Pillars of Shame

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

 

Pillars of Shame

 

Anguished faces of the fallen

A stern reminder of the purge

A remembrance of the massacre

A memorial to the courage

That is Tiananmen Square

 

It stands as a pillar of shame

Though you remove it from our sight

It sits forever in our minds

Though you prohibit its pronunciation

It is burned into our hearts

Though you have banished

All thoughts and memories

 

You cannot ban the contents

Of hearts and minds

You cannot tell us

What to think

What to feel

What to remember

Or who to mourn

 

We take a vow now and always

To remember all of the genocides

All of the victims of oppression

All of the crimes against humanity

All of the suffering and sacrifice

Until the end of civilized time

 

(The Chinese government takes down

the monument Pillar of Shame at

Hong Kong University.)

 

Struggle

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  LIFE SONGS

Struggle

 

The banality of this world

Wears me down

Like weight on tired shoulders

The cruelty of this world

Takes hold of me and

Bends me to the ground

The disillusion of this world

Stops my heart from beating

The indifference of this world

Triggers my sense of outrage

Sends me reeling in all directions

Like a whirling phantom

Without a place of rest

The deprivations of this world

Leave me gasping for air

Desperate and afraid

 

Yet the kindness of this world

Revives my sense of balance

Stimulates my hope

The creativity of this world

Restores the flow of my desire

Allows me to feel whole

The gentleness of this world

Lifts my waning soul

Inspires me with care

The beauty of this world

Steals my breath away

Engaging my sense of wonder

Renewing flames of yearning

I drink from the well of joy

And let my spirit soar

 

The Meaning of Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Meaning of Christmas

 

The meaning of Christmas is caring

Not shopping at fancy stores

The meaning of Christmas is sharing

From the rich to the needful poor

 

It seems Jesus was a socialist

He believed in giving more

He didn’t care too much for loyalists

To the great commercial bores

 

So take a moment to give thanks

To the ones who need the most

Let us guide them through the door

With a smile and a nice warm roast

 

When the meaning of Christmas is clear

We will all be uplifted and well

We will release a lot of our fears

And rejoice at the sound of bells

 

By the Sea

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

By the Sea

 

In solemn moments by the sea

I feel the spirits take hold of me

And there I sit to this very day

A prayer to take my soul away

 

The mists of ancient tears

Will wash away my inborn fears

The very heartbeat of the earth

Gives hope and wonder birth

 

The sea is where I always turn

When in my beating heart I yearn

To find a moment’s restful peace

All my worries to release

 

I count the waves in endless nines

Until my very core unwinds

And all the pain I’ve ever known

With the gulls away have flown

 

A part of me I leave behind

Each and every parting time

I promise to come back again

When the sea invites me in

 

We Are One

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

We Are All One

 

The stone that makes the mountain strong

The voice that sings a soulful song

That strikes a chord that lovers hear

That ends the war and conquers fear

That steals away the endless night

Reminding us to seek the light

In everything we’ve ever done

Informing one and all

That we are one

We are all one

We are one

 

A child that stopped to ask her why

So many people had to die

Not knowing a good and cheerful life

Not having a chance to try

She answered with a knowing sigh

She could never tell a lie

And all the people crowded in

Like sardines in a tin

We die so we can live again

For we are one

We are all one

We are one

 

The leaves upon a mighty oak

The man who always tells a joke

The one who only seems to stare

And wonders why nobody cares

Enough to stop and share

But they do now

For we are one

We are all one

We are one

 

We gather at the mountain top

The victim and the lonely cop

Who shot a man for fighting back

On the dark side of the railroad tracks

In another time another place

As members of the human race

He looks into another face

And sees in it his own

For we are all one

We are all one

We are one

 

(for Leonard Cohen)

 

The Omicron Generation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Omicron Generation

 

The fifteenth letter of the Greek alphabet

The fifteenth star in a constellation

The fifteenth level of Dante’s inferno

The fifteenth wave of destruction

The fifteenth generation of Euro-Americans

 

In fifteen months we’ll all have omicron

We’ll have it to keep from getting it

In fifteen years the omicron generation

Will inherit the reigns of the earth

 

Future historians will remember us

For what we did and did not do

Deniers will always deny it

But the truth will know it’s true

 

Some stood with the laws of medicine

To fight against every wave

Others stood for superstition

And marched the elders to their graves

 

The omicron will unite us

Giving up and giving in

Why fight the moon and the stars

When we can all begin again

 

Do not give up the fight

No matter how long it takes

Those who yield to darkness

The future will forsake

 

Tears for Vietnam

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Tears for Vietnam

 

Woe to thee Vietnam

Who fought for freedom hard and long

To falter now in hypocrisy

A failure of democracy

 

The world must now remind

You dissent is not a crime

Speaking out is an obligation

When injustice poisons the nation

 

The fight for freedom will go on

From sunset through the dawn

The march for justice never ends

Gathering allies collecting friends

As long as courts abuse their power

Righteous dissidents will not cower

But stand to speak their minds

The rights of humankind

Cannot be jailed

But will prevail

In time

 

(December 2021:  The People’s Court sentences

Pham Doan Trang to nine years in prison for

Speaking out against the state.)

 

Spirit of Giving

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Spirit of Giving

 

At a time of great destruction

We are tempted to despair

But we find our common voices

In the rhythm of our hearts

We find the spirit of giving

And we demonstrate our care

 

We have so much more compassion

Than any one of us might dare

We are more than our prejudice

We are greater than ourselves

We are one with our families

And we are willing to share

 

In the gentle spirit of giving

As the holidays draw near

Let us open our giving hearts

Let our sense of empathy reign

Let us give what we will and can

Let us shed our loving tears

 

Let us wake up tomorrow

With the same yearning to give

To our brothers and our sisters

To our nephews and our daughters

To the many people in need

Wherever they may live

 

It will be Christmas soon

Let it be Christmas all year

Let us hold in our hearts

That kindred spirit of giving

To all of our loved ones

And all we hold dear

 

Justice

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Justice

 

The life of a gifted child cut short

The honorable fall while cheaters thrive

Victims exposed and punished in court

The system rewards corruption and lies

Justice seems a last resort

 

The gentle never have a decent chance

The crude and vulgar win the prize

The immoral always seem to advance

There are few exceptions for the wise

The lonely are rarely asked to dance

The evil lives while the good man dies

 

There is little justice in this life

Of that we can be certain

It’s rife with misery and strife

Like Helena Bonham and Tim Burton

We journey slowly into the night

Til they lower the final curtain

 

Tears of Love

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Tears of Love

 

There was a woman who shared her love

As if it were a treasure

She handed it out with gentle gloves

Delivering at her pleasure

When she was done she held it in

No more shall you enjoy

She gave you just a taste of sin

As if you were her toy

 

There was a man who loved her well

Who gave his heart in full

Her secrets he swore not to tell

He buried them in a hole

When it was done he almost fell

Where none could ever find him

A tragic place that some call hell

And watched his light grow dim

 

He wrote of love in memories

A love so pure and true

It lived but in his fantasies

A love he never knew

But in his heart he felt it all

A love for all the ages

A love that rose and could not fall

A love that grew in stages

 

There was a man who lived in dreams

He never knew a love so dear

Though love may not be what it seems

He measured love in tears

 

The Abraham Principle

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

The Abraham Principle

 

For he so loved God

That he offered his only son

 

Who among us would not offer

Our own life for the life of a child?

Who would not sacrifice oneself

To save a mother?

 

God and nature make no such offers

God and nature have only one bargain

And that is prescribed by science:

If / Then …

 

If you abuse your stay on earth

If you exploit the planets resources

If you cut down mountains

If you clear cut forests

If you poison rivers

If you pump toxic fumes

Into a finite atmosphere

For decades upon ages without end

If you pretend there is no problem

That God and nature will self-correct

That it is the will of God

That all must suffer to fulfill a prophecy

That it is beyond the will of man

Then you will face certain consequences

 

Then fires will rage in the west

Erasing whole towns from existence

Then storms will strike with deadly force

Marking the land with devastation

Then floods will bury islands

And render towering cities extinct

Then raging winds of fire will

Raze the land from sea to sea

Then mothers will cry for children lost

Then Abraham will offer his only son

Too late the damage done

Too late the damage done

 

Asylum

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD AFFAIRS

Asylum

 

We seek asylum from oppression

We are hundreds of thousands strong

We seek asylum from starvation

We have suffered far too long

 

We are Haitian and Congolese

We are Hondurans and Guatemalans

We afraid for our children

We are fleeing for our lives

We believe in hard work

Give us a chance we will thrive

 

We believe in human rights

We believe in democracy

We will stand up and fight

We solemnly pledge our lives

 

We seek asylum from brutality

You would do the same

We are fighting for our families

We are not the ones to blame

 

Goodbye Angela Farewell

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD AFFAIRS

Goodbye Angela Farewell

 

For sixteen years she reigned

Over Europe from Berlin

The birthing of the union

The collapse of the banks

Debt and austerity

The never-ending war on terror

The rise of the Islamic State

Russian aggression

The climate crisis

The great migration

The reactionary right

The rise of the autocrats

Brexit and the British clown

The American void

The global pandemic

 

History will record

Through the trials and tribulations

Of the most challenging times

In the post-industrial age

Angela Merkel held steady

While others faltered

 

History will record

The European Union owes its existence

To Merkel’s strength and diplomacy

 

For sixteen of the most critical years

For human civilization on earth

Merkel filled the gaping hole

That America and Britain left wanting

The iron woman of Berlin

Stood up to the Russian beast

When the American president demurred

Stood up to the white nationalist threat

When the American president

Gave it praise and encouragement

 

We did not agree with austerity

We did not agree on many policies

But on the whole we admired you

And in the end we thank you

 

Where would we be without you?

 

Goodbye Angela fare well

 

The Space Between Us

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Space Between Us

 

The difference between Europe and America

Lies partly in the concept of space

Perception of space

Utilization of space

Realization of space

 

In Paris London and Berlin

There is little waste of space

A kitchen and a living room

May encroach upon each other

(Except for the wealthy of course)

A bedroom and a bathroom

Consume the required space

Along with a washer and dryer

The essential appliances

A room with a view is luxury

 

In New York Chicago and LA

An apartment demands a kitchen

Separate from a dining room

Separate from a living room

Separate from a bedroom

With an adjoining bath

There are windows to the world

 

Americans require space

Europeans require utility

Americans love the beauty

Of wide horizons and expansive skies

Europeans love the beauty

Of masterful art and sleek designs

 

The space between us is oft times large

And sometimes small

But it is always there

 

Roe

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Roe

 

Maybe you didn’t think we’d mourn

The loss of abortion rights

Maybe you didn’t think we’d rage

Maybe you didn’t think we’d fight

 

Women were last to gain the vote

Women were forced to stand in line

Women could not control their bodies

Women had substandard minds

 

We’ve always known it was a lie

Designed to hold a woman down

Yet it endured for centuries

Women were tied and bound

 

Once freed we thought it would stick

America doesn’t walk back its rights

If we underestimated your audacity

You’ve misjudged our will to fight

 

It was once considered settle law

Now there is no end in sight

To assert a woman’s right to choose

A united left will fight fight fight