Taiwan

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Taiwan

 

Some may say it’s a provocation

Indeed I would agree

But Taiwan is a sovereign nation

With a desire to be free

 

Free of Chinese domination

The oppressive presence of Beijing

Free from fear of subjugation

Free to dance and rant and sing

 

The Chinese fist comes pounding down

Afraid of what they see

A fully independent nation

Enjoying its prosperity

 

We know that China won’t allow

Taiwan to break away

But China should be cautious

For there will be a price to pay

 

When nations become monsters

Using force to have their way

What profits them short term

In the long will lead astray

 

The Battle Within

 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

 

Covid Attack

 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

 

Swept Away

 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

 

Ghost Towns

 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

 

The Purge

 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

 

Congo Compromise

 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

 

The Worm Turns

 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

 

Nine Days of Hell

 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

 

Orban of Hungary

 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

 

Fire, Wind & Rain

 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

 

Secret Service Betrayal

 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

6^th Insurrection emails

 

Redemption

 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)

 

The Rights of Women

 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?