Belarus (The Puppet)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Belarus

 

Like the Cherokee on the Trail of Tears

Like the Navajo at the End of the Trail

The Islamic migrants in Belarus

Are rounded up like stray cattle

Shuffled to camps at the Polish border

Trapped between two armies

In perpetual displacement

 

We know the hand behind this treachery

This crisis of human decency

It is not the puppet Lukashenko

It is the puppet master

Behind the wrought iron curtain

 

As if to prove his relevance

As if to demonstrate his power

Vladimir pulls the levers

And his Belarus puppet dances

 

It is a warning of things to come

A shot across the bow

The emperor readies for action

We may not know when or how

 

Troops gather at the Ukrainian border

A threat of severed oil looms

The future is looking bleak

For some it may bring doom

 

The Enlightenment

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Enlightenment

 

There was a time when young people

Enrolled in universities

To become enlightened beings

To study the renaissance

To understand art and literature

To engage philosophy and psychology

To expand the universe of thought

To uncover the workings of the inner mind

 

Now it seems young people go to

Universities to acquire employable skills

To the learn the ways of algorithms

To apply technology to enterprise

To join circles of common interests

And common points of view

To determine an uncertain future

 

One day the arts will disappear entirely

From the university curriculum

Museums will become gathering halls

For gamers and techno wizards

The arts will go underground

Take cover for a hundred years

Only to be born again

Stronger and more valued than ever

 

Honor the Warrior

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Honor the Warrior

 

Honor the warrior hate the war

The warrior never knew what for

 

We learn from when we’re very young

This is how the world is spun

There are those who know better than us

Get on board the duty-bound bus

We owe them unconditional trust

So don’t talk too loud or raise a fuss

 

Honor the warrior hate the war

The warrior never knew what for

 

So the warrior offers up his life

Takes on the terror of endless night

For she believes it is his due

To serve a cause both right and true

We honor her to the end of days

Our flags lowered his image raised

 

Honor the warrior hate the war

The warrior never knew what for

 

To those who think we’re always right

Keep this truth within your sight

Every war has opposing sides

In whom they trust their god confides

The warriors only follow orders

In deference to their god and borders

They don’t decide what’s right and wrong

They only go along

 

Honor the warrior hate the war

The warrior never knew what for

 

Fools Pride

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Fools Pride

 

Pride in who you are is wise

Pride that prevents you from becoming

Who or what you are is foolish

Pride can propel you forward

To great accomplishment

Or pride can hold you back

In fear of failure

 

Pride can lead you on a fools pursuit

Pride can hold you in your place

Pride can make you stumble

Or inspire you to grace

 

Pride can make fools of kings

Pride can give fools the crown

Welcome pride that holds you up

Decline that which puts you down

 

Do not lean on pride too long

For it will not stand alone

Without work and dedication

Fools pride will make you groan

 

Glory

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  LIFE SONGS

Glory

 

Glory is a fickle lover

She belongs to those who claim her

Yet she belongs to no one

 

We dedicate our younger lives

To winning the ultimate prize

Rising above all others

As if our happiness depended

On another’s sorrow

 

We take hold of the winner’s trophy

That proclaims our ultimate greatness

Only to watch it all dissolve

Like crumbling ash in the wind

 

Glory lifts us to the highest peaks

Demands the world’s attention

Declares a singular superiority

Surrounds us with servile sycophants

Delivers a divinity of pleasures

And builds our egos into

Impenetrable fortresses

Before leaving us abandoned

And alone

 

Glory is a fickle lover whose

Greatest gifts are endless tears

Of sorrow and remorse

Beauty

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Beauty

 

Beauty is as beauty does

And beauty is as beauty was

Beauty reigns a love supreme

Beauty lives inside a dream

Beauty walks where others fall

Beauty stands two towers tall

 

We bow down before the gods

Before the wonders of it all

But it is beauty that astounds us

And we must answer to her call

When her majesty surrounds us

And burrows to the core

She is all that we desire

She is all that we adore

She sets our souls afire

Leaves us crying out for more

 

I am speechless in her presence

Struck dumb in humbled awe

Hands are shaking knees are bent

As if she is my lord and law

For I am hers to raise above

And I am hers to leave behind

She is my comfort and my love

She possesses heart and mind

 

New Dawn

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

New Day

 

After so much heartbreak

When so many have gone away

It is time to give thanks

For the dawn of a new day

 

For while life can be a struggle

To keep our feet on solid ground

We must hold on to the blessings

That lift our spirits all around

 

See the joy in children playing

Take the time to understand

For every villain who does harm

There is one who lends a hand

 

Do not linger in the sorrow

When there is another way

Do not hold on to the night

Rise to greet a brighter day

 

For this life exudes pure wonder

From the mountains to the sea

I open up my weary eyes

To take it all inside of me

The River Po

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The River Po

 

Running from the Alps to the Adriatic Sea

A wide and mighty river

The longest in Italy

 

It feeds the wealth of Turin and lovely Milan

Where da Vinci designed channels

Where poets devised songs

 

It concludes its run near Venice

Where it is populated by eels

Such a very strange phenomenon

To provide Italian meals

 

The great river nearly dried up

Twice in twenty years

That it will happen once again

Fuels our global warming fears

 

The river that turns purple

Like the wines that we hold dear

May one day not too distant

Simply fold and disappear

 

Living with The Dead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Living with the Dead

 

Down in Mexico they speak to the dead

And the dead speak back

Not just on the Day of the Dead

But every day

The dead live among the living

To guide or obstruct them

As they desire

To whisper sweet dreams

Or inspire howling nightmares

To give comfort or fright

Through the long-lost nights

 

Up north we also live with our dead

Their spirits walk among us

They curse and bless us

They teach and lead us astray

But we rarely acknowledge them

As other cultures may

We keep them in our hearts

We lock them away

And rarely let them out

We know they are with us

But we keep them hidden

In the shadows of our souls

 

The Tree that Held Up the Sky

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

The Tree that Held Up the Sky

 

They plunged through the world

Like three fools who did not care

Let it fly! they told each other

Let it break and tear!

They lit a fire beneath a big broad oak

Just to see if it would burn

They fed the flames

That fueled the fire

(no, they did not learn)

They watched the flames grow higher

They laughed til they grew tired

They never thought

They never cared

They never questioned why

This was the very oak

That held up all the sky

 

They did not make connections

When the sky began to fall

They searched for someone different

On whom to blame it all

That one is dark and that one weird!

On this they all agreed

It was what they always feared

The others did the nasty deed

We cannot tell a lie!

They threw stones and made it bleed

Til it cracked the fragile sky!

 

A man came forth with weary eyes

And cast them on the three

You dare to speak of lies?

When it was you who burned the tree

That held up all the sky!

The fools looked at each other

And released a mighty sigh

You know us friends and brothers!

Even if we tried

We could not burn the tree

That holds up all the sky!

 

Of course it did not matter

For the sky came crashing down

And their foolish fate was sealed

When they hid on open ground

 

The Corruption of Moderation

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

 

The Corruption of Moderation

 

Moderation is the avoidance of extremes

In behavior thought or opinion

Corruption is the distortion of behavior

Or opinion for nefarious gain

 

A time comes to call a horse a horses

To call a mule a mule

Let us stop playing West Virginians

And Arizonans for fools

 

No one anywhere votes for a Democrat

Because they don’t want to tax the wealthy

There are a whole lot of Arizona elders

Who just want a chance to stay healthy

 

The good working people of West Virginia

Have never been in love with coal

Ask them and they will tell you twice

They just want out of the hole

 

The sorry truth is both senators

Are on the corporate dole

One is beholden to pharmaceuticals

The other is beholden to coal

 

Stop pretending that moderation

Is the central reason we are stuck

When in fact the honorable senators

Sold their souls for a lousy buck

 

River of Wind

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

River of Wind

 

Storm of storms

Sky river of wind and rain

A torrent of building waves

Bending tall trees of oak and pine

Triggering mud and rock slides

Washing away highways

Tumbling boulders

Smashing buildings and homes

Trails of ruin down the coast

 

The wind whistles through the leaves

Before it becomes a scream

Howling like a pack of wolves

Like an enraged poet on a rant

Lost in nature’s dream

None will get out unscathed

None will be unaffected

 

Terror strikes the afflicted

In the widening path of destruction

An instinct to run is countered

By the realization: it’s too late

Run if you will

Stay if you must

But know: our lives are forever

Changed

Standing with The People (of Sudan)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Standing with the People (of Sudan)

 

A diversity of citizenry in Sudan

In the public square have taken a stand

To demand a representative democracy

To reject a strongman autocracy

 

Back down you generals and commanders

This is not the way to go

For though the road is paved with hardship

Its progress is steady and slow

 

Do not turn your guns on the people

Let them work to find a way out

Overcome your need for power

Reject your burden of doubt

 

Democracy must find a way

Like water through fields of stone

Uphold the will of the people

And you will never stand alone

 

All nations of law and liberty

Must back the people of Sudan

As they make their voices heard

As they take a courageous stand

 

Fires in the Caves of Thought

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Fires in the Caves of Thought *

 

We are as cave beings

Searching for the flame

That will light the fires of thought

 

We grunt and moan as the ancients did

To convey our wants and needs

We find stones to throw at our adversaries

We find plants to feed our children

We will kill to enable survival

 

Once in a rare while

We find words that spark a flame

That light a fire

That warms the soul

On a cold and bitter night

 

We search for others

To share the warmth

To fill the quiet moments

In the caves of our thoughts

 

We live we love we cherish

Just as the ancients did

We form circles of common cause

To ease the pain of living

To share the hardship

To celebrate the triumph

Of truth and survival

 

* Jack Foley “Shadow Boxing with Floyd”

(for Floyd Salas)

 

Looking Back

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

 

Looking Back

 

Ten years ago pot was illegal

In fifty of fifty states

Twenty years ago killer cops

Never made the news

(buried in the back pages)

And black lives never mattered

(except Martin Luther King)

Thirty years ago gay people

And gay love were outlawed

Forty years ago indigenous people

Had no voice in government

(certainly not in the BIA)

And the American genocide

Was not recorded in history

(remember Wounded Knee)

Fifty years ago the government

Spied on people with impunity

(Richard Nixon and the FBI)

And soldiers returning from Vietnam

Received no treatment for wounds

Of the mind spirit or soul

(Agent Orange and PTSD)

Sixty years ago college athletes

Beat up hipsters and gays for fun

Seventy years ago we stood in line

For crewcuts and puff hairdos

Eighty years ago we fought

The fascist war machine

And won

 

The years roll by

Like a river runs

The waves of change

Sweep over us

In many ways we are so much

Better than once we were

In other ways we have advanced

Only to turn back again

 

The struggle never ends

Yet history still bends

Toward the just and righteous

When Democracy Dies

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

 

When Democracy Dies

 

When democracy dies

We begin a slow descent into anarchy

We yield control of all institutions

From civil society to law enforcement

We yield the streets to gangland dominance

And compel our children to choose

Behold Nicaragua Columbia Haiti Mexico

Witness Russia Georgia Ukraine

Beware Hungary Greece Brazil Spain

You cannot play with fire

Without getting burned

You cannot entice autocracy

Without lessons to be learned

 

Democracy does not die in a single blow

Democracy dies steady and slow

From a thousand cuts over time

Placing government in a tangled bind

A perpetual failure to compromise

An absence of the reasonable and wise

A betrayal of corporate corruption

A long slow burn to a final eruption

A deliberate attack on the vote

A dozen leaks sink the boat

 

Take a good look around you

The betrayers slowly surround you

To deliver yet another blow

And watch the doubters grow

 

Democracy is at the stake

Fight back before it is too late