired

Along with bitterness and loathing

Take time to raise your eyes

To see beyond the smoke and dust

To see the love beneath the hatred

To sense the weakness of the rage

To feel the sadness in the greed

To feel empathy for those in need

In a world of constant trials

When little seems quite right

Find the light

Human Tragedies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Human Tragedies

 

The wasteland from Texas to Missouri

mirrors the destruction from Gaza to Ukraine.

 

One is born of a human failure to learn and

understand how separate and distinct peoples

can live together in peace.

 

The other is born of a human failure to

understand and learn how our behavior

bears tragic consequences.

 

Until we learn how to accept our differences

without wanting to destroy each other we will

continue to foment wars of growing mass

destruction.

 

Until we learn that pumping toxic waste

into our atmosphere distorts and corrupts

the natural processes of climate and extreme

weather we will continue to suffer ever greater

climate catastrophes. 

 

Differences in beliefs, religions, cultures, and

philosophies are natural and appropriate; the desire

to annihilate others and take their lands based on

those differences is unnatural, morbid and devoid

of basic humanity. 

 

Tornadoes, hurricanes and tidal waves are

natural if unfortunate; monster storms and

a chain of twisters five hundred miles long

are unnatural and a testament to human greed

and obstinacy.

 

If we are to choose humanity and nature over

greed and avarice, we must alter our behaviors

and beliefs to create a better world for all the

earth’s inhabitants.

Memorial

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Memorial

 

We remember the soldiers

who gave their lives

for a cause that’s never certain

 

Some wars are righteous and necessary

Other wars are fought for greed

Even the good wars cannot be good

on both sides of the line

 

We remember all the soldiers

for their bravery and honor though

some were neither brave nor honorable

 

The loss is as severe for all

the soldiers and civilians caught

in the crossfire of war

 

We remember them and honor them

for they could well be us

We too would want to be remembered

We too would want to be honored

 

So we give them a day and remember them

We give them a day and pray their

lives were not given in vain

 

For all lives are precious

All lives should be remembered

All should be honored

 

We remember the dead for the living

We remember the living for the dead

Extermination (Rafah)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Extermination (Rafah)

 

And so it begins

The final assault

Extermination of the enemy

The bombardment of the last stronghold

The laying of waste

They were cornered here like vermin

Pushed and herded here like goats

Here it ends

 

Here amidst the rubble of a once great city

Here in this landscape of destruction

Where mothers once gathered to gossip

While their children played

Where men followed footsteps to work

Where kids walked to school

Impoverished but not poor

 

Who but god and Netanyahu knew

That this would be the end …

But it is not the end

It is only another beginning

In the endless cycle of revenge

 

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

 

The Crimes of Netanyahu

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Crimes of Netanyahu

 

The crimes against humanity

Continue without pause

Netanyahu flicks his thumb at us

In defiance of all laws

 

Another thousand dead

Another week of terror

Netanyahu shrugs his shoulders

As if it was random error

 

The war continues on

Until his anger is abated

How many more must die

Before his rage is satiated?

 

We must find another way

And we must find it yesterday

For what Hamas started

Future generations will pay

 

For now there is no answer

There is only blood and pain

The violence will continue

Like a cruel and endless chain