The Good War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Good War

 

They called it the good war

(even those who called themselves

the antiwar movement)

They called it the righteous war

(the war with noble intent)

 

When we marched a million strong

Against the war in Iraq

Some of us said: This is not Afghanistan

This is Vietnam

 

They were wrong

They can rewrite history for a thousand years

They will still be wrong

Afghanistan was Vietnam

Afghanistan was Iraq

They were all wars for empire

They were never wars for liberation

They became wars of occupation

With puppet governments

Their own people could not stand

 

In the vast history of civilization

An occupying power has never liberated

A people without the people’s support

The people will always view an invader with doubt

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight against the Taliban

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for American interests

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for women’s rights

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for American democracy

The people of Afghanistan

Are tired of war

 

They have fought for generations

Against more enemies than they can count

 

Leave them be

Let them determine their own destiny

We are not gods

We cannot tell them

What is worth fighting for

 

The war is over

Go home

 

Apology to Afghan Women

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHANISTAN

Apology to Afghan Women

 

Is it better to have known freedom

And to have it taken from you

That to never know freedom at all?

 

Once upon a time we made a promise

We never intended to keep

We promised to give you liberty

A great and storied leap

 

But we did not keep that promise

And for that we apologize

 

Once upon a time we told the world

It was all about freedom and equality

The right to vote

The right to work

The right to speak freely

The right to an education

The right to worship as one pleases

 

We did not tell the truth

We fought for many reasons

But these were not among them

 

We fought for strategic advantage

We fought for an oil pipeline

We fought to prove to the world

That we were the baddest warriors

On the face of the earth

We fought for revenge

We fought for blood

 

We dropped our bombs and then forgot

We moved on to Iraq

 

We know now as our leaders knew then

It was a war we could not win

 

For that we must apologize

 

The Fall of Kabul

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Fall of Kabul

 

Kabul falls to the Taliban

The civilized world is in mourning

For those who fear theocracy

This serves as a dire warning

 

We knew this day was coming

Or at least we should have known

Through twenty years of occupation

Our fears have only grown

 

To the women of Afghanistan

Whose future looms most bleak

We offered many promises

We did not intend to keep

 

As you walk into a new world

Dark and shrouded in fear

You must find a path to hope

You must hold it near and dear

 

We must find a way to help

Without bullets and without bombs

We must isolate the Taliban

As we should have all along

 

Though we knew this day would come

We did not know when

Twenty years is a long time

To finally reach an end

 

Haitian Woes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Haitian Woes

 

Sweltering heat

Floods and raging fire

A pandemic in relentless waves

Poverty and homelessness

A legacy of slaves

 

Take all our sorrows

All our deepest woes

Compound them by a force of ten

We would still fall short of Haiti

Whose tragedies strike

And strike again

 

An assassin took your leader

The virus struck you down

Now an earthquake and tsunami

Bends you to the ground

 

There is no end to heartbreak

Your people have endured

There is no end to misery

Of that we are assured

 

Shall we offer you our helping hand?

Should we offer prayers instead?

Shall we help you with the living?

Should we help you count the dead?

 

The Lies of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GLOBAL POLITICS

The Lies of War

 

The lies of war begin

Before the last bomb explodes

Before the last civilian dies

Before we travel down this road

We need to know what the mission is

We need to know before we go

 

We were wrong to make Afghanistan

The playground for our wars

They should have known

What they were in for

We should have known

What was in store

 

This was Vietnam all over

Another dirty little war

We pretend we are the heroes

As we scurry for the door

 

We leave behind those who trusted us

Those who treated us as friends

We shrug and swear to heaven

This will never happen again

 

[Honor the warrior; despise the war.]

 

The Amazon (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Amazon

 

The river that feeds a continent

That nourishes a vast rain forest

That mystifies the curious

And terrifies the adventurous

Holds secrets we have hardly glimpsed

Medicines to cure diseases

Formulae to life abundant

Lifeforms that defy all knowledge

Tribes that perfect new ways of life

 

The Amazon has stirred imagination

For as long as humans have been

It dares us to explore its mysteries

Defies us to make it home

 

Without the Amazon to cleanse the air

Our world would long have ceased

We thank the Amazon for its mercy

And promise to live in peace

 

The Mississippi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Mississippi

 

Old Sam Clemens steered his riverboat

Down the muddy waters of the Mississippi

Spinning yarns of childhood dreams

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

 

The Missouri and the Mississippi

Split the north American continent

Lifeline along the continental divide

Heartbeat of a vast great nation

 

Those who have traced the great river

From her northern most birth

To her womb in New Orleans

Know the grandness of her waters

Her majesty and vulnerability

 

Men have tried to steer her course

With tragic and empty results

We have built towns in her path

And watched them mowed down

The mighty river will not be told

She is stronger than we are bold

 

We must learn what the riverboats know

Let the river flow where it flows

 

World on Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

World on Fire

 

Pillars of billowing smoke and ash

From Turkey to the isles of Greece

The fires feed on dry crisp land

Like hungry rabid beasts

 

The world goes up in flames

The people pray for rain

There is nowhere to escape

Trapped on a runaway train

 

Will we survive this great ordeal

Or will we make a sorry end

Make peace with all your enemies

For you may meet them round the bend

 

We must hope there is still time

We must pray it’s not too late

Are we the last of our kind

Are we bound to a tragic fate

 

Dictatorship in Hungary

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Dictatorship in Hungary

 

The dismantling of democracy

Whether here or over there

Should never go unnoticed

Not here not anywhere

 

The enemies of democracy

Are the enemies of the soul

The brethren of autocracy

Are our eternal foes

 

The loss of freedom anywhere

Is a blow to every one of us

A warning to all free nations

A betrayal of our trust

 

No matter where you live

No matter where you breathe the air

Now is the time to give

Now is the time to care

 

No one paid attention

When the Nazis rose to power

It is time to raise our voices

It is the reckoning hour

 

Fire Sky

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Fire Sky

 

The morning sky is brown

Like the rust of an abandoned car

The sun is fire orange

It smells of smoke and tar

The forest is burning

To the north and east

The forest is burning

Like a fiendish beast

 

Listen

You can hear the coughs

Look closely

You can see the flames

Breathe deeply

You can smell the charred remains

of homes that used to be

Breathe again

You can taste it

It is the taste of sulfur

It is the taste of dying

It is the scent of disease

 

We live in a land of flames

We breathe a toxic blend of

air and smoke and fire dust

We drink the spoiled waters

We pretend the sky is blue

and the water runs clear and true

We pretend the sea is green

and the rivers run forever clean

and the forest lives eternal

 

 

The Rhine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Rhine

 

The river that gives life to Berlin

The beating heart of the German nation

River of castles and fortifications

Where the Romans claimed their empire

 

The Rhine has grown angry and proud

Determined to have its revenge

The only way it knows how

It rises to claim the land beneath homes

Beneath buildings bridges and towns

The people are at her mercy

They run for cover

They plead for help

They pray for survival

 

When the river is angry

The people listen

There will be no comfort

It will not be fine

Til they make their peace

With the River Rhine

 

Covid's Friend

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Covid’s Friend

 

People of Florida:

Is this what you wanted?

First in the nation in new cases

First in morbidity

First in new hospitalizations

Among the last in vaccinations

 

You’re nobody’s fool

You went to the best school

(Harvard University)

You have a law degree

Yet you’ve sentenced

Thousands to death

By executive decree

 

Do you just not care?

Is this some grand design?

Get rid of all the riffraff

Leave the takers behind

 

We know you’re running for Prez

By any and all means

Nothing less is sufficient

It is your only dream

 

But is it worth the price

To be a man among men

When it comes to Covid

There is no better friend

 

Square One Part II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Square One II

 

How long (we asked) will this go on?

How long before it’s done?

Eighteen months and counting

Now we’re back to square one

 

We’ve been pushed to our limits

Some have strained their will to live

How much more must we take

When we have little left to give?

 

It is the summer of the warming

The August sun is burning hot

We dream of cooler climates

Somewhere where we’re not

 

So the test begins again

At least now we’re more prepared

We know what we must do

But do we know enough to care?

 

We are reaching for an end

But we’ve seen this play before

When it’s over it begins again

Til we’re angry to the core

 

We’ve searched through our memories

We know there is no other way

We must let go of all our anguish

And live from day to day

 

The Seine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

 

The Seine

 

Along the banks of the River Seine

Sat Claude Monet with his easel

Toulouse-Lautrec and Marcel Proust

Balzac and Victor Hugo

King Louie and Marie Antoinette

Some call it the pinnacle of culture

Some simply call it vain

Monarchs have bowed before her

The mighty River Seine

 

Where Danton raised his rebel cry

And lost his life beneath the blade

Where students pledged their lives

And workers stood beside them

Hand in hand boot to boot

Liberte egalite fraternite

They marched for basic freedoms

Til the little emperor came along

With a promise of immortality

So they sang another song

 

The center of the western world

The best and worst of men

All along the River Seine

The French will rise again

 

The River Thames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

The River Thames

The island river of old Britannia

Known by some as Isis

Its dark waters have floated kings

To exile and exultation

 

The rising tide under London Bridge

Projects a mirror image

Parliament the tower and the wheel

A window to princes and monarchies

Ancient grudges and uprisings

The birth of human dignity

The rights of humankind

 

Echoes of the Globe Theater

Where Hamlet philosophized

Where Henry railed against the French

Where Falstaff belittled kings

Before his bitter end

 

All along the River Thames

The people take their comfort

For through the storied ages

While royal houses rise and fall

Their pomp and pageantry aglow

No matter who the palace holds

The river always flows

The river always flows

Mandate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Mandate

 

Freedom has its limits in a free society

You are not free to do harm to others

You are not free to seize my home

You are not free to steal my property

You are not free to invade my privacy

You are not free to spread disease

 

Freedom has its limits in a sane society

You are not free to pollute my water

You are not free to poison my air

You are not free to disturb my peace

You are not free to practice medicine

Without a legitimate degree

You are not free to spread disease

 

You have a right to speak your mind

You have a right to vote as you will

You do not have a right to make me sick

You do not have a right to kill

 

For the greater good of all

The rights of the one must fall

If a mandate is what we need

To a mandate we will accede