How Democracy Dies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

How Democracy Dies

 

Good people saying nothing

Propaganda gains free reign

Ignorance is exalted

Autocrats capture power

Undesirables denied the ballot box

Leaders get away with lies

This is how democracy dies

 

Wars bring corporate treasures

Money controls elections

No one cares if the game is fixed

The courts are stacked

Journalists are out of business

Lonely lady liberty cries

This is how democracy dies

 

There is a separate reality

Where nearly half the people live

They are lost in a cloud of toys

Can’t be heard for all the noise

Can’t be bothered to raise a cry

A brave new world will rise

This is how democracy dies

 

Champion Golfer of the Year

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Champion Golfer of the Year

 

The Americans teed off

Two strokes apart and yearning

The South African led the field

No one was more deserving

 

Off they went on a wild journey

That would consume four hours’ time

In the end only one would claim:

The Claret Jug is mine!

 

Golfers rose and golfers fell

As on the battle raged

They did their countries honor

On the game’s greatest stage

 

Everyone who plays the game

Felt the heart fill with pride

For the one who grabbed victory

With fortune at his side

 

The young man with nerves of steel

Played his round without fear

So tip your hat and raise a glass

To the champion golfer of the year

 

[Collin Morikawa wins The Open.]

 

The Deluge

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Deluge

 

Fires across the North American west

Floods across Northern Europe

Heat waves and horrific drought

Leaving us no room for doubt

 

The earth is undergoing transformation

From a life sustaining ecosystem

To a purge of poison and toxicity

Where the poison and toxicity is us

 

The planet is destroying that

Which would destroy the earth

 

Floods fires pestilence and heat

We have proven our own worst enemy

Even the forests no longer sustain us

The Amazon the tundra the glaciers

The oceans the rivers the open plains

All are reaching their limits

All are striking back

 

The planet is revolting against

The multi-millennial reign of humans

The earth is serving final notice

Repair the damage or face

Most dire consequences

Eviction destruction elimination

We no longer have a choice

Change or die

For the greater good

 

Before the Vaccine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Before the Vaccine

 

Before we were burned

We touched the flame

Before there were demons

We had no one to blame

Before we had knowledge

There was superstition

Before the smoke cleared

We had impaired vision

Before the vaccines

We had little choice

We cried in the darkness

But we heard no voice

Now that we’ve free

To live or to die

Some still choose the latter

We do not know why

It makes me crazy

All my senses unravel

Like a walk in a storm

Or footprints on gravel

Some people are stubborn

There’s no more to say

They’ll tell us we’re wrong

On judgement day

 

The Wake

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Wake

 

A thousand ways to say goodbye

A million tears to shed

The way she smiled at heartbreak

The lucky man she chose to wed

 

She was loved by all she knew

And she was giving with her love

We pray she hears us now

As she looks down from above

 

She was that special person

Who knew just what to say

We feel her absence deep within

As we remember her this day

 

We wonder if you can feel

The breaking of our hearts

All the ones who miss you now

The sorrow of being apart

 

Goodbye sweet woman farewell

The time has come to say adieu

You will always be with us

As we will always be with you

 

Cuba Mi Amiga

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Cuba Mi Amiga

 

Cuba my friend

I have stood with you against aggression

Defended your right to self-determination

Praised your universal healthcare

Saluted your approach to poverty

But I cannot defend oppression

 

When the people stood with you

You were a portrait in courage

You defied American dominance

You pushed back against brutal capitalism

You stood up for the poor and working class

You were desperately flawed yes

Beyond the mark of corruption

You denied individual rights

You sponsored discrimination

You held your people back

But you had virtues too

You helped those in need

You rebuilt after tragedies

You supplied doctors to the world

The people believed in your charity

They believed in your good will

 

Now the old leaders are gone

Those who held the system in place

Those who captured enough trust

To push back the waves of discontent

 

Now the people rise up

To demand basic rights

To demand basic freedom

 

The people want a voice

The people want a seat at the table

The people want more than needs

The people want democracy

 

What is your answer?

Will you bring down the hammer of oppression?

Will you pound them to submission?

Will you deny human dignity?

 

Cuba mi amiga

Mark this a new day

A new beginning

A new age

 

The people have spoken

Now you must listen

 

Identity Crisis

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Identity Crisis

 

You see yourselves as patriots

But your flag is upside down

You claim the colors of democracy

While you gave a man a crown

 

We have a little understanding

For your instinct to revolt

But what came down the sixth of January

Should have given you a jolt

 

Your chosen one is a charlatan

A common conman and a crook

If you have not recognized him yet

Please take a closer look

 

If you stand with Donny Diamond

The day after the insurrection

You are the victim of a deadly plague

You have a treacherous infection

 

So do not claim our flag

It does not belong to you

You don’t know what it stands for

You never had a clue

 

Into the Shadows

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Into the Shadows

 

Into the shadows we march

With all eyes closed

Into the shadows we go

To confront our worst foes

 

We are creatures of the light

Yet we have lost our way

In the shadows of darkness

Too long we have stayed

 

We will find a thin thread

And we will build a path

For an army of warriors

To seek our just wrath

 

Out of the shadows we march

With eyes open wide

Into the light we spring

In bold brave strides

 

We have hidden too long

Beneath the cover of night

We will end the terror

For we will win this fight

 

Tears for Haiti

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Tears for Haiti

 

The island nation of Haiti

Is a poor and failing state

Last seen during an extreme disaster

Out assistance is far too late

 

We remember the Duvalier reign

A ruthless strongman despot

We remember the fall of presidents

Upheaval without respite

 

We remember Aristide

And the promise he held forth

We remember mass corruption

That cut his presidency short

 

We recall the French betrayal

The demand for reparations

The failure to provide them

Blocked the way to a thriving nation

 

So Haiti is again in crisis

It seems it has always been

We don’t know who to trust

In a nation without true friends

 

Loss

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Loss

 

Life is a long road

Populated by loss and suffering

So much loss so often that

We must sometimes wonder

If life is more punishment than joy

More pain than pleasure

 

We lose in love long before we gain

We lose in contests before winning

We lose the jobs we wanted

We lose the dreams we dreamed

We lose the money we gambled

We lose friendships and promises

 

But of all our losses

Death is the loss most supreme

We lose our dear beloved pets

We lose our grandparents

We lose our elders

We lose fathers and mothers

We lose siblings and friends

 

So much loss so often

We wonder if the price is not

Too great to bear

 

But then our eyes settle

On a picture of perfection

So dear and so inspired

We realized that all this loss

Is surpassed by something

So much greater

 

The balance of nature

The cycle of rebirth

The love of a mother and child

The longing for perfect beauty

The song of mourning doves

A setting sun on the Pacific

The vision of a masterpiece

 

There is no loss so great

That it can serve to counter

The beauty and the wonder

Of this sacred life on earth

 

Independence Day Reflection

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Independence Day Reflection

 

Last night we celebrated Independence Day

With fireworks food and libations

Knowing that the birth of the nation

Was deeply flawed in so many ways

 

Blacks browns Asians and natives have

Little reason to celebrate liberation

From one nation when another

Holds them hostage

 

A slave cares little who he calls master

 

Women were exempt from independence

Though they aided their husbands’ struggle

As if they were fully invested

They had no rights under British rule

They had no rights in the new world

 

And yet we celebrate the birth of the republic

Modern democracy with all its flaws

With gerrymandering and disenfranchisement

With its new and improved Jim Crow laws

 

We celebrate the ideals

We celebrate the principles

We celebrate the vision and the hope

For what our white forefathers gave us

Remains the brightest light on earth

 

We inherited a dream of freedom

With equal rights and justice for all

If falls to us to remember that dream

And to fulfill its promise

 

Puerto Rican Pride

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Puerto Rican Pride

 

Puerto Rico is a land of riches

A people with great pride

An island nation without status

A commonwealth but not a state

In limbo between conflicting interests

Like a dog without a home

 

Where were we when they needed us?

Tossing rolls of paper at the peasants

Playing games with politics

Turning away in crisis

Calling names and pointing blame

 

If Puerto Rico was a state

The balance of power would turn

The people would never be neglected

If Puerto Rico was a nation

at least it would be free to choose

its own president and representatives

Define its own place in the world

 

But Puerto Rican independence

will never be allowed

There are too many interests opposed

Puerto Rico will not be a state

One party will block the path

 

Puerto Rico will remain

in permanent perpetual limbo

until the ruling powers care more

about the people than the politics

The Town that Used to Be

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Town that Used to Be

 

There is a place in British Columbia

That used to be a town

It sparked and burned to the ground

Now it is a charred remain

Scattered like flakes of ash

Homes and businesses gone

Vanished like yesterday’s trash

Forgotten like ghosts of history

A page forever lost

Gone like distant memories

A shadow of the past

 

As Canadians they were not fools

They knew the warming was real

They lived close to the land

They felt its pulsing heartbeat

They bathed in its waters

They watched its changing skies

They knew the warming had arrived

But they did not think

They never imagined

They never ever dreamed

That they would be among

The first in line

To suffer the consequences

 Of human indifference

 

Democracy Betrayed (Hong Kong IV)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Democracy Betrayed (Hong Kong IV)

 

Hong Kong yesterday

The promise of democracy under

The thumb of authoritarian government

 

Hong Kong today

Democracy betrayed

 

The people of Hong Kong

Have long looked to the west

For guidance and support

They look to us now in despair

 

We who have stood with despots

For economic gain

We who have fought alongside dictators

For strategic advantage

We fall all but silent now in the quest

For independence

In the struggle for democracy

In the fight for basic freedoms

 

How shall we respond to Hong Kong’s

Desperate cry for assistance?

The cry of democracy dying

Shall we turn our backs?

Shall we walk away?

Shall we serve notice to all the world

That America no longer cares?

That America is about the money

Freedom?  Democracy?

You’re on your own

We send our condolences

 

Bone Crush (Global Warming)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Bone Crush (Global Warming)

 

Bone crushing heat sweeps

Across the Great Northwest

From Seattle to Portland

From Portland to Boise Idaho

Temperatures borrowed from Navajo land

From Phoenix to Tuba City

From Tombstone to Albuquerque

In the peak of summer

 

May every member of congress

Every governor and senator

Who swore global warming was a hoax

A joke a figment of liberal imagination

Be sentenced now to a week

In an unairconditioned apartment

In Seattle Tacoma Portland or Spokane

If they survive the ordeal

Let the next words that emerge

From their mouths be an apology

For they what they knew but

Pretended not to know

 

Let them now know the curse

Of global warming

All the remaining days

Of their lives