Carriers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Carriers

 

They bear no ill intentions

They live and breathe the open air

If they bring death and suffering

It’s not because they do not care

 

They are the carriers of a disease

In which they do not believe

Until their loved ones are stricken

Then they pray and grieve

 

All of you who will not wear a mask

Listen to my desperate plea

Would you give your child a life jacket

For a journey on the sea?

 

We know you care about your elders

You care about all those you love

We hear you care so very much

You often pray to God above

 

So how is it you do not see the truth

When it comes to a viral disease

You could take preventive measures

And you could do it with relative ease

 

Losing our Democracy: After the Storm

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

After the Storm

 

Remember every bit of this

When we survive the storm

Every solitary crack in the system

Every violation of the norms

 

A fool’s last testimonial:

It won’t happen again

Bad and evil always lose

The righteous always win

 

They said it twenty years ago

When we were wounded to the core

The wise and righteous warned:

Beware the curse of Bush v. Gore

 

So now we’re forced to realize

How easily the republic falls

Our revered institutions depend

On the faith of one and all

 

We need to take real action

We need to pass new laws

Or the glory of our republic

Will become a sad lost cause

 

Poverty in a Time of Pandemic

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Poverty in a Time of Pandemic

 

The Standing Rock Sioux

Stood up to the oil industry

They fought long and tough and hard

To defend the earth from harm

The people of Standing Rock are poor

Where others offer money and time

The tribe put it all on the line

 

Poor people do not vote

So it is said and too often it’s true

But the time has come to break old habits

Strike out at something new

 

Poor people are sick and dying

Poor people are denied healthcare

Poor people suffer heart disorders

Tuberculosis cancer lung disease

Poor people have drinking problems

Hard drugs and addiction

Because they want to escape

Because they’ve lost hope

Because no one cares

 

When times get hard for all

Some people cut expenses

Some people tap their savings

Some people do without

Poor people become homeless

Jobless hungry desperate

 

When all is said and done

Poverty kills

Poverty in a time of pandemic

Kills ten times quicker

And more often

 

(The poverty rate at the Standing Rock

Reservation is 43.2%.)

 

Let it End

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Let it End

 

I have never been a man of religious faith

Yet I often pray

If it would be of any useful purpose

(and I believe it would)

I’ll bow my head today

 

For I have seen too many suffer

And I have lost too many friends

O lord if you’re listening

Let there be an end

 

We all know it is not over

Sometimes it seems it’s just begun

If the virus was an enemy

Then the enemy has won

 

But this is not a war

There is no ground to defend

O lord if you care

Let there be an end

 

We are filing wills and testaments

We are throwing in our cards

It is testing all our limits

Lord knows it’s getting hard

 

There are no heroes in the mirror

Upon whom we can depend

So lord if you’re willing

Let there be an end 

Space X

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Space X

 

The great mystery remains

The exploration of space

No greater mission of discovery is

Destined for the human race

 

We have tapped beyond the sun’s reach

We have grasped the surface of Mars

We have bent the force of gravity

We have peeked beyond the stars

 

What greater purpose can there be

Than to explore the mysteries of space

To test the depths of understanding

To recognize our place

 

We must always expand our thinking

Set aside our little lives

There is so much to see and know

The goals for which we strive

 

We are better than we have been

We must see beyond our worth

We will see it all with new eyes

No longer tethered to the earth

 

Washita River Massacre

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  INDIAN HISTORY

Washita River

 

Black Kettle remembers the day

The blue coats came to Sand Creek

He remembers holding the white flag

Of peace that the government said

Would protect his tribe

He remembers the thunder of hooves

The onslaught of gunfire

The plunging of bayonets and knives

He remembers trails of blood that ran

From the camp to the creek

He remembers the cry of women and children

He remembers Medicine Woman Later

By his side as they rushed to cover

He remembers surviving to witness

The scene of bloody carnage

Through the reeds by the creek

He remembers the soldiers

Cutting body parts from his people

To become trophies and curiosities

He survives to tell the story

 

The blue coats said it was a mistake

It could not happen again

The survivors moved to Indian Territory

And settled by the Washita River

The blue coats gave him a white flag

That he buried in remembrance

Of those he buried as Sand Creek

They swore it would not happen again

 

It is daybreak under clear skies

When he hears the thunder of horses

With their pounding iron hooves

A sound he has heard before

He looks to Medicine Woman Later

And knows that she knows

Together they sing their death songs

And take comfort in knowing

They will not witness the scene again

Their blood marks a trail to Washita River

Where they leave behind a curse

The white eyes will never forget

What their blue coats did this day

 

(The Washita River Massacre:

November 27, 1868)

Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

Hong Kong

 

The people gathered in city squares

To hold their leaders to their word

A government of and by the people

If not a democracy then something like

A movement toward democracy

Acknowledgement of basic rights

They took away the right to gather

Took away the right to speak

Took away the right to protest

Stripped down the right to privacy

Broke down a free media

Rendered the vote all but meaningless

And America stood silent

The leader of the free world

Is absent without leave

 

Peru

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  DEMOCRACY BETRAYED

Peru

 

Emboldened

The fascists take aim and strike

They are the moneyed class

Who can stop them?

Who can tell them what to do?

They own the police

They own the courts

They control the banks

They own the media

The people have nothing

But the streets

 

Up north they have their fascists too

Their leaders refuse to leave office

Their elections have no meaning

They cheat and pack the courts

They lie and scheme

They make up the rules

They take want they want

They have no laws

They have no justice

They have no balance of power

They mock their own principles

 

Why should Peru honor the system?

Why should Bolivia?

Why should anyone?

 

The people have nothing

But the streets

 

I Am America

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

I Am America

 

I have had my day in the sun

I have known the glory of conquest

I have suffered the heartbreak of loss

I have experienced delusions of grandeur

I have descended the depths of despair

 

I am but a child and yet I am old

I am strong and yet weary

I am wealthy but impoverished

I am hope and I am destruction

I am your dearest friend and harshest enemy

I am the darkest night and brightest day

I am everyone and no one

I am all and nothing

 

I am America

I was once a shining beacon

Become a dying ember

I have fallen but

I will rise again

 

Untethered

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Untethered

 

We have wandered so far from the ropes

We no longer know where we started

Where we end is beyond the scope

We are untethered unbound adrift

Floating aimlessly on an open sea

 

We have forgotten why we began

This endless journey to unknown lands

Each day we awaken to a new dream

Reality has strayed from our grasp

We reach for it and it slinks away

We dive for it as it turns to dust

We conjure it in distant memories

 

We have become separate and aloof

While our concrete world escapes

We claim the right to invent the

Planets and the stars that reign over

Our waking lives in day and night

Even our dreams are borrowed

 

We were not born this way

The real world once fed and nurtured us

We grew and prospered in its grace

We suffered in stubborn defiance

 

When and how did we lose touch

How and when did we lose hold

When did life slip from our senses

Who cut the ties that bound us

To this breathing pulsing earth

 

We must find our way home

We must plant our feet on solid ground

We must feel the wind and taste the air

We must learn to love our lives again

We must love our gracious mother

In all her teeming splendor

 

A Promise of Unity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: 2020 ELECTION

A Promise of Unity

 

The promise of tomorrow begins today

We clear our sleepy heads in wonder

Was it a dream or will it stay

To cast our fears asunder

 

We wait with guarded optimism

As a divided nation lends its ears

To the newly elected president

Who owns the wisdom of his years

 

Those who brought him to the dance

With affection give him cheers

Others concede to give him a chance

To push back our darkest fears

 

A spirit of unity is born again

After four long years in hiding

Those who walked a lonely path

Are pleased to finally be riding

 

The way ahead will not be easy

We all know that much is true

But we are pledged to understand

What it’s like to wear another’s shoes

 

For tomorrow is another day

A chance to write the story new

We are a nation of true believers

Neither red nor green nor blue

The Year of the Virus

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

The Year of the Virus

 

The year of the virus comes to a close

As we take account the virus grows

The year was lost to severe denial

As mass misinformation went viral

 

The virus did not disappear

Though we would have had it so

It lingered in the background

Until it was time to show

 

We’ve suffered through the first wave

The second is upon us

The third will come will the power

Of Apollo or Adonis

 

Let us hope we have learned a lesson

So the same mistakes are not repeated

If we take the same misguided approach

The virus will not be defeated

 

The Healing

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Healing

 

The wounds of the nation run deep

The death toll is mounting

People are in mourning

Children are confused

The world has turned over and over

Anger blocks understanding

Discussions stop short

 

The wounds of the nation are gaping

Blood flows like canyon water

Emotions explode like cannon fire

There are not enough bandages

To bind our wounds and

Not enough people who care

 

The wounds of the nation are wanting

Time to stop the bleeding

Time to remember our teachings

Care for others as you care for yourself

 

The wounds of the nation are healing

We remember what connects us

A nation of liberty

A nation of justice and law

A nation dedicated to impossible ideals

A nation that unites in times of crisis

A nation that rises to the challenge

 

We remember our brothers and sisters

We remember the battles we fought

The wars we won and lost

We are good people

And we will find our groove again

 

Let the healing begin

 

Let the River Flow

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Let the River Flow

 

Our adversaries are powerful

But they have no human souls

And they wear no human faces

They are heartless corporations

That divide us by wealth and races

So many have taken a beating

On the bridges of violent rage

In the struggle for equality

And the fight for a living wage

We stand in line to take a blow

For deep inside we know

The river of freedom is rising

So let the river flow

 

They beat back civil liberties

Took away our voting rights

Compromised our hopes and dreams

Pushed them from our sight

Four hundred years of oppression

The way of progress runs slow

But we persist because we know

The river of freedom rises

So let the river flow

 

A New Day II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

A New Day

 

The night was long my vision clouded

Sleep came hard and dreams were shrouded

Shadows danced round jumping flames

The world may never be the same

 

The counting never ended

Morning would not come

The rising of the sun

 

A new day

A new dawn

A new way has begun

 

We dared not ever hope again

Yet hope we did (it felt like sin)

We lingered on a distant past

When all our dreams were tossed and trashed

The morning after crash and burn

It seemed we’d never learn

Those horrid days are done

 

A new day

A new dawn

A new way has begun

 

Humility in victory

A touch of grace in loss

The time has come for decency

No matter who has won

 

A new day

A new dawn

A new way has begun

 

Curse of the Founders

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Curse of the Founders

 

The founders had a clever idea

Embrace the concept of democracy

But toss the reality aside

Let the white and wealthy decide

The executive branch will abide

The electoral college

 

Let slaves be accorded three fifths

Of a human belonging to their masters

Let women and the poor go wanting

Let white men of property decide

The White House and the Senate will abide

Disproportionate representation

 

A few raised objections to no avail

They let the ship of equity sail

The country would be split in war

They could not accomplish any more

The head of state would be elite

A new convention would someday meet

To settle all the problems

Like the filibuster

 

The founders have been praised

With wonder we have all been raised

For all they thought and did so well

They secured our rights and cast a spell

But for all that they left a curse

And one that could hardly be worse

Slavery disenfranchisement

Corporate aristocracy

 

Not all the founders floundered

Some embraced the age of reason

Some risked the cry of treason

Some kept their ideology in sight

They knew the people would have to fight

To gain their civil and human rights

They did the best they could

The rest is up to us

 

Wisdom of the Ages

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Wisdom of the Ages

 

The wisdom of the masters

We strive to understand

Yet we end up in the wasteland

Of Adam Smith and Ayn Rand

 

In our attempt to chart and measure

Every economic force

We yield to a philosophy

That lets them plot their own course

 

In our reach for social justice

Instead of seeking better ways

We take refuge in the saying

Every dog will have its day

 

For we have sacrificed the vision

Of utopians and dreamers

Surrendered to the nightmare

Of conservative redeemers

 

But they do not redeem

As much as they abuse

The needy and unfortunate

The people always lose

 

Survival of the fittest

Is fine for elephants and squid

But it leaves behind the masses

When you take the highest bid