The Foundations of Peace in Ukraine

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Foundations of Peace in Ukraine

 

The time must come for diplomacy

The people have suffered enough

Aggression cannot be rewarded yet

The war cannot continue forever

 

The foundations of a lasting peace

Involve concessions by both sides

Guarantees for both nations

Security, sovereignty and dignity

 

A just peace must begin with the acknowledgement

That Russia was and is the aggressor

That Russia violated international law

That Russia engaged in war crimes

That Russia is guilty of the crime of

Aggressive war

 

A just peace must begin with an understanding

That Ukraine posed no threat to Russia

That Ukraine is the victim nation

That every nation has a right to sovereignty

That every nation has a right to independence

That no nation should interfere in the

Sovereign affairs of others

 

Given these essential foundations

A negotiated peace must include

The guaranteed independence of Ukraine

The withdrawal of Russian forces

An end to the occupation of disputed territories

(Crimea and Eastern Ukraine)

Provisions for monitored referendums in

The disputed territories

Security guarantees for Russia against

Acts of aggression by NATO nations

A temporary moratorium on Ukrainian

Membership in NATO

Reparations from Russia to Ukraine

For the destruction and suffering caused

By its aggressive war

Forgiveness of war crimes

Amnesty for war criminals

 

All nations must eventually learn that

An act or aggressive war is a crime against

The community of nations

 

The age of war must end

 

Florida on Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Florida on Fire

 

One hundred degrees at Manatee Bay

An ocean warmer than the air

Don’t leave you pleasant home today

Don’t swim unless you dare

 

The coral reefs are all but gone

Red Tide is everywhere

Still the guvnor works the con

If it doesn’t bleed, he doesn’t care

 

The ocean rise is coming down

Miami’s on the run

The sea will turn a stunning brown

Before the change is done

 

You may believe or not believe

The climate doesn’t care

Soon there will be no relief

It’s all too much to bear

 

Wo Israel!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Wo Israel

 

One giant leap for autocracy

On small step for a man

An historic defeat for democracy

In an ancient, faraway land

 

Wo Israel! You have lost your way

Wo Israel! You will rue the day

Wo Israel! There’s a price to pay

Wo Israel! Let us bow and pray

 

You knew when you chose this man

To lead you in the cause of war

When it came to a balance of power

Netanyahu would slam the door

 

Wo Israel! You have lost your way

Wo Israel! You will rue the day

Wo Israel! There’s a price to pay

Wo Israel! Let us bow and pray

 

Listen to the people, hear their cry

Turn back before it’s too late

Do not betray the sacred trust

The promise of the Jewish state

 

Wo Israel! You have lost your way

Wo Israel! You will rue the day

Wo Israel! There’s a price to pay

Wo Israel! Let us bow and pray

 

Enemies of Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Enemies of Democracy

 

Putin is a master propagandist

A pretender to democracy

His elections are a farce

He assaults the free press

He destroys political opposition

He attacks his democratic neighbors

For daring to choose their own leaders

 

Xi is a master of propaganda

Another pretender to democracy

Isn’t it strange how ruthless dictators

Find it necessary to pretend?

There is no genuine journalism

No institutions of free speech

No challenge to government dictates

No resistance to oppression

 

Erdogan is a wolf in sheep’s clothing

He exploits the religious right

He jails journalists and opposition

He punishes freedom of thought

He rules with the fist of fear

He maintains military control

 

Bolsonaro is a wannabe

He tried to negate a lawful election

He tried to silence the opposition

He tried to punish dissent

He failed

 

Netanyahu is a wannabe

He despises independent speech

He tried to gut the judiciary

He would destroy the free press

If he had half a chance

He would establish military rule

 

Trump is a threat to democracy

He admires only strongmen

He disrespects the rule of law

He wishes to use the justice department

To punish and silence his enemies

Given a chance he would end

Democracy in America and

Appoint an American King

The Fate of Europe

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Fate of Europe

 

London Berlin Paris Madrid

The warming takes its measure

Antwerp Prague and Amsterdam

Run short on summer leisure

 

The changing face of Europe

It’s sure to take its toll

From Portugal to Italy

They fear it steals your soul

 

Migration rolls from east to west

Each nation plays its part

Welcoming the labor force

With open arms and hearts

 

Beware the great white backlash

The ugly face of hate

Will Europe take the dark road

Or embrace a higher fate?

 

Little Big Man Wins the Open!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Little Big Man (Brian Harman)

 

Little Big Man steps to the fore

Knocks it straight down the middle

A heart as big as the grandest lore

It doesn’t matter if you’re big or little

 

It’s all in how you play the game

Strike it hard and strike it true

Play as if you have no shame

Let the old become the new

 

Can he make it through the day

Through all the trials and tribulations

He has the grit to make it pay

Another round in fine tradition

 

In the end only one will stand

Have a drink and shed a tear

As fate would crown the little man

Champion golfer of the year!

 

Somethings Gotta Give

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Somethings Gotta Give

 

Reservoirs filled to the tipping point

Snowpack primed to melt away

Too many men on a lifeboat

Too many who want to stay

We’re waiting for the next disaster

We’re trying our best to live

We all know what comes after

Something has got to give

 

And nobody knows when it will be

When the walls come crashing down

Like a ship of fools lost at sea

We vanish without a sound

 

The actress made her final film

She pushed her friends away

They saw just what was happening

And no one wanted to play

They were waiting for her final take

They prayed she would want to live

She ended it for goodness sake

She had nothing left to give

 

And nobody knows when it will be

When it all comes tumbling down

Like a ship of fools lost at sea

We’ll vanish without a sound

 

Angry Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GUN CONTROL

Angry Men

 

We breed angry men in this country

Like they breed cheese in France

Like they breed horses in Kentucky

Like golfers on the Texas plains

Like ballplayers in Puerto Rico

 

We cultivate them from the cradle

We nourish them on entitlement

We embitter them with injustice

We embolden them with glory

We trigger them with rage

 

When they ready to explode

We offer no compassion

We offer no understanding

We offer no means of cooling down

We offer no pause for reflection

 

We give them guns and ammunition

We give them weapons of mass destruction

We give them military killing machines

We give them media of hate and rage

We point them the way to glory

And feign outrage when they kill

Crazy Horse

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Crazy Horse (Heroes)

 

Never a chief

But a leader of men

A warrior not by nature

But the fiercest of all warriors

He went to the sacred mountains

To cry for a vision

The spirits blessed him with sight

He would never be killed

By a white man’s bullets

But a friend would betray him

He could take no honors

He would not be proud

He would take no more than he needed

He would live and bleed for his people

He betrayed his vision only twice

Laying with another man’s wife

Taking the honor of a shirt bearer

Both times nearly cost him his life

He proved his courage at the Greasy Grass

What the whites call Little Big Horn

He fought with the strength of seven warriors

His vision proved true at last

He knew this world was but a dream

He believed the dream world real

He went to the other side without regret

His image the whites would not steal

His spirit live on in the sacred Black Hills

Where his truth is forever revealed:

 

“My land is where my people lay buried.”

 

Crazy Horse

The Swedish Equation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Swedish Equation

 

Neutrality endured for two hundred years

It somehow seemed appropriate

The world needed a neutral setting

For negotiations and diplomacy

Sweden saw no need for militarization

For as long as the doctrine held

 

Putin pushed the boundary

Crossed the line with aggressive war

Posed a threat in blood and terror

So neutrality is no more

 

After Finland, so goes Sweden

Putin altered all equations

The Russian empire is on hold

NATO adds two more nations

Backward March

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Backward March

 

The backward march to darker times

When white men held all power

Like digging a hole to make a climb

Or knocking down the tallest towers

 

The way of darkness claims the light

But the message is not divine

The evil doers proclaim the right

But their water does not change to wine

 

They lead us boldly to a certain past

When the order of things was clear

But the old days were not meant to last

Though some may hold them dear

 

We will endure these brutal days

When human rights were in retreat

Somehow someday we’ll find a way

To march to a forward beat

Floods

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Floods

 

Disastrous floods from Vermont to Spain

I remember a time when we prayed for rain

Now we pray that the rain will cease

A planet in the throes of a strange disease

 

California suffered catastrophic drought

A summer of wildfires erased all doubt

Now the temperature rises after heavy rain

How this world ends is becoming plain

 

Shame on all those who denied the change

By now we all know you were deranged

You loved your profits far too much

On global warming you were out of touch

 

So where can we go to escape the wrath?

Too late to alter our unfortunate path

Too late for humanity to grow and thrive

Though the earth will endure and survive

 

Terrorist Nations

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Terrorist Nations

 

They cannot defeat the Ukrainian military

So they terrorize the civilian population

With indiscriminate bombing

Missiles rip into apartment buildings

Cluster bombs in residential areas

Kidnapping Ukrainian kids for reprogramming

Morbid experiments in reconditioning

They don’t care who dies or suffers

Their mission is to terrorize

When you’re in a war of attrition

Your goal is utter submission

 

There is no standard for their abuse

No laws that limit their actions

No terrorist weapons they will not use

No fear of the world’s reactions

 

We must find a way to end this reign

That threatens all of civilization

To halt a leader who’s gone insane

The clear solution is isolation

For freedom and justice in Ukraine

For all rogue and terrorist nations