The Founders

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Founders (of the Republic)

 

The founders stood up

When their lives were at stake

These Republicans today

Would proclaim it a fake

They signed the declaration

Knowing well what it meant

A democratic nation

An immortal document

 

I stand with Jefferson

I stand with Tom Paine

Their fight for democracy

Would not be in vain

 

The people stood with them

Against an army in red

The greatest force in the world

Must have filled them with dread

But they fought long and hard

They gave it their all

To ensure that the republic

Would not stumble and fall

 

I stand with Ben Franklin

I stand with Tom Paine

Their fight for the republic

Would not be in vain

 

Now democracy is threatened

The republic could fall

When the alarm is sounded

Who will answer the call?

We don’t need your guns

But we do need your votes

We need the people to know

We’re in the same boat

 

I stand with George Washington

I stand with Tom Paine

Our fight for democracy

Must not be in vain

Heartless (Ode to Putin)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Heartless

 

The man who does not blink an eye

Inflicting pain upon another

The woman who breaks others’ hearts

She has never found her own

The lonely child without a conscience

Who will never understand

The one who takes pleasure in others’ misfortune

The doctor who experiments upon the helpless

The trigger man for the mob

The singer who strikes every note

But never sheds a tear

The assassin who hits his mark from

A thousand paces

The general who orders his soldiers into

A hopeless battle

The commander who goes to war

To satisfy his ego

 

There are doubtless those who have no heart

The eternal question is:

Were they born heartless or

Did they lose it somewhere along the way?

We must hope it is the latter

For then they might find it again

But you cannot find what has never been

Dust Bowl Emigre

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Dust Bowl Émigré

 

This rich and fertile valley

Was made on the backs of émigré

Not from somewhere below the border

Nor from Ireland or Eastern Europe

Not from Canada or Germany

Nor Australia or the Far East

The ones who answered the call

To work the orchards and fields

To till the soil and work the land

To pick the peaches, oranges and nuts

To bring the crops to market

Were the poor white folks of Oklahoma

The tenant farmer of the Dust Bowl

As hard a worker who ever lived

They came by hard luck highways

Their belongings packed on old cars

That broke down along the way

 

When they overcame all hardships

And finally arrived in the Golden State

They were called disgraceful names

Okies and Arkies and dirt farmers

Who came to take our good jobs

To steal our women and commit mayhem

To ruin the state the gold diggers built

But they didn’t take our good jobs

They took what others wouldn’t do

They didn’t steal our women

They didn’t crimes or mayhem

Any more than anyone else did

They were good hard-working people

Poor as dirt but grim determined

They had no place else to go

They became the good citizens

Of the great central valley

Along with others of darker skin

Also good hard-working people

Together they built the foundations

Of the great state of Golden Gate

 

Ironic ain’t it? that the very same people

Who were derided and abused yesterday

Deride and abuse others today

The Russian Party of America

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Russian Party (RPA)

 

The Russian Party of America

Is on the front line in the war

Putin is the high commander

Trump is holding the door

 

The Speaker of the House

Is hardly worth his weight

He’s lost all of his authority

To control his party’s fate

 

The party of Ronald Reagan

Would not recognize itself

Instead of trust but verify

They’ll send us straight to hell

 

Soon the leader of our nation

Could owe allegiance to another

Like the child of another mother

We would be Putin’s little brother

 

In a world that’s lost its balance

When on balance we depend

We risk losing our democracy

From which we’ll never make amends

 

Serving Putin

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Serving Putin

 

We are not fooled

You are not the party of peace

You have always found money

To finance your wars of choice

You’ve even cooked the books

To hide your military spending

You have not suddenly found a conscience

You have not suddenly seen the light

You have not tired of endless wars

You’ve not grown weary of the fight

 

Your party has a new master now

He has transformed you into fools

You bow before his majesty

You cater to his rules

If he says jump you say how high?

You’ve become his lowly tools

 

But your master has a master too

His name is Vladimir

When he cries you all shed a tear

He tells you when and what to do

 

He’s losing on the battlefield

He is losing his great war

His last best chance at triumph is

To convince us it’s not worth fighting for

 

He has his American allies

Just like the Nazis did

When Trump tells us we can’t win

He’s bidding Putin’s bid

 

Mendacity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Mendacity of Menendez

 

There is no place in a democracy

For those who put their own enrichment

Ahead of the public good

There is no process of adjudication

That can explain away the facts

That will exonerate your character

You received a small fortune in cash

Gold, mortgages and no one knows

To represent the interests of Egypt

To represent an anti-democratic autocrat

 

A party that opposes insurrection

A party that decries mendacity

A party that condemns corruption

Cannot endure for a solemn moment

The self-serving greed you have displayed

A party that claims the moral high ground

Can have no tolerance for moral depravity

 

You have had your time in power

You have bathed in the light of fame

You may fight for vindication in court

But leave public service behind

If you do not resign, the party should expel you

If you do not resign, the good citizens of

New Jersey should recall you

For the good of the nation: Step down!

 

Stealing Children

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Stealing Children

 

The mother of all crimes

Against humanity and decency

The brazen theft of children

Stolen from their mothers’ arms

By the hundreds of thousands

To serve an enemy nation

To be reprogrammed as warriors

To be wiped of their culture

To be cleansed of their memories

To be stripped of their affections

To form an army of orphans

To fight against their homeland

 

Some crimes cannot be forgiven

Patricide, matricide, genocide

And this: Stealing children to fight

Against their own

 

Ode to Israel

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

A Resistance of Principle (Ode to Israel)

 

You are wrong

You in the Knesset are wrong

You in the tower of high office

You are the enemies of democracy

You are the enemies of peace

You are losing the support of the soldiers

You have lost the support of the young

You will lose the support of the people

You have exceeded your authority

You have defied the rule of law

You are losing the respect of the world

Stop what you are doing

Reverse course

Cease and desist

The people join hands and rise against you

It is not too late to back down

Have the courage to admit you are wrong

When you face overwhelming opposition

Day after day night after night

You must turn around and look at yourself

You must rethink all that you have done

In the battle of principles you are wrong

Therefore you cannot win

The judgement of history will be harsh

 

Crossroads India

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Crossroads India

 

India is at a crossroad

Torn between mass poverty and

economic opportunity

Institutionalized discrimination

Undermining rights of labor

Violations of human rights

Tempting shameful alliances

Its very democracy uncertain

 

India faces a distinct choice

Follow the path of the western world

Economic freedom and democracy

Equal rights for all

A path to fair trade policy

A vibrant free press

Or follow the road of China

Labor exploitation

Oppression of minorities

Egregious human rights

Suppression of dissent

 

The world’s largest democracy

Must turn its back on evil ways

And march proudly into a future

Of liberty and enlightenment

Civil War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Civil War

 

Back in the days of racial unrest

When the cities burned with rage

When the FBI hunted panthers for sport

When the suburbs became gated communities

When fear gripped the psyche of America

When the children of peace went off

on their own

A friend whose skin was darker than mine

Looked into my eyes and said:

If the race war came I’d shoot you

That’s when I knew we had a problem

 

To those who say it could never happen

Take a good look around

People buying weapons like candy for Halloween

People so divided we look like postwar Berlin

People living in media bubbles and

Leaders feeding the mob

What I don’t see now and did not see before

the insurrection is the passion and the rage

 

So I look into your eyes and ask you:

Is that what you want?

Blood on the streets?

An era of violence and unrest?

Americans against Americans?

Civil war?

 

The hope of the nation and the world

is that the vast, vast majority of us

say no

Buried in Mud

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Buried in Mud (Libya)

 

To those who say

government doesn’t matter

Look to Libya

Where a monster storm combined

with government dysfunction

to bury ten thousand people

in a matter of hours

 

Years of civil war

An absence of civil society

A crumbling infrastructure

Chaos and disorder

The Libyan strongman is gone

Leaving a void in his wake

This is his lasting legacy

This is Libya’s cruel fate

Death and destruction

A dysfunctional state

 

We cry for the Libyan people

We mourn for their dead

We will lend our aid

To see their children are fed

What more we can do

We do not know

For a failed nation whose

Needs only grow

Even (Endless War)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

Even (Endless War)

 

There’s a thought we learn as kids

At the heart of every war

You take one of mine

I take one of yours

 

As long as we’re even

There’s nothing to fight for

You take one of ours

We take one of yours

 

Like marbles in a circle

Or pieces on a chess board

You take one of mine

I take one of yours

 

Somewhere down the line

According to the lore

The game shifted:

You take one of mine

We’ll take two of yours

 

And so the game progressed

With better weapons and more

You take one of ours

We’ll take ten of yours

 

But something happens to the heart

When you open up that door

If you take one of mine

We’ll fight an endless war

 

And there is no way to stop it

The want of vengeance always grows

Until everyone is suffering

Where it ends nobody knows