Salutation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Salutation (July 4^th)

 

If you love this nation

Understand what she was founded on

The times that try men’s souls

The courage of the working class

The right to self-governance

The right to free expression

The right to worship as you will

Freedom from persecution

Equal justice under the law

Freedom from unjust authority

The right to vote and be counted

The right to engage in peaceful protest

The right to individuality

 

The nation was founded on ideals

Principles of the enlightened

The age of dignity and reason

The nation was born to overcome

The prejudice of individual men

The indignity to women and minorities

America was not meant to embrace them

 

If you love this nation

Salute her greatness, not her flaws

Salute her promise, not her failings

If you love this nation

Help her to achieve the dream

 

France on Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

France on Fire

 

The killing of Nahel

The ghost of Algiers

A legacy of injustice and inequality

beneath the surface of content

The smoldering ashes of history

The spark of a young man’s death

Five days of unrest (and counting)

Five nights of burning rage

 

This is far more than one tragic death

This the promise of a nation broken

This is poverty and opportunity denied

This is minorities betrayed

 

He was only seventeen

Killed in the Paris suburb of Nantere

A traffic stop gone horribly wrong

The kid was too afraid to stop

Young, dark-skinned and poor

A resume for a tragic end

It was not the first time

It will not be the last

 

The Death of Civil Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: JUSTICE

The Death of Civil Rights

 

From the march across the Pettus bridge

To the martyrdom of the King

From the passage of Voting Rights

To the cry: Let Freedom Ring!

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The fading of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

The line of progress broken

The dream is in retreat

The betrayal goes unspoken

The circle incomplete

 

America must hang her head

Embarrassment and shame

The end of our great promise

Delivered in our name

 

It is time to mourn her passing

The dying of the light

No longer everlasting

The death of civil rights

 

(Supreme Court ends Affirmative Action)

Mobilizing Rage

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Mobilizing Rage

 

They’re mounting behind a sea of rage

Across the European continent

The blame seekers are out in force

In Slovakia, Germany and Austria

In Hungary, Turkey and more:

 

If you’ve had enough of this suffering

Join the rabble of rabid rage

Strip away our rights and liberties

Let us boldly march as slaves

Rule over us with an iron fist

Let us live like rats in a cage

Democracy has played its hand

Bring on the fascist age!

 

We know who is behind it all

The man behind the curtain

He answers not to any call

Of that you can be certain

Serbia Leads

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Serbia Leads

 

Faced with mass casualty gun violence

Serbia chose to take action

No false tears and deliberations

They won’t stop short of satisfaction

 

A two-year ban on gun sales

Universal background checks

Mandatory prison sentences

Immediately take effect

 

Serbia has done what we could not do

To save their people from gun violence

When the citizens rose to demand change

They broke the code of silence

 

Bless the Serbian government

For doing what republics should do

While others only pay lip service

The Serbians listened to truth

 

The Unraveling

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

The Unraveling

 

A mercenary force strikes

at the heart of the Kremlin

Capturing the center of operations

for the war in Ukraine

Cracking the myth of Putin’s invincibility

The march to Moscow aborted

The damage is irreversible

The mercenary warlord is empowered

Putin’s reputation is torn and tattered

The unraveling begins

If one man can defy the dictator

why not another?

Why not an uprising?

Why not a rebellion?

If one man can condemn the military

how long will the generals remain loyal?

For the first time in decades

the question must be asked:

Who holds the reins of power?

Where is Putin now?

That he has miscalculated is clear

He miscalculated in invading Ukraine

He overestimated his authority

His control over the mercenary forces

If the warlord lives beyond tomorrow

Vladimir Putin will fall

Fall from grace

Fall from favor

Fall from the seat of power

 

Vlad the Mad

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Vlad the Mad

 

The best laid plans of mice and men

Could not predict where we have been

He risked it all to take Ukraine

All those soldiers’ lives in vain

Now all his plans will fall and crumble

Each step he seems to trip and stumble

 

We know he’s angry but is he mad?

We can’t dismiss the wrath of Vlad

 

The curtains rise revealing all

Foreshadowing the Kremlin’s fall

Vlad reached for more than he was able

So his hold on power seems unstable

The well-worn myth of his strength falling

A darker destiny now is calling

 

We know he’s angry but is he mad?

We can’t dismiss the wrath of Vlad

 

Dictators United

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Dictators United (The Great Divide)

 

Chi is a dictator *

Putin is a dictator

A dictator is one who has complete power

over the policies and conduct of a nation

That a nation holds mock elections

does not make it a true republic

Trump of the US was a dictator wannabe

He led a failed coup d’état

Bolsonaro of Brazil was a wannabe

He too failed at a coup d’état

Erdogan of Turkey is a wannabe

He attacks the institutions of democracy

Places opposition leaders behind bars

Punishes journalists and dissidents

Modi of India flirts with dictatorship

He leads a violent repression of minorities

He is accused of encouraging genocide

India today remains a democracy

but it teeters on the edge of the abyss

What happens when Modi’s party loses?

Will he yield to the people’s will?

Or will he follow Trump and Bolsonaro?

On this the future of Indian democracy depends

And the world lies in the balance

 

We are fast approaching a division of world

powers into democracies and autocracies

If India joins Chi and Putin in embracing

the strong hand of oppression

a future of perpetual violence and

upheaval lies waiting

 

As members of the free world

we are caught in a vice of horrid choices

We need India to stand with us

We need Turkey to a lesser degree

If they fail the cost will be profound

 

* Biden refers to Chi as a dictator while

welcoming Modi to the White House

 

The Ballad of Christopher Wray

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Ballad of Christopher Wray

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

How many crimes did you ignore today?

 

You were in the highest position of power

As we marched toward the critical hour

We assumed a position of supplication

When insurrection threatened the nation

While you stood down in a state of denial

Democracy faced its greatest trial

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Who paid you to get out of the way?

 

When the nation needed a strong hand

You flatly refused to take a stand

With the strength and courage you clearly lack

We finally took our country back

Oh the stories you might tell

Instead you’ll take them straight to hell

 

Hey hey Christopher Wray

Why do you still hold office today?

 

The Corrupt Court

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

The Corrupt Court

 

After decades of neglect

When the press turned their backs

As they did for American heroes

In a former time and frame of mind

The media shines its glaring light

On the infamous corporate court

The highest in the land

The institution beyond reproach

To reveal its corporate brand

 

Accepting bribes from billionaires

Elaborate gifts and housing deals

Has become a standard practice

For the members of this court

 

That there are two systems of justice

Is now an indisputable fact

One for the rich and privileged

Another for the poor, the black

The native, brown and homeless

On the other side of the tracks

Nine Eleven Generation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Nine Eleven Generation

 

The Vietnam generation grew up knowing

America was not always right

We attacked other nations without

Provocation just to prove we were the

Biggest baddest nation on the block

LBJ fed us to the meat grinder of war

And asked us to salute the flag in humble

Servitude to the mythology of USA!

Chanting: USA! USA! USA!

Nixon raised the stakes and fed a hundred

Thousand more knowing we were losing

Knowing we would lose the war

USA! USA! USA!

Some did as they were told

Some rebelled

 

The nine eleven generation grew up

Witnessing our nation under attack

They learned not to ask why

The sorrow of that day became a rage

That would last beyond a lifetime

One nation under God!

My nation right or wrong!

America love it or leave it!

They learned to follow without doubt

War for the sake of war

USA! USA! USA!

The nine eleven generation became

The Trump soldiers marching in lockstep

To destroy the very nation

They are pledged to defend

 

Many Voices

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

Many Voices

 

Democracy can only advance

When we recognize that there are more

Than two voices among the people

There must be more than two choices

To represent them

 

When every important issue in the world

Has the complexity of advanced trigonometry

Why are we compelled to choose between

Polar opposites?

 

Why is everything black and white

Yes or no, down or up, death or life?

 

We need a government that reflects

The diversity of the people

Multiple choices, multiple points of view

 

In this world of ever-increasing complexity

Nothing else will do

 

Another Day

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Another Day

 

Birds are singing in Beirut

In tribute to another day

Cicada in New Orleans

Bid welcome to the evening

Wolves howl in Wyoming

A prayer of yearning to the moon

Everywhere the morning sings

The evening sings refrain

Life in all its wonders awakens

Through the night and day

Even on the battlefield (Ukraine)

Even on the killing field (Sudan)

Even in a land of terror (Ethiopia)

Even in a lawless state (Columbia)

Nature rises to a bright new day

Singing harmonies of hope and faith

That this day will bring peace

That this day will awaken the spirit

Of brotherhood and generosity

That this day will end the war

That this day will silence the rage

That this day will give us the wisdom

To know that we are one

One people, one family, one planet

One miracle each day