The Russian Candidate(s)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Russian Candidate

 

The war in Ukraine comes to America

In the next campaign

Trump and his loyal allies

Are the Putin candidates

The Russian candidates

The turncoat candidates

They will surrender Ukraine and

Call it peace

They will give Putin a free pass

To invade his neighbors

To reclaim the Soviet empire

To expand its oppressive reach

To rebuild the Iron Curtain

Sweden, Poland, the Czech Republic

Slovakia, Romania, Hungary beware

 

They will call it justice

They will call it retribution

They will call it restoring balance

It will be none of these

The eventual truth will unfold

Like a scroll from the heavens

Donald Trump is a Russian asset

Putin holds his markers

Those who walk with him

Walk hand in hand to hell

Institutionalized Hate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Institutionalized Hate

 

Bebe’s childhood must have been tough

To become so angry and so bent

Failing to see that enough is enough

To believe vengeance is heaven sent

 

When your answer to violence is violent

When you institutionalize hate

When the voice of reason goes silent silent

Perpetual war is your fate

 

When their children die mothers shed tears

The reasons no longer matter

Israel or Gaza their loved ones are dear

Their hopes and dreams are shattered

 

When your answer to violence is violence

When you institutionalize hate

When the voices of peace fall silent silent

Forever at war is your fate

 

American Killers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GUN CONTROL

American Killers

 

Who buys an AR-15 and

Fifty rounds of ammunition?

American Killers

 

Who drives 300 miles

To kill brown people in Texas?

American Killers

 

Who sprays a nightclub with bullets

Because they can’t get a date?

American Killers

 

Who amasses an arsenal of weapons

To attack a synagogue or church?

American Killers

 

Who wakes up in the morning

And says: Today is a good day to kill?

American Killers

 

Who protects the right of the mentally

Deranged to possess weapons

Of mass destruction?

American Killers

 

Only in America does this happen

Because the same court that decided

There is no right to vote

That corporations have the rights of citizens

That elections can be sold to

The highest bidder

Decided that individuals have the right

To bear arms without regard

To well-regulated militias

 

Who enables mass murder?

Politicians and the Supreme Court

American Killers

 

The Revolutionary War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Revolutionary War

 

The American Revolution 1776

A war for independence

The colonists took their licks

But they fought back like lions

A righteous cause was theirs

When France became our allies

‘Twas too much for England to bear

 

They were mostly farmers and tradesmen

Who had no real taste for war

But they fought because they believed

In liberty to the very core

When the English brought their best

And the rebels asked for more

They brought the Hessian mercenaries

All ties of blood were torn

 

Franklin, Paine and Jefferson

Stood with the rabble crowd

The monarchy was overthrown

Democracy stood proud

 

What is lost in this proud story

Are the natives and the blacks

The blacks remained in slavery

The natives were pushed back

 

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?