The Great China Freeze

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Great China Freeze

 

They’re burning coal in China

To survive the winter freeze

They are poisoning the very air

That their people must breathe

It seems the leaders do not care

It is something they believe

If a million people die today

For the benefit of the state

Mark a path and show the way

They will call it the way of fate

 

But the world must turn this path around

We must find a better road

A path that is reachable and sound

That seeks to lighten every load

 

We can’t continue fighting wars

We know where that road leads

A rush to shut disaster’s doors

We all suffer, we all bleed

 

Let’s work together for a change

That works for all our nations

We know it seems a little strange

But its promise is salvation

 

Hypocrisy: Gaza & Ukraine

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Hypocrisy: Gaza & Ukraine

 

If you condemn the Israelis

For their relentless attack on

Schools and hospitals in Gaza

On the mass destruction

On the many civilians slain

But fall silent on the bombing

By the Russians in Ukraine

Hypocrisy

 

If your tears flow and your anger rages

At the plight of the Palestinians

After months of this campaign

But after years of aggression

In the battle for Ukraine

All your anger is spent

All you outrage is restrained

Hypocrisy

 

If you fail to acknowledge

That Hamas landed the first blow

In an act so boldly evil

The reaction was foreknown

Yet you allow for Putin’s actions

With that’s the way the river flows

Hypocrisy

 

End the war in Gaza

Support Ukraine

Stop Netanyahu

End Putin’s reign

Orban the Horrible

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Orban the Horrible

 

Something is rotten in Budapest

Europe is going insane

NATO is doing the best it can

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

Ever since Orban ascended

We have suffered from his reign

Now he stands in the way of progress

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

The European Union

Must stand for something plain

The basic right of democracy

Let’s trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

Orban is a Putin ally

His mark on the map is stained

Serve notice to every tyrant

Trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

We hold nothing against the people

Condemnation we must refrain

Reclaim you democratic ways or

Trade Hungary for Ukraine

 

Killing Journalists (in Gaza)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Killing Journalists

 

He had to cover Gaza

How could he not?

Knowing he would risk it all

If ever he was caught

Trying hard to do his job

Telling truth to power

Who else if not the journalist?

Who rises in this hour?

A genocide unfolding

What more can be said?

To feed the daily knowing

How many more are dead?

 

The journalist is essential

To tell the story well

Netanyahu has turned Gaza

Into a Palestinian hell

If we want to set it right

Our reporters must be free

To do their work unhindered

Let the journalists be

 

A Modern Mussolini

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

A Modern Mussolini

 

He sounds a lot like Hitler

But he is not the same

Hitler was an orator

Who had a feel for art

The Don is a pretender

Whose speeches fall apart

He’s more like Mussolini

The Italiano beast

They both hold their girth

And hailed from the east

The original fascista

As everybody knows

Wherever Hitler points

Mussolini goes

Like Vlad and the Don

We know who’s on top

If Vlad is the chief

The Don is the cop

He’ll do Putin’s bidding

Without question or doubt

In the end he’ll ask Vlad:

Can you help a poor boy out?

He’s a modern Mussolini

But he never read the story

If he had he would know

The end is pretty gory

 

No Christmas (on Christmas Day)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

No Christmas

 

In the little town of Bethlehem

Where a child was given birth

There is no prayer or celebration

There is no peace on earth

 

There will be no Christmas singing

No sounds of Christmas cheer

No bells of joy are ringing

Our comfort changed to fear

 

We may never be the same

At least that’s how it feels

It seems to me an awful shame

To lift the Christmas shield

 

For Christmas is for everyone

No matter their beliefs

A time to put down our guns

A time to breathe relief

 

The Love (on Christmas)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PEACE

The Love

 

Peace across the valley

Christmas bells are ringing

Waves of Christmas revelry

Boys and girls are singing

 

Where is the love that once we knew?

So freely given this time of year?

Where is the love that seemed so true?

Where is the Christmas cheer?

 

As children we loved everyone

Over time we learned to hate

Every daughter and every son

Was welcomed as our mate

 

Where is the love that grew on trees?

It seems so very far away

Where is the hand we gave for free?

Lost somehow along the way

 

We need to find the love again

To give the world new birth

To find the kindness deep within

For peace on planet earth

 

Mass Murder in Bohemia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Mass Murder in Bohemia

 

The ratatatat of murder

Splits the scene in the city of bridges

City of Kafka, Dubcek and Havel

Destroying the Christmas calm

Shattering the peace

A lone gunman with a submachine gun

A weapon meant for war

A killer of many humans

A reaper of death in numbers

 

He opened fire on his fellow students

As if it was a war zone

As if it was Gaza or Bakhmut

As if he sought revenge for the killing

Of his people, his friends, his family

But he was not a soldier

He was the killer of his father

He was the killer of his friends

As if he had friends

But a mass murderer has no friends

He traded them for weapons

He bartered them for blood

 

To those who thought this could not

Happen in Europe

That only foreign terrorists could strike

At the heart of European peace

That Europeans would not kill their own

In numbers greater than one

You were wrong

 

Prague is a victim of the American disease

The unfettered right to carry arms

The availability of killing machines

Now Bohemia must decide how many

Lives the right to arms is worth

Weapons of war

Armor piercing bullets

Weapons of mass destruction

How many lives are they worth?

White Flag

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

White Flag

 

Black Kettle camped under a flag of peace

Where the white man told him to

At Big Sandy Creek

 

Few warriors remained at his camp

Of mostly Cheyenne and Arapaho

Old men, women and children

 

Colonel Chivington and his Colorado

Volunteers attacked at daybreak

Slaughtering people like cattle

Taking scalps and body parts

To commemorate the carnage

 

The volunteers were hailed as heroes

Until the true story was told

Black Kettle survived

 

Four years later almost to the day

A cold day November 1868

The Washita River Massacre

Completed his tragic fate

Killed by Colonel Custer

Under a white flag of peace

 

Eight years later Custer’s

Story was also complete

When he and his Seventh Cavalry

Were slaughtered in defeat

 

The white flag has no meaning

To those with murder in their hearts

As long as leaders have no honor

They will rip this world apart

 

(Note: Israeli soldiers mistakenly kill

three Israeli hostages carrying a white

flag.)

The Golden Rooster

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Golden Rooster

 

She rises above the Paris skyline

Gazing off into an endless plain

The seed of western civilization

The heart of artistic reign

The golden rooster stands again

 

We do not worship her demeanor

Her golden sphere we do not praise

We look to her for strength and courage

We praise her for her boundless gaze

 

She is the golden rooster of France

An eternal symbol of resurgence

When she rises all will dance

And all of France will be emergent

 

I remember when my heart was whole

The day before the spire fell

I remember all the people crying

The endless chiming of the bells

They thought the golden rooster lost

Never would our dreams be well

Our footing on the earth was tossed

All our heavens turned to hell

 

But she is risen once again

The spirit of the world revived

Buried in the ash of men

The grand lady is still alive

 

Peace in Our Time

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR & PEACE

Peace in Our Time

 

The community of man

(the generic man, man without gender)

has never been at peace

We have had periods of calm when

enemies have put down their arms

but soon they pick them up again

 

Humanity exists in a state of perpetual war

The same emotions that inspire works

of magnificent art and architecture

The same desires that give birth to

eternal literature and sculpture

Monuments to human dignity

Also give us conflict, rage and vengeance

 

The human animal can only find peace

when he and she and people of all colors,

shapes and measures find a way to

contain our dark emotions

 

The human animal can never be at peace

with others until he and she and people

of all stripes, beliefs and religions are

at last at peace with ourselves

 

People of Israel put down your arms

People of Russia refuse to fight

People of all nations let us find a way

to love each other as we love ourselves

Let us find a path to peace in our time

 

Dictator Lite

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Dictator Lite

 

Tell the people out there

You don’t want to be a dictator.

I do! I do! But only for a day!

Build the wall! Drill baby drill!

 

Tell the people you’ll try to be fair.

I will. I will. But don’t get in my way!

Finish the wall! Chill baby chill!

 

Are you in your right mind?

I am. I am. But not to stay!

If I have the power there’s a price to pay!

They tell me that’s ridiculous

That it doesn’t work that way

But I’m saying it does

Dictator for a day!

Drill baby drill! Would you like to play?

 

I can turn it off and I can turn it on!

If you’re not with the ticket, baby,

Get lost! You’re gone!

I’ll be your worst nightmare!

I’ll be tough and strong!

You’ve gotta love it baby

Or you don’t belong!