Ferlinghetti (RIP)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Ferlinghetti

 

“If you would be a poet,

create works capable of answering

the challenge of apocalyptic times.”

 

-- Poetry as Insurgent Art

 

He fought the endless battle

For justice and equality

For peace and integrity

For art and creativity

With passion through poetry

 

He asked us to Speak Out

From our hearts to change minds

With our arts and our many voices

He was strong but always kind

 

He knew it was a battle

That would not end

Not in his lifetime or mine

He knew it was the fight

That mattered most

The constant state of struggle

That keeps the heart pumping

That keeps the ball rolling

That keeps the march marching

That in the end tells the story

Of humankind

 

He was the keeper of the beat

Holder of the sacred torch

Bearer of the golden flame

An institution of the City

Protector of the Lights

The banner of a generation

Passed through his hands

And settled in his soul

 

(Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Poet Extraordinaire,

Founder of City Lights; born in Bronxville NY,

March 24, 1919, died SF, February 22, 2021.)

 

The Blank

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

The Blank

 

The ability of the mind to see

Whatever we might want to be

To mold and bend reality

To shape it to our will

To make the river still

The empty glass to fill

     and drink

 

We are living in a dream

Not caring what it means

Tearing at the seams

We walk our lonely roads

Disguising what it shows

And hiding what we know

     to be true

 

We’re filling in the blanks

While offering our thanks

To all within the ranks

Of those who do not care

Who fix their eyes and stare

While sitting in their chairs

     of comfort

 

We must find another way

To greet the light of day

To guide a lamb that strayed

To find our way back home

No more to blindly roam

Like children left alone

     and lost

 

We Will Overcome

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

We Will Overcome

 

We are backed against the wall

A pit of vipers at our feet

Outnumbered and outgunned

We are staring at defeat

But we strengthen our resolve

As the battle is not done

We swear on all that’s sacred

We will overcome

 

From a summer of blazing fire

To the winter of the freeze

We can hardly remember when

Our lives were blessed with ease

We have endured the great pandemic

We will survive the next disease

Fire wind ice and thunder

An explosion of the sun

Whatever nature nurtures

We will overcome

 

The preachers cry for mercy

Prophets hang their heads

Undertakers prosper

Soldiers count the dead

Poverty is everywhere

The peasants have no bread

The glory days are finished

No more battles to be won

Yet when the day turns over

We will overcome

 

Serbian Triumph

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Serbian Triumph

 

The people of Serbia

Have quietly been blessed

By being open to vaccines

They have surpassed the rest

 

While all of Europe hesitated

To open up their doors

The Serbians decided

Not to fight that war

 

They accepted new vaccines

From the Russians and Chinese

When others remained skeptical

They chose to say please

 

Only time can determine

If they made the right choice

But when it comes to saving lives

Politics should have no voice

 

Support Journalism (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Support Journalism

 

Reporters are nearly obsolete

Journalists are a vanishing breed

To encourage truth and wisdom

Buy a newspaper plant a seed

 

Information is everywhere

But all sources are not the same

Many are merely propaganda rags

Misinformation is their game

 

We should investigate every story

We need to verify the facts

If we’re to be informed citizens

It’s not enough to just react

 

The internet is but a conduit

A simple means of communication

By feeding you what you would be fed

It creates a sphere of isolation

 

Support your local journalists

Support the journalistic creed

The truth may not serve our wants

But it may be what we need

 

The Grudge (Texas)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

The Grudge

 

For as long as memory holds

I have held a grudge against

The great state of Texas

The state that gave us George Dubya Bush

And the never-ending wars

The state that gave us Enron

As its energy consortiums skimmed

Billions upon billions from California

Oregon and Washington

 

I have held a grudge against Texas

For holding back progress

For mass incarceration

For climate change denial

For immigration hypocrisy

For corporate corruption

For institutional inequality

For a cowboy mentality

 

I have held a grudge against Texas

For Lee Harvey Oswald

The book depository

And the infamous grassy knoll

(who could ever forget

the grassy knoll?)

 

I held onto that grudge a long time

Before I realized

The grudge was holding onto me

Before I understood

People are pretty much the same

Texans are not to blame

So much as greed

And hatred

And envy

And the need for revenge

The need to be better than

Foolish Texas pride

(not so different than California’s)

It’s the way we were raised

What we learned in school

What our parents handed down

Along with family photos

Stories and fairy tales

 

We were taught the ways of war

Of us versus them

Of good against bad

Of north against south

Of east against west

Red against blue

And black against white

But somewhere along the way

We picked up empathy

When the quake hit LA

It shook us all

When Paradise went up in flames

We all cried

When tornadoes ripped across

The Oklahoma plains

We shared the horror

When Katrina struck New Orleans

We all suffered

When the towers fell

We all mourned

 

Now Texas feels the blow

Of a relentless winter storm

And Texas is not alone

We must all carry the burden

We are Americans

We are humans

We are inhabitants of a small planet

We are one

 

The Emirates on Mars

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Emirates on Mars

 

There are hogs in high heaven

Butterflies in the stars

Beauty is wearing a mask

And the Emirates landed on Mars

 

Few knew they had an interest

In exploring the world from afar

But they have an abundance of money

So they used it to land on Mars

 

What more will the Emirates do

Mass produce a green energy car

Attack poverty and ban slave labor

Promote poetry enlightenment art

 

Whatever the future may promise

Lightning is caught in a jar

Possibilities have no limits when

The Emirates have landed on Mars

 

Floating Thoughts

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

 

Floating Thoughts

 

Dark clouds in the northern sky

Clear skies overhead

Today we begin a new life

Another chapter to be read

 

We know not what the future holds

Be it promise or demise

We take what destiny unfolds

Revealed by our own two eyes

 

If past is prelude to the days ahead

Great hardship we will endure

Tears of sadness will be shed

Loss and mourning are assured

 

But days of wonder will also bless

Our lives with awesome bliss

The young at heart we will invest

And happiness we will enlist

 

Survival

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Survival

 

Comes a time in history

When we lay it on the line

Hear the dominoes falling

Testing faith and stealing lives

It’s a battle for existence

It’s a struggle to survive

 

Another wave is coming

The vaccines in short supply

As our resistance grows weaker

The mutations seem to thrive

The rally cry goes out to all

Fight back be brave

We will survive

 

Time is running forward

Time to listen to the wise

It’s an existential crisis

The great challenge has arrived

If we accept the call to action

If we act to save our lives

Stay strong hold steady

We will survive

 

Prisoner of Politics (Alexi Navalny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Prisoner of Politics (Alexi Navalny)

 

Charged tried and convicted

Of daring to survive assassination

Charged tried and convicted

Of returning home to speak out

Charged tried and convicted

Of leading a movement for change

 

Suppression of dissent is not new

In Moscow or across the globe

What is new is the rising

Moscow Vladivostok and St. Petersburg

The rising of the people in protest

The rising in freezing weather

The rising against all odds

The rising against brutality

The rising against the lie

 

They cry out in unison: Let him go!

We cry out in return: Let him go!

 

The dictator should know better

You can imprison a man

But you cannot imprison an idea

You cannot lock away

The desire for freedom and truth

Self-expression and self-government

You cannot imprison a nation

 

You can poison a man

But you cannot kill a cause

Born in the heart of humanity

Behind Razor Wire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

Behind Razor Wire

 

They come from Nicaragua

From Bolivia and Columbia

Individuals and families seeking

Asylum in the home of the free

How different are they

From you and me?

 

They’re not asking for a free pass

They are asking for a fair hearing

They don’t want a handout

They want a chance to realize

Just a small piece of the

American dream

 

They live behind fences

Lined with razor wire

They subsist in tents

Through all kinds of weather

Waiting for their turn

To cross the border and

Make their case

 

They have lived for years

Under these conditions

They could give up and go home

But they choose to stay

Because living in tents behind

Razor wire is better than going home

To face gangs and oppressors

They only want a decent life

They only want to breathe free

Are they really so different

From you and me?

 

As conditions grow worse

As the criminals and gangs invade

Making camp life hell

Stealing and kidnapping

Bribing and raping

Some do return home

To seek refuge there

Others hire smugglers and coyotes

With what little they can gather

Gambling on a prayer

Ending up in trucks and vans

Desperate and abandoned

On the barren desert land

They do what they can

For themselves and for their families

Are they really so different

From you and me?

 

Beyond Redemption

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE INSURRECTION

 

Beyond Redemption

 

Again and again we are told

Not everyone who stormed the capitol

That fateful infamous day

Was guilty of insurrection

Guilty of racial bigotry

Guilty of violent extremism

Guilty of battering police officers

Guilty of murder in their hearts

Or guilty of murder in the flesh

 

Some were simply exercising

Their constitutional rights

To gather in public protest

To speak their points of view

To make their rightful demands

Some were peaceful

Some were not racist

Some were acting on conviction

Some believed the hype

 

Maybe …

 

Maybe some began that day

On the side of misinformed virtue

But if you were among them

When the racial epithets flew

When officers hit the ground

When the mob screamed for blood

When the gallows was erected

When the cry for vengeance grew

 

If you were there then

To witness what went down

And you did not turn around

Then you are as guilty as any thug

Guilty of crimes beyond forgiveness

Guilty beyond redemption

 

The Trial (Inciting an Insurrection)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Trial

 

We have been here before

An open and shut case

The man is guilty as hell

As plain as the nose on your face

 

Never before in history

Has a president been so brazen

To attack the heart of government

Is as warped as it is craven

 

Months in the planning

There can be no doubt

The mob was primed to kill

To force Joe Biden out

 

Do not think lightly

Of what happened January 6

It was a plotted insurrection

Not some cheap political trick

 

If you think it’s all over

That it can’t occur again

The militias are still out there

And they believe they can win

 

History Aforethought

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

History Aforethought

 

If you could see these events

Through the telescope of time

A century removed from now

When the passion has long subsided

When the partisan divide is tempered

When we’ve healed the great divide

Would we see things differently

Would we alter our actions

Would we take another look

 

If we could read history’s verdict

Would we see the great betrayal

With new and open eyes

 

If we could hear history’s decree

Would it alter our perspective

If Benedict Arnold knew he would

Live in eternal infamy

If Jefferson knew he would not be

Forgiven his crimes and misdeeds

If Sirhan and Oswald knew

They were being played for fools

If the Germans knew how it ended

If the South knew would they defend it

Would they sacrifice all dignity and pride

If they knew they were on the losing side

 

Would things be different today

Or would we just continue on

This march of shame