Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Hong Kong

 

Democracy under siege

And no one seems to care

In Hong Kong freedom bleeds

At what the oppressors freely dare

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

You have to fight for your rights

When you have them

 

The people on the streets

Do not forget the hands

That beat them to submission

They take their stand

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

You have to fight for your rights

When you have them

 

The cameras have gone dark

The world is too distracted

With the virus traveling everywhere

Democracy cannot be enacted

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

Though we pray you can

Keep them Hong Kong

 

(August 2020)

Gravity

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Gravity

 

It takes hold of my soul

Presses me down

Like matter in a centrifuge

Water in a pressure cooker

Gas in a confined space

As if the hand of god

Came down upon my forehead

Embracing chest and shoulders

Holding me so still

I cannot think of moving

 

My body as an ornament

A useless lump of mass

A burden to the spirit

Damned and damaged goods

Discarded by the roadside

 

I feel its binding grasp

I sense its awesome force

Omnipresent omnipotent

Like the god of stillness

The god of indifference

The god of somnolence

The god of wait steady hold

And wonder why it bothers

And wonder what’s foretold

 

I am here I am gone

I am dreaming

Was I dreaming all along?

 

Take this weight

And let me fly away

Let me wander let me roam

Release my body

And guide me home

 

Infant Leader

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  DEFEATING TRUMP

Infant Leader

 

To an infant the universe

Revolves around the self

The toddler is all ego

There is the father and the mother

There are no others

 

What can be said of a leader

Who believes a global pandemic

Is all about him?

The killing of a man in Minnesota

Is all about him?

Streets of protest from Portland

To Seattle all about him?

 

What kind of ego must you have

To believe that your head

Should be mounted on Rushmore

Alongside Roosevelt Jefferson

Washington and Lincoln?

 

We are cursed with an infant leader

Who believes he is anointed by god

Who has run the ship into the rocks

And believes he has landed

In the promised land

 

We are cursed with an infant leader

Who is lost in his own fantasies

And believes he can transform the world

By the strength of his will

 

We must break loose from this infant

Before his tantrums destroy the nation

And the world beyond recovery

The Ultimate Narcissist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  TRUMP DIARIES

The Ultimate Narcissist

 

The ultimate narcissist is one

who sees a hundred thousand dead

and says it’s fine

as long as it’s not me or mine

 

The ultimate narcissist would rather

see the whole world blind

rather than leave his chosen behind

 

The ultimate narcissist

sees himself as a god

sees the rest as inferior

with a wink and a nod

 

The ultimate narcissist

cannot be bothered

with a poor man’s plight

as long as the prize

is within his sight

 

The ultimate narcissist

proclaims to this day

he was chosen by god

so get out of the way

 

Putin in Belarus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Putin in Belarus

 

The godfather of international politics

Has worked his bloody charm on the

People of Belarus

Lukashenko is his lackey

(like the man in DC)

Steal the election the easy way

Count the ballots yourself

Round up the opposition

Jail anyone who refuses to accede

Take control of the news media

Put your thugs in the streets

Line them up and put them in trucks

Take them away

Disappear them

Like they never really existed

Like the dream of freedom

Like the democratic fantasy

Crush the resistance before it begins

Install your puppet

And move on to the next little nation

That dares to dream

Listen

Listen carefully

To the silence of the West

The leader of the western world

Has lost his voice

 

Aurora

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Aurora

 

Home of Columbine

Where the weapons industry thrives

Where memories of mass shootings

Are planted in the collective mind

 

Aurora cops stop the wrong car

And force a black family face down

On the punishing pavement

Hands cuffed behind their backs

No apologies no decency

No sympathy for crying children

 

What is it about Aurora that leads

Humans to behave so callously

To commit such atrocities

To build a legacy of hate

 

Is it the water

Is it the militaristic mindset

Is it the culture

Is it a history of racial injustice

 

If ever a community required therapy

If ever the schools needed change

If ever the cops needed reform

It is now in this place and time

 

The Problem is Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

The Problem is Me

 

The problem with this wayward world

Is people who cannot see

The writing on the wall

The way it has to be

The problem with this world

Is old white men like me

 

We’ve ruled this land for centuries

Through hard times and disease

Wars at home and overseas

Civil rights and great upheaval

Systemic failures heartfelt pleas

Through twisted turns of history

The problem with the world is me

 

We keep on marching for the cause

We push for changes in the laws

We pledge our solemn solidarity

Moving forward in singularity

We hold on to the dream

And pray it comes to be

Through it all it’s plain to see

The problem with the world is me

 

Perverted Science

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Perverted Science

 

The day perverted science was born

They all clapped their soiled hands

They didn’t hear the scientists warn

This could be the nation’s last stand

 

So the CDC has changed its mind

Is it fair to say sold out?

What was verboten is now just fine

Their latest move leaves little doubt

 

How many lives will it cost

To send our children back to school?

The sanctity of inquiry lost

Our institutions painted fools

 

How many years are we set back?

Fact and knowledge tossed aside

Will we ever get back on track?

How long can we abide?

 

The laws of science have been perverted

We may never be the same

To faith and dogma we’ve been converted

Hang our heads in shame

 

Remember when the death toll mounted

We turned away from all we knew

We were at our worst when it most counted

We watched as the virus spread and grew

 

Will we ever find ourselves again?

Or have we lost our way forever?

Will we find our path through all that’s been?

And to wishful thinking say: Never!

 

Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Freedom

 

WE WERE BORN IN FREEDOM

we hang our heads in shame

FOUGHT WARS IN FREEDOM

we wonder where we went wrong

SACRIFICED FOR FREEDOM

should we have put it in a poem

PAID A PRICE FOR FREEDOM

should we have sung it in a song

 

SO YOU CAN’T BE SURPRISED

you don’t have the right

THAT WE PROCLAIM OUR RIGHT

to yell fire in a crowd

TO BREATHE THE AIR UNHINDERED

you don’t have the right to kill

AND FOR THAT RIGHT WE WILL FIGHT

the right to harm is not allowed

 

WE DON’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

when it’s all said and done

TO US IT’S NOTHING BUT NOISE

we really must ask

WE KNOW WHO WE ARE

how many must die

AND SO DO OUR BOYS

before you wear a mask?

Beirut

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Beirut                                                                                                             

 

Paris of the Middle East

City of enlightenment

Land of song and poetry

Jewel of the Mediterranean

Ancient city of commerce and trade

Rich in culture art and tradition

City that beckons the curious

And welcomes all

 

The heart of Beirut still beats strong

But she is wounded by war

Pestilence and strife

The world’s powers factions and tribes

Have made her their playground

 

Now misfortune finds misfortune

An explosion rips up the port district

Spilling blood and spreading terror

Through an already unsettled populace

 

What more can the fates unfold?

What more can the people endure?

 

Pray for peace

Pray for healing

Pray in whatever tongue you hold

Pray to whatever god you honor

Pray that Beirut becomes itself again

 

As Beirut goes

So goes the world

 

(An explosion in Beirut 8.6.20 killed

about 150 and wounded thousands)

LIving with Fear

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Living with Fear

 

Will we live or will we die

Life is filled with mystery

Will we die or will we live

We know not what may be

 

We live in constant fear

The fear that is not knowing

We hide it in our shirt sleeve

And hope it is not showing

 

This fear of fear is strange

But we know it to be true

You keep it tucked away from me

I keep it hidden from you

 

We live our waking lives in fear

We have no other choice

I see it in the way we move

I hear it in your voice

 

How long can we get by this way

How long before we break

We stumble trip and fall each day

Surviving for survival’s sake

 

 

Grateful

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Grateful

 

In these times of heavy hearts when

thoughts linger into sleepless nights

I’m grateful not to be alone

Grateful to share a home

With the one I love

 

I think of those less fortunate

Confined behind familiar walls

That bear no marks of affection

That share no living hope

 

I think of those with no one

to share the burden of the times

No one to tell one’s truth

No one to reflect one’s mind

 

I think of those who must choose

a life of loneliness and yearning

or risk no life at all

 

Our hearts were not designed

for such a heartless choice

We were born seeking the comfort

of our fellow human beings

 

I am grateful to have landed

in this place at this time

My love is my hope and comfort

Her love becomes mine

 

(for Julie)

Mama Never Lies

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Mama Never Lies

 

Mama taught us to believe

In the police the teachers and preachers

Mama told us so it must be right

Mama told us with a sigh

And mamas never lie

 

Mama taught us to show respect

For people in authority

And no one has more authority

Than the president

Even if you disagree

Even if you see the world

Through different eyes

Presidents do not lie

 

Mama told us to go to church

And pray to the baby Jesus

Listen to the preacher man

Be humble and be good

Go to heaven when you die

Preachers never lie

 

Mama taught us to say sir

When a cop stops to talk

Nod our heads and show our hands

Though she did not say why

We got the message and comply

Because cops don’t lie

 

I don’t go to church these days

I don’t much honor the president

I’m afraid of the police

I don’t trust the preacher

And I’m not sure about the teacher

Mama really didn’t know it

But I’ve learned as time goes by

Everybody lies

 

Except mama

Who did the best she could

To help her children survive

The Rule of Vlad

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN & TRUMP

The Rule of Vlad

 

They shared a common enemies list

In a call between the best of friends

Discussed elections the rule of law

The GRU a fly on the wall

 

And the leader of the western world

Bowed down before his master

To praise his holy eminence

 

All praise the rule of Vlad

All praise the power of Putin

 

He holds the keys to the American dream

As our leader falls to his knees

He’ll do anything he’s told

Negotiations he will fold

 

All hail the Russian king

Demure the American underling

 

To undermine our next election

He advocates natural selection

 

The absence of guilt is not

A declaration of innocence

It proclaims the absence of shame

Solitude

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Solitude

 

In the misty haze of solitude

A change has enveloped my soul

I am no longer who I was

In the lost days of plenty

In the days we thought

Would last forever

 

I felt I needed no one then

I was an island in a flowing river

I had my love my family my closed

Circle of friends my chosen few

 

My circle is open now

Like blossoms in the heart of spring

I have discovered interdependency

While mortality has discovered me

 

In the solitude of forced confinement

The circles have found new order

The layers of protection break away

The layers of deception shatter

 

We are all fragile beings

In the loneliness of night

Yearning for connection

Yearning for common bonds

Yearning to understand

And to be understood

 

In the crisis of forced solitude

We are all the same

We want we need we hurt

We are vulnerable and exposed

Reaching for hands beyond our reach

Pleading for those we need