John R. Lewis Bridge

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD/CIVIL RIGHTS SERIES

 

John R. Lewis Bridge

 

MLK marched on Washington

To assert the rights of all human beings

To live in relative peace and freedom

To buy homes in decent neighborhoods

To receive a quality education

To seek justice in a court of law

To expect decency from law enforcement

To vote in fair elections

 

John R. Lewis marched alongside MLK

Across the Edmund Pettis Bridge

To demonstrate his courage and resolve

They marched on in silence

As dozens of cops with clubs drawn

Stormed the marchers

Beating them down like animals

Trying to end the civil rights movement

Once and for always

 

Until the Edmund Pettis Bridge

Is dismantled piece by piece

Replaced with the John R. Lewis Bridge

We will not be home

We will not be free

Until every last vestige of white supremacy

Is uprooted from blood-stained soil

The cause will not be done

Indeed we will only have begun

 

No Time for War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

No Time for War

 

We’ve seen the war on terror

Another war without an end

We’ve seen the war on poverty

It paid no dividends

We declared a war on Covid 19

And went merrily on our way

We’re accustomed to the metaphor

But it is not a time for war

 

We fought a war in Vietnam

To our eternal shame

A generation rose up to say

Don’t fight it in our name!

 

Of the long war in Afghanistan

We finally made an end

It was never about terrorism

On that you can depend

 

Our futile war in Iraq

Led straight to the Islamic State

What enriched our war machine

Made half the world irate

 

Our failed wars should teach us

There must be another way

All nations must come together

To impose a price to pay

 

Our sanctions must be binding

And punish to the core

Let all aggressors be forewarned

It is not a time for war

 

War in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

War in Ukraine

 

Is Ukraine an independent nation?

An escalation in weapons and guns

Breakdown in diplomatic relations

The war in Ukraine has begun

 

Amassed on the Ukrainian border

Soldiers missiles and tanks

Disrupting international order

Tension crawls up the ranks

 

The Russian beast has awakened

In a world beset with pandemic

A cold war no longer forsaken

Our problems become systemic

 

We have no patience for war

Between the world’s greatest powers

For a waste of precious resources

You could not pick a finer hour

 

Let there be no more wars

Not today and not tomorrow

Let us answer a soldier’s prayers

Stop the wars, ease the sorrow

Broken Union

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Broken Union

 

The union is a bond of principle

An agreement beyond politics

An unspoken understanding that

In times of crisis and catastrophe

Natural disasters and wars

We will come together as one people

United in common purpose

It is a promise to defend each other

At all costs against all enemies

Foreign and domestic

 

The union is beyond words

It towers above written laws

It is more than blood relations

It is the circle of family ties

It carries the weight of love

 

Our founders made an agreement

A sacred promise before the eyes of god

Despite all of their differences

Despite envy and jealousies

Cast in iron and stone

That the union of a new nation

Would never have a king

Would never have an emperor

Would never be ruled by the power of one

 

The union was broken once

Over the abomination of slavery

Tens of thousands spilled their blood

On the grounds of civil war

Lincoln died for our sins

And we vowed never more

 

We are at those crossroads again

And the stakes are equally severe

If we break the union now

With democracy in the balance

We may never get it back again

Not in our lifetime

Not in the lifetimes of our children

 

If we break the union now

Our crimes will be remembered

Until the end of time

 

Longing for the Past

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Longing for the Past

 

We feel uneasy with the world we see

Though we accept that all things change

In the past we controlled our destiny

Now everything seems so strange

 

I remember well the corner store

Owned by a local mom and pop

They used to greet you by the door

We used to know the local cop

There are no locals anymore

We don’t purchase local crops

We used to gather rich and poor

Before the good times stopped

 

Now all is owned by corporations

We’re a corporation nation

The movie house the restaurants

The stops on our vacation

 

Oh how we long for yesteryear

When our neighbors were our friends

We look back now and shed a tear

For we thought it would never end

 

The Charade

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

The Charade

 

It’s clear they just don’t care

What’s right or just or fair

They’ll take the money and run

Aw gee has it been fun?

They stopped democracy just in time

Their charade was most sublime

They had the old man fooled

They used him as their tool

To ensure the party on the other side

Sealed the electorate’s great divide

Say goodbye to the voting rights bill

Let’s forget about Emmett Till

Come November Republicans rise

As the hope of a nation dies

Democracy enters its final days

As the rogue senators have their way

Manchin and Sinema are their names

Senate obstruction is their game

Like a charm it worked so well

Have a party and ring the bell

No longer should we have any doubt

It is time past time to kick them out

Let them wear the mark of traitors

Sayonara see you later

 

[Note: Senators Manchin and Sinema

block Voting Rights by upholding

the filibuster.]

 

 

Outliers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Outliers

 

Among the outliers are poets and artists

Those who go against the tide

Diviners of original constructs

For whom the common cannot abide

We take the artist for a lover

We take another for our bride

For when it comes to our survival

Cold calculus must decide

 

There’s nothing wrong with being different

The ones who choose to not belong

The ones who hear a different beat

The ones who sing a different song

But when it comes to life and death

We had better not be wrong

 

For the doctor and the artist

In this world there is a place

The one sustains the human spirit

The other saves the human race

 

Relativity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Relativity

 

One man nurtures a contented smile

While the world surrounding falls

Another walks a lonely mile

As he answers every call

 

A woman take great pleasure in writing

Though praise is often wanting

Another gathers praise like lightning

Though she finds the journey daunting

 

One man comes alive in the desert

Another falls in love with the sea

The very same air that chokes one man

Enables another to breathe

 

A woman is called to dance and sing

Another is called to teach

What one considers a sacred union

Another considers a breach

 

It all depends on how you see it

What makes the river run

What you might think a good beginning

Is the time another is done

 

Seditious Conspiracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Seditious Conspiracy

 

As plain as the nose on your face

The simple truth for all to see

Those who plotted the insurrection

Committed seditious conspiracy

 

They thought they’d go down as heroes

The patriots who won the day

Reversing a presidential election

And plotting their getaway

 

But their images were duly recorded

Engaged in all manner of crimes

Attacking cops with improvised weapons

Putting our government in a bind

 

You thought you were doing his bidding

We all agree that much is true

But when it comes to paying the piper

The hammer will drop on you

 

What is a fitting punishment

For conspiring to commit sedition?

We should grant you a blanket pardon

With one fundamental condition:

 

Leave this country immediately

For any other that will take you in

If there is no country that wants you

Run away with your next of kin

 

(Eleven members of the Oath Keepers

are indicted for Seditious Conspiracy)

 

The Ancients

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Ancients

 

When mythology ruled the heavens

And the gods ruled the earth

When superstition ruled the hearts

Of mortal men and women

We lived at the mercy of greater forces

(forces beyond our control)

We dined at the table of destiny

We walked the ordained path of fate

 

When the ancients walked the earth

And the goddess claimed our hearts

We followed the winds of fortune

Never knowing how it would end

How many lives would be altered

How many innocents would suffer

For our acts of blind allegiance

 

We did not possess free will

We were not responsible for consequences

We did as we were compelled to do

And looked to the gods for forgiveness

 

The ancients had a hard life

So subject to human frailty

So wise and yet so ignorant

 

We have traveled through the millennia

With advances in science and technology

And yet when all is brought to account

We are very much the same

 

Serving Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Serving Democracy

 

A nation born to displace all the monarchies

and aristocracies of old Europe

The right of hereditary succession

The right of lords and princes

to rule over the people with an iron fist

The right to make and enforce laws

The right to tax and seize property

Can never fall to one man rule

without sacrificing its soul

 

Have we failed to teach our children

the essential value of democracy?

Have we failed to learn as a people

what makes America special?

 

We are the longest running democratic

government on the planet earth

We are the greatest hope of humankind

We are the reason our nation is not

afflicted with perpetual civil war

For though we have our differences

(some that move us to our core)

We are all agreed on this:

 

We will have another election

We will have a chance to change

our direction our representatives

and our president every four years

 

We can all agree on this:

As long as we are a democracy

we are the United States of America

If we are no longer a democracy

we are neither united nor America

 

The Rio Grande (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

 

Rio Grande (River Series)

 

The river that divides north and south

El Norte y el Sur

A river that divides one nation from another

Dos lenguajes y culturas

A river that gives life

And takes life away

 

Songs sung and stories told

Midnight crossing under dim moonlight

Coyotes bent on betrayal

Money lost

Families broken

Children swept away

Mothers weeping

People abandoned like stray cattle

In the barren Arizona desert

 

If the Rio Grande could tell its story

Its waters would swell with tears

Its current run with the sweat of labor

Its banks stained with blood

 

The river gives and the river takes

Cross at your own peril

Cross if you must

Cross if you will

But beware: the river kills

 

The Journey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Journey

 

At the birth of every journey

Lies hope tempered with knowledge

Obstacles will be encountered

Adversity will be opposed

There will be moments of achievement

Moments that transcend the limits

Of our common understanding

There will be moments of pure magic

And moments of shattering sorrow

Destiny looms on the road ahead

Yet the moment reigns supreme

Strength of character will be tested

Imagination will be challenged

Endurance pushed to the edge

And yet the journey beckons

Like a long lost lover in the fog of dreams

To witness the stars on a moonless night

To observe all life from the mountain top

To feel the power of a rolling river

The majestic beauty of an endless sky

To sense the heartbeat of the earth

The journey inspires the spirit

And lays bare the naked soul

Life itself is a journey and

Every journey is a life

Within a life

 

The Hidden Treasure (Putin's Wealth)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Hidden Treasure

 

The great dictator of the north

Holds his trillion-dollar treasure

In western banks and assets

He prefers his wealth is measured

In euros pounds and dollars

That western bankers can attest

His wealth rises from the north

But it settles in the west

 

The dictator’s greatest weakness

Is his fundamental need

For more and greater wealth

To satiate his greed

 

If we want to halt his march

To reclaim the Russian empire

We need not match his weapons

Fighting fire with greater fire

We need only seize his assets

And demand that he retire

 

The great dictator of the north

Will most assuredly change his ways

If he is made to understand

The price that he must pay

 

The Beast of Kazakhstan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

The Beast of Kazakhstan

 

In the name of law and order

By order of executive decree

They shot down innocent protestors

Just for marching on the street

 

Dozens dead and numbers rising

For wanting to have a voice

A brazen leader worth despising

Opposed the basic right to choice

 

The heartless ruler of Kazakhstan

Stands strong with the Putin alliance

Numb to the people’s circumstance

Suppressing all acts of defiance

 

Free nations must rise and stand

To halt these waves of oppression

Resume the march of human rights

And end the age of regression

 

To the good people of Kazakhstan

Stand strong and make your case

Know that we stand with you

For the good of the human race