Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Gaza

 

War is the ultimate subversion of democracy

War is the supreme crime against humanity

War is the end of justice and the beginning

Of anarchy

 

War suspends all reason and compassion

When the blood begins to flow

When the body count builds

When the mourning bells chime

And the sorrow begins to sing

We lose all perspective

We feed the war machine

 

We know there are grievances

We understand the cause

But when innocent people die

(and there are many innocent people)

We lose our capacity for empathy

Our minds bend toward revenge

 

We have entered an age

When there is no justification

For acts of bold aggression

The world must find another way

To remedy injustice

To set the balance right

To apply reparations without war

 

Leader of the Free World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Failure to fund the war in Ukraine

A war of bold aggression

A struggle for independence

A war Russia started but we sustained

Threatens to topple the Free World Order

 

Since the end of the second World War

We have led the way

We have made tragic mistakes

The war in Vietnam

The Contras in Nicaragua

Chile’s Augusto Pinochet

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

We have never turned our backs

We have never lost our purpose

We have lost our way but not our cause

 

Now we are about to abandon our role

As the leader of the Free World

Now we are about to abdicate

By failing to honor our sacred obligation

We are betrayed by a turncoat faction

More loyal to a former president

Than to the principles of democracy

 

The fate of Ukraine is in our hands

We must now call on Europe to lead

We must now yield our leadership

Will Europe rise to the challenge?

Will her support be sufficient?

We cannot know

Will we awaken in time to save Ukraine?

We can only hope

If we fail in this cause

We become a lesser nation

But Ukraine becomes no nation at all

 

The Lost Souls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The lost souls of Haiti

Drift from decade to decade

The ghosts of oppression haunt them

The lords of chaos and anarchy

Envelop and imprison them

There is no order in Haiti

There is no government in Haiti

There is no sovereign nation

There is no democratic tradition

There is no civil society

There are no institutions of democracy

There is only force

There is only violence and bloodshed

There are only the lost souls

Wandering the ragged streets

Wandering the countryside

Hiding in their makeshift homes

Searching through the wastelands

For anything to consume

 

Shed no tears for Haiti

She is lost to us

She is beyond salvation

And yet we share this burden

And yet we share the blame

For we have long neglected her

We have always turned away

We must turn to her again

We must offer her our hand

We must find her virtue once again

We must help her find a home

GOP to Ukraine: Drop Dead!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

GOP to Ukraine: Drop Dead!

 

In the battle of David and Goliath

Today’s GOP would take the giant

In the contest of virtue versus sin

For sin the party would go all in

 

In the war of Russia against Ukraine

The GOP has made it plain

Vladimir Putin is their true friend

They will stand with him to the end

 

They don’t care about who’s right or wrong

They’ll let the Donald sing their song

They don’t care about who’s wrong or right

The Donald tells them who to fight

 

Putin is salivating with anticipation

The day Ukraine falls as a nation

They couldn’t win on the battlefield

But Vlad and Donald cut a deal

 

The Donald gets his Moscow tower

While Vlad expands his base of power

Ten years forward they’ll tear it down

And burn his legacy to the ground

 

Viva Mexico!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Viva Mexico!

 

While the world stumbles on

Overcoming the great pandemic

Facing down the great warming

Mexico moves forward

The Supreme Court legalizes abortion

And the next president of Mexico

Will very likely be a woman

 

This is how a democracy should work

Expanding human rights

Embracing the equality of women

Strengthening the institutions of democracy

Mobilizing forces to fight back against

Corruption and organized crime

The cartels have run the show far too long

It is time for a new nation to emerge

From the vast wasteland of the drug trade

 

Viva Mexico!

Union Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

Union Man

 

There are those who talk

And there are those who do

The ones who walk the walk

Are the ones in union blue

 

If you want fair wages

With a sound retirement plan

If you want good health insurance

You will need a helping hand

The time you knew would come is here

You’ve got to make a stand

Tell everyone you know

You are a union man

 

The bosses will tell you anything

That you want to hear

They will promise you a castle

Over a stout pint of beer

But when it comes to doing

They don’t have a plan

You’ll be better off standing

With the union man

 

Cause there are those who talk

And there are those who do

And those who walk the walk

Are wearing union blue

 

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