RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
The Battle Within
Like a tightened noose
A battle rages within
One side must lose
The other must win
One side attacks
The other retreats
Bruised and battered
Resolved to defeat
How long must I suffer
The curse of this spell?
Three days of discomfort
Or a lifetime in hell?
The body yearns peace
Among all its parts
The lungs and the liver
The brain and the heart
When the battle still rages
Something must give
The invader must leave
For the host to live
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Covid Attack
The Covid is mine
It’s under my skin
I moan and I pray
Covid doesn’t win
My mind is blurry
My brain is on fire
I wallow in misery
I’m growing so tired
I’ve had all my shots
I am grateful for that
I have multiple lives
Like an old alley cat
I don’t feel like eating
I don’t feel like much
I’m angry and scattered
And so out of touch
All of the things that
Go through my mind
The lingering effects
The troubling kind
I dropped my guard
I looked away
A warning to all
It is here to stay
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE
Swept Away
Everything you own
Everything you’ve worked and fought for
All of your working life
Everything your parents and grandparents
Worked and fought for
Swept away in a matter of hours
Your home, your truck, your car
All of your appliances and clothes
All of your tools and supplies
Your kids’ belongings
Your photographs and memories
All of it gone, swept away
By the storm of the century
Only it ain’t the storm of the century
Cause here it comes again
What do we do?
Where do we go?
Everyone we know is about as
Bad off as we are
That’s why we pray
We pray to God the government
Comes through
Cause we know damn well
The insurance companies won’t
Yeah, we been through hard times
Yeah, we’ve gone without
We’ve worked two shifts
We’ve worked two or three jobs
Just to pay down the debt
And carry one
But this feels different
Cause it is different
Our whole damned world
Swept away
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS
Ghost Towns
In the old west there were ghost towns
Towns that sprung up overnight
Along the trail of wagon trains
To feed the great migration
Along the path of gold and silver
To feed the dreams of poverty
Boom and bust towns
Towns that rose from the dust
Drowned in rotgut liquor
Played hard and fast with women
Indulged in life’s forbidden pleasures
And vanished like a dream
Like a wanton drunken dream
People came and settled in
Until the gold dried up
Until the railroad moved on
Until the boom went bust
We’re about to enter a new age
Of the boom-and-bust ghost towns
Desert towns deserted
For lack of drinking water
For lack of irrigation
Towns overrun by rust and waste
Towns that bet it all on false promises
False gods, false prophets and false profits
Towns that thrived on agriculture
Towns that imploded on technology
Gambling towns and tourist towns
Towns that used to court life
Before the party ended
Now all that remains are memories
And ghosts
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
The Purge
What happened on January Sixth?
Nefarious purpose is glaringly clear
Destruction of evidence is a crime
The eyes of justice are bearing
Down on the agents of government
Who erased essential documents
Leaving their complicity most evident
Their motives demented and bent
They covered the crime of the century
To serve their treasonous boss
Who unleashed his terrible fury
Threatened them all with such loss
As the strongest of men could not bear
Were they cowards or were they corrupt?
With the republic at stake, who cares?
They purged the republic of trust
Now it’s time for them to be purged
Let us do what we can and must
Let justice and honor be served
For until they are gone one and all
Americans should be appalled
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING
Congo Compromise
At a time when global warming
Kills people by the thousands
In every corner of the world
The Congo decides to auction off
Its rain forest for oil and gas development
Blood for oil has become the norm
The Congo has an excuse
They are not alone in compromise
The European Union reclassifies liquid gas
As a source of clean, green energy
As all of Europe from Stockholm to Madrid
From London to Naples
Suffers its hottest temperatures
In the history of recorded time
Europeans have an excuse
They are dependent on Russian oil
America has its own compromise
But it is time we recognized
There will always be an excuse
We can no longer allow our reasons
To block the way of action
In the case of the Republic of Congo
The wealthy nations of the world
(sans China, Russia and Brazil)
Must purchase the rain forests
To ban oil and gas development
Is it enough? No, but it is a step
Can we afford it? Yes.
We cannot afford not to do it
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
The Worm Turns
The hearings drew a picture
That everyone could view
The former president was behind it
It is so obviously true
The loyalists who backed him
Have fully earned their shame
Though they ran from the mob
They’re still playing the party game
In case you didn’t see them
Here is what you missed
Instead of being worried
The president was in bliss
He planned the whole affair
He roused them to a fury
Now he sits in Mar-a-Lago
Afraid to face a jury
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS
Nine Days of Hell (Haiti)
In a lawless society
Where there is no government
Where the only law is power
And power has no authority
An explosion of chaos is inevitable
In a society where need exceeds want
And poverty is greater than pride
Where those who want to survive
Are forced to choose or hide
An explosion of violence is inevitable
In a society where guns are ubiquitous
And gardens do not exist
Where schools and libraries are memories
An explosion of gunfire is inevitable
Haiti is once again in the news
And it is not good
It has never been good
When Haiti is in the news
An epic tragedy is unfolding
A terrifying earthquake
A military coup
A tsunami of tears
This time the tragedy is human
This time the explosion is gunfire
At the hands of warring tribes
After nine days of hell
Nine days of violence
Nine days of bloodshed
The world notices
And mourns
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY
Orban of Hungary
The face of the new Nazi
Belongs to Viktor Orban
The strongman of Hungary
The Don without pretense
The uncensored racist extremist
Whose policies stop just short of
Racial and cultural genocide
The world’s leading proponent of
The Great Replacement Theory
Which is not a theory at all
But a golden tenet of Naziism
The creed of the Birch Society
The cry of the Klan
The great Viktor Orban
Europe’s longest running leader
Who skims money from the Union
Like a dirty bottom feeder
But the Trumpers really love him
They lavish him with praise
On the road to kleptocracy
Viktor Orban shows the way
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE
Fire, Wind & Rain
Horrendous fire, wind and rain
The prophecies unfold
A land of darkness filled with pain
The feeble and the old
Run for cover and take heed
There are more omens
Than we can read
The beggar and the blind man
Foresee a time of wanton need
Fire followed by torrential rain
A stripping of the land
This page of history is stained
When we failed to take a stand
When all was well and
There was time
To save the lot of man
We will rise again to claim a place
Upon the living earth
The survivors will give warning
Of the burdens we once faced
And our failure to live up to it
For whatever it is worth
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Secret Service Betrayal
The people who protect the president today
Are those who betrayed him yesterday
To serve and protect is just a slogan
A shallow piece of folklore
The agents sworn to the constitution
Became the president’s whores
You might think that’s a little harsh
You might think it’s a little strong
Take account of all the facts *
You will find you’re entirely wrong
They declared by their own actions
They are enemies of the state
If we leave security in their hands
We will inherit a bitter fate
We should retire every one of them
Let them know what they have done
But they have failed at insurrection
(for now) democracy has won
* Secret Service purges all January
6th Insurrection emails
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: NATIVE JUSTICE
Redemption (versus Reparations)
Reparations are for the flesh
Redemption is for the soul
Reparations ease our memories
They do not make us whole
When those who have abused us
Offer money for our pain
It fails to give us comfort
A glass of water for the rain
But when we are redeemed
We are obliged to forgive
The abuser feels our suffering
Another life is lived
So offer your reparations
If your guilt you wish to ease
But if you seek redemption
Let your conscience set you free
(for all indigenous people)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
Rights of Women
Women struggled for the right to vote
Women fought for the right to speak
Women won the right to choose
Who and when they marry
Women won the right to divorce
Women fought for the right to work
Outside the home without consent
Women earned the right to equal treatment
Under the law but not to equal wages
Women demand the right to love
And live with whom they choose
Women have won the right to achieve
In all fields of endeavor
But women lost the right to end
An unwanted pregnancy
Women had won that right but lost it
It was taken from them by
A court of supreme injustice
The question now becomes:
If the court can take this right today
What rights will it take tomorrow?
If the court claims jurisdiction
Over a woman’s body
Where then does it end?
What rights are beyond its reach?
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS
