The River Liffey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  RIVER SERIES

The River Liffey

 

The River Liffey gives life to Dublin

Where Mister Joyce once plied his wares

Where all the men are strong and brave

Where the women are more than fair

 

It rises from the nearby mountains

Tracing the lowlands of Kildare

It cuts straight through the heart of Dublin

Bringing all it has to bear

 

It empties in the Irish Sea

Where the land and sea collide

Where the sailors rough and tumble

Take the ocean as their bride

 

Without the River Liffey

The town of Dublin would not be

And all the treasured Irish poets

Would be without their poetry

 

We the People

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

We the People

 

The question is not how did congress

become so dysfunctional?

The question is how did the people

become so cynical?

 

We the people elected these buffoons

We the people placed in power individuals

determined to grind the wheels of

government to a halt

We the people elevated an angry mob to

the hallowed halls of governance

 

At a time of historical need

With climate crises bearing down like the

last train to Harlem at midnight

With the scourge of war striking at the

heart of Europe

With the soul of democracy hanging

by the thinnest thread

 

The question now becomes:

will we the people wake up in time

to pull these misfits into something

resembling functional order or will

we allow them to drag us down the

rabbit hole to total self-destruction?

 

We the people created this monster

We the people must strike it dead

 

The Grail

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Grail

 

Down the road at Lawrence Livermore Lab

They fused atoms to produce energy

And the government gladly paid the tab

 

Nuclear science says it’s the holy grail

An inexpensive clean energy source

The greatest thing since the US Mail

Are we interested? Of course!

 

An end to fossil fuel dependence

An end to global climate change

A chance to save our own descendants

A future completely rearranged

 

But the corporations that sell us oil

Won’t sit still for this

Free energy makes their blood boil

It is on their Kill it! list

 

The people must rise up

To demand what we deserve

It is the fabled cup

For all humanity it will serve

 

The Cleansing

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

The Cleansing (Let it Rain)

 

Day after day the rain falls

As if to make up for lost time

As if all the world was parched

In desperate need of cleansing

Let it rain

 

If only we could cleanse the world

Of hatred, greed and vengeance

If only the rain would wipe away

Sorrow, pain and hopelessness

If only the great cleansing could

Sweep all weapons of war into

The deep of the deepest sea

If only the rain could cleanse

The soul of every man and woman

Until the world itself was made anew

 

But the world does not work that way

It follows the laws of nature

Who knows? Maybe the laws will

Bend for the great cleansing

Let it rain

 

Deep State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Deep State

 

We nearly lost our democracy

Not because we believed in conspiracies

Not because we believe in a deep state

Not because the deep state took control

of our institutions of government

but because corrupt and power hungry

individuals used the “deep state” to

persuade a large number of people to

turn against their own government

 

If there is a deep state (and I believe

there is) it is the enemy of democracy

It is allied with the forces that attacked

and attempted to overthrow our government

That defied our democratic institutions

The deep state worked overtime to

subvert our system of justice

The deep state is and represents the

wealthiest of the wealthy elite

The deep state created and promotes

the Federalist Society

The deep state virtually owns the

highest court in the land

The deep state fights against all limits

on campaign financing

The deep state supports disenfranchisement

The deep state opposes voting rights

The deep state supports gerrymandering

The deep state opposes all democratic reforms

 

The deep state is beyond political parties

The deep state wants control of the

political, judicial and legislative branches

The deep state is eager to impose a one-man rule

(the easier to control)

 

Never believe that the deep state is defeated

It can never be extinguished

In many ways the deep state is winning

Only democracy can oppose them

Only democracy can defeat them

The fight will never end

 

New Beginning

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

New Beginning

 

In the wonder we call life

There is no greater miracle

Within our sense or sight

Than the turning of the years

The come and going of the light

 

We say a long goodbye

Each December come to pass

With a cheer and then a sigh

For all things that cannot last

No matter how we wish

No matter how we cry

The years roll by too quickly

All things that live must die

 

But there will be another year

And another will roll by

As we hold our loved ones near

With a long and wishful sigh

 

New Year

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

New Year

 

On the other side of the world

The war continues unabated

Putin’s horrors are unfurled

As if it had been fated

 

We would change it if we could

We would bring it to an end

We would lock away the madman

And all his brutal friends

 

What more can we do but let

Our government know we care?

Send our aide and best wishes

Make it easier to bear

 

Make the oligarchs pay the cost

For Putin’s war of cruel attrition

Let him know his cause is lost

Cut off his ammunition

 

In our part of the world

The wars are only metaphors

The battle for democracy

A trail of horrid storms

 

We know life could be harder

We know it could be worse

Our storms are free of missiles

We still think of ourselves first

 

But we swear we’ll not forget

The many hardships you endure

This world is ever smaller

Of that we can be sure

 

As we say goodbye to twenty-two

And welcome twenty-three

We hope for better days ahead

Though what will be will be

 

(Happy New Year to all!)

The Martyr

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

The Martyr (Mohsen Shekari)

 

A child grows up wanting to be

A firefighter, a police officer, a doctor

A lawyer, a cowboy, a chief

 

No one grows up wanting to be a martyr

No one aspires to be stoned

by the morality police

No one wants to be remembered

for their sacrifice

 

But we do want to be heroes

We do want to be remembered for

standing strong on principle

We do want our names to be passed on

to future generations

We do want to be known for the

courage of our convictions

 

Let the name of Mohsen Shekari be

etched in the stone of martyrdom

alongside Mahsa Amini

 

Let their courage and conviction be

Known throughout Iran and across

the world to the end of time

 

He did not wish to be martyred

yet his martyrdom speaks of honor

and his honor lives on

 

The Crazy

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

The Crazy (Germany and Peru)

 

A mad movement in Berlin

An attempt to overthrow the Bundestag

To replace it with a second Reich

(one short of Adolph Hitler)

Extremists of the right unite

To take their place in history

As proof positive beyond belief

There is no place on earth

Above or beyond the crazy

 

The Q is the cue to rally the crew

Against the powers that be

But there is no power on earth

That can topple democracy

 

The president of Peru decides

To banish the Peruvian congress

The military commander resigns

Not so fast says congress

We are the people’s house

We stand for basic liberty

Peru will choose the people

This crazy will not be

 

The Q is the cue to rally the crew

Against the powers that be

But there is no power on earth

That can topple democracy

 

The Children

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Children

 

The child who grows up

In this world of modern madness

Must be of special countenance

Of stubborn strength and endurance

Of ingenious imagination

Of talents beyond our comprehension

Of skills as yet untapped

 

For their world will challenge them

As we were never challenged in ours

 

In their hands we leave the abolition of war

In their hands the health of the planet

In their hands the survival of the species

In their hands the balance of global power

In their hands the scourge of poverty

In their hands the strength of democracy

 

Previous generations have tackled

Problems of critical importance

But none rise to the magnitude of those

Confronting this generation

 

Previous generations have embraced the

Challenge of going to the moon

Crossing oceans to uncover new continents

Finding peace in a world at war

Toppling dictators and hereditary monarchs

Conquering disease and advancing medicine

Building monuments of engineering

Mastering miraculous technologies

 

None of these challenges

However great and earth changing

Compares to what the future holds

For the children of today

 

A Christmas Dream

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

A Christmas Dream

 

In the hours of the deepest night

I awaken to a dream

I see a world of quiet comfort

Not a soul in desperate need

No homeless poor or hungry

A land of honey milk and mead

The people smile and welcome me

With wishes warm and sweet

Joyful music fills the air

The people on the streets

Are taken into firesides

With warm and tasty treats

No one yells and no one screams

There is no anger here

There is only gentle kindness

Filled with laughter and good cheer

 

There are people of all shapes

From round to pencil thin

There are people of all sizes

Like there have always been

There are people of every color

And every style of dress

They have a look of happiness

As if they’ve all been blessed

 

Not one of us feels lesser than

In this place we all are free

We feel a sense of wonder

We move with grace and ease

All our sorrows cast asunder

There is no sickness or disease

Contentment courses through the air

I marvel at this world of peace

Dream it if you dare

Dream it if you please

 

Peace on Earth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR & PEACE

Peace on Earth

 

In this moment of solemnity

As quiet comforts my soul

It seems a long hard road ahead when

Peace on earth sticks in my throat

When hope sometimes grows old

We shiver in our winter coats

We fight against the cold

 

Though our wish for peace is great

Our prayers are greater still

Those in the zone of war must wonder

How much our prayers are worth

Their friends and loved ones killed

They also prayed for peace on earth

As winter brought a chill

As Christmas brought a dearth

 

But pray for peace we must

In the winter of our darkest fears

For all the world seems hollow

Our yuletide glow seems dreary

And we would yield our winter cheer

Our songs and loving wishes

For a just and lasting peace this year

For peace on earth next year

 

The Long Hard Winter

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Long Hard Winter

 

It’s a long hard winter in Ethiopia where

famine spreads like a deadly disease

Where the war for control of a dying land

seems it will never end

Where a life is valued at less than a single

digit in the local currency

Where the oil cartels and the mineral cartels

and the precious metals cartels employ

natives at semi-slave wages while feeding

the militias with weapons of war

 

It’s a long hard winter in Alabama and Louisiana

where storms and hurricanes line up to batter

the poor like ghosts of hurricanes past

 

It’s a long hard winter on the east coast

of America from Maine down to Virginia

where the freeze knocks out power and

the chill enters the marrow of bones

 

It’s a long hard winter in the Midwest

from Minnesota to Tennessee where the

frost nips at your toes and numbs your

fingertips

 

It’s a long hard winter most everywhere

On every continent and every sea

But it’s harder and longer in Ukraine

where it’s raining missiles from Moscow

most everywhere you see