Colossal Errors

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Colossal Errors

 

It was a mistake to allow the electoral

college to survive beyond the year 2000

 

It was a mistake to waste decades pretending

manmade climate change was not real

 

It was a mistake not to prosecute LBJ

for the Gulf of Tonkin mythology

 

It was a mistake for Gerald Ford to pardon

Richard Nixon quid pro quo for his

crimes against democracy

 

It was a mistake to sacrifice American workers

to the gods of cheap labor in China, India and

other third world nations

 

It was a mistake to imprison millions of

poor Americans in the name of

the war on drugs

 

It was a mistake to attack Afghanistan and

Iraq for the crimes of a Saudi terrorist sect

 

It was a mistake not to outlaw designer

districting and disenfranchisement

long, long ago

 

It was a mistake to rip the heart out

of Voting Rights and Civil Rights

 

Our proud nation has neglected so many

essential institutions of democracy for

so very long it would take a miracle to

save it now without unspeakable hardship

The Angry Earth

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

The Angry Earth

 

The earth is not angry

The earth does not yearn for vengeance

The earth does not bathe in sorrow

The earth does not rejoice

The earth is indifferent to the plight of man

The earth observes with abandon

 

As the hurricanes grow and strike terror

As a monster quake buries Morocco

As behemoth storms roll across the land

As tsunamis spring from ocean depths

As floods turn deserts into mud

As glaciers fall into swollen seas

As people are ravaged by disease

The earth does not raise its brow

The earth does not cry out in pain

 

The earth is not angry

The earth is indifferent to our fate

If humanity wishes to find blame

She should look to her own reflection

 

Ineligible

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

Ineligible

 

It is insufficient that he openly

sympathized with white supremacists

 

It is insufficient that he neglected a

global pandemic

 

It is insufficient that he stood with

the international enemies of democracy

 

It is insufficient that he pressured a

foreign leader to serve his political cause

 

It is insufficient that he served a foreign

adversary in degrading our allies

 

It is insufficient that his only legislative

accomplishment was a tax break for the

corporate elite

 

It is insufficient that he profited

from holding high office

 

But when he called for, organized and

incited insurrection he became ineligible

for the presidency

 

The Bush Men

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY

The Bush Men

 

Some never know when to move on

They hang on past their expiration date

It happens to old baseball players

It happens to actors and politicians

It happens to people who can’t let go

They become the subjects of pity

They become jokes at cocktail parties

They misinterpret the laughter as joy

Sometimes we can share the laughs

Other times it’s just too pathetic

It summons memories of tragedy

It recalls hypocrisy and lies

It brings an ache to our hearts

For example: The Bush Men

The neoconservative war mongers

The ones who dragged us into war

On the pretense of global terrorism

The lies still bite

The wounds still bleed

Their crimes against humanity

Still beg for retribution

Lower the curtain, turn out the lights

And bid them walk away

They have no place on the world stage

Walk away and say goodnight

 

Putin Makes the Rounds

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

Putin Makes the Rounds

 

Putin makes the rounds

Erdogan and Kim Jong Un

Walking on shaky grounds

Striking a discordant tune

 

Putin wants it all

The weapons and the grain

On the border of China

In the war on Ukraine

 

Watch out for what you wish for

It just might come true

Knocking at your door

Your debt is coming due

 

Putin is a pariah

Everywhere he goes

Acting like the messiah

His horns begin to show

 

They don’t like you in the east

They like you less in Istanbul

They despise like a beast

Or they regard you as a fool

 

Blood Moon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Blood Moon

 

Blood moon springs from a fire sky

Blood water flows in the canyon

Coyotes run and eagles fly

All hope here abandon

 

What more can we do or say?

How might we atone?

Would you have us bow and pray?

Will you leave us now alone?

 

Blood moon in a sky of gray

Streaking through the valley

Haze chasing back the day

Hiding in the alleys

 

What more can we say or do?

On whom can we depend?

Change our course from false to true

The beginning of the end

 

Blowback Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Blowback Ukraine

You thought you could attack Ukraine

With absolute impunity

Missiles in the capital

Bombing in the community

Now the bombs come back at you

Now you pay the price

For the madman in the Kremlin

Who will never stop to think twice

About the killing of civilians

Or the bombing of the schools

But turn the bombs around and

They begin to look the fools

Now they’re taking bombs in Russia

And their people wonder why

Putin told them they were safe

Now bombs are falling form the sky

Tell your leaders to desist

This war has gone too far

If you have to fire missiles

Why not shoot them at the stars?

 

Enemies of the Earth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Enemies of the Earth

 

Once there was a highest court

That cared about the air and water

The planet was our mother

The water was her daughter

But now the court is dark and grim

Guided by the holy dollar

The prospects of the planet dim

They care little for the land

As we stand before them pleading

The justices demand:

How much are you worth?

Bow down before your betters

The enemies of the earth

 

We bring a plague of shadows

We breathe a curse of hell

Our evil hearts begin to show

Sound warnings, ring the bells!

Who cares if skies grow darker?

What counts a million lives?

We’ve passed another marker

As corporate profits rise

To a generation of mutations

We will inevitably give birth

The future will remember us

The enemies of the earth

 

Necessary Changes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Necessary Changes

 

Change does not come from magic

Change does not come from wishes

Change that is not worked for and earned

Comes from a constant wasting away

Foundations crumble from neglect

Machines rust and seize up

Institutions do the same

 

Necessary change must be planned

Necessary change must be plotted

Evolutionary change from revolutionary thought

The rest is only disintegration

 

Do nothing and watch it rot

Organize and watch it grow

We cannot be something we are not

Evolutionary changes are slow

 

Redemption

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

Redemption

 

They say he is redeemed

He was a man of sin

But he has bowed before the lord

He is not who he has been

He has yielded to temptation

But now he stays the course

But you cannot have redemption

Without remorse

 

He acknowledges his sins

But that was in the past

Would he do it all again?

How long would it last?

He pleads for his redemption

Now that justice is on course

But you cannot have redemption

Without remorse

 

He is obsessed with vengeance

His mind is filled with grief

He is willing to show sorrow

But it defies belief

The threat of years in prison

Is a powerfully moving force

And you cannot have redemption

Without remorse

 

International Democracy Alliance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

International Democracy Alliance (IDA)

 

The coup is a scourge on the world

A disease that destroys international order

A virus that kills indiscriminately

An invitation to the war machines

 

A peaceful transference of power

Is the antidote to perpetual struggle

An alternative to violent overthrow

An end to the endless chain of civil war

 

Form an alliance of civilized nations

Dedicated to representative government

An attack on the institutions of democracy

An attempt to impose autocracy

Or any other form of authoritarian rule

In any one member nation would require

  all to respond in kind

 

When democracy is the rule of order

We can begin to end the weapons trade

We can begin to end mercenary armies

We can begin to end the legitimization of

  securing power by violent means

We can begin to end corruption by

  uprooting its causes

 

Democracy is under international assault

All principled nations must band together

  in defense of democracy

Only when democracy is established on

  all continents can we work together

  toward a lasting peace

 

The Rhine (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Rhine (River Series)

 

Among the most glorious rivers of Europe

The Rhine courses through six nations

From its birth in the Netherlands

It traces borders dividing Switzerland and

Lichtenstein, between Austria and Germany

It defines much of the French-German border

The magnificent Rhine graces the grand cities of

Cologne, Duesseldorf, Rotterdam and Strasbourg

Combined with the Danube it fed and fueled

The Holy Roman Empire

To know the Rhine is to know much of the

History of Europe

A history of triumph, conquest and tragedy

For civilization follows the path of the great rivers

Wars are drawn to their boundaries

Fates are determined by their bounty

The Rhine is the glory of Europe

And yet may mark its decline

A Killer Kills

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

 

A Killer Kills

 

The Wagner boss is dead now

And no one is surprised

When you cross the man in power

You know you have to die

 

A liar lies

A tiller tills

A wise man why’s

A killer kills

 

How many have to die?

In one man’s quest for power?

For none will ask him why

This is the killing hour

 

A painter paints

A miller mills

A fainter faints

A killer kills

 

He shot Prigozhin out of the sky

Like a duck on a frozen pond

Putin wears an expression wry

As he waves his killing wand

 

A sinner sins

Attorneys make wills

A winner wins

A killer kills

 

Babble

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Babble

 

They do not speak my language

They listen with their ears

But my words never quite form

They tell me I’ve lost my voice

They say they know how to find it

But they do not know me

They do not know where I come from

They do not know my language

I try to learn their words and syntax

But they carry a foreign sound

They will always sound strange

A sound less than genuine

For they do not speak my language

And I do not speak theirs

We speak across one another

We listen and nod and take it in

But we know it does not belong

Our hearts and souls reject it

Like the babble of ancient lore

We are of different tribes

We come from different ways

Our words rattle in other voices

Our ways cannot find home

Someday we will find a bridge

Someday we will find connections

That remind us we are one

Until then we can only nod

And pretend we understand