The Artist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Artist

 

He’ll tell you what you want to hear

Then he’ll take a step too far

Take a breath and buy a beer

Take a ride in his new car

 

So you like the blues do ya?

BB King was his best friend

Don’t believe it? What’s it to ya?

He was in the room at BB’s end

 

So you like to shoot some pool?

Did I tell you about the time

I took Minnesota Fats to school

In some joints that’s a crime

 

Did you mention Marilyn Monroe?

I took her to a summer dance

She was gorgeous but a little slow

We had a short but sweet romance

 

I had a chance to be the man

One step away from being King

I had the money, I had the brand

And lemme tell ya, I could sing …

 

I’m not the man you think I am

I’m the one who got away

I took the reins of Uncle Sam

I’ll be back again some day

 

Hidden Dragon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Hidden Dragon

 

Beneath the surface of Russian brutality

There lurks a hidden dragon

Beneath the smart bombs and guided missiles

Beneath the serial war crimes

Beneath the killing of women and children

Beneath the mounting rubble of destruction

Beneath the endless, mindless horror

There lies a Chinese beast

 

At the crossroads of international affairs

The Chinese faced a choice

To follow the road of economic prosperity

In partnership with the West or

Form an alliance with the Brute of the North

To follow the path of democratic reform or

Join the barbarian path of conquest

 

They have chosen the path of darkness

The path of gross environmental destruction

The path of waste and extortion

The path of violence and imperialism

 

They will find in Russia a treacherous ally

An alliance of temporary value

The Russians offer little economically

They have weapons, oil and little else

The Chinese depend on the West

They will suffer for their betrayal

The hidden dragon no longer hidden

Will turn on itself in self immolation

The Chinese economy will crumble

The rule of Chi will end

 

Outside Agitators

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Outside Agitators

 

There are always rabblerousers

In every cause and every movement

There is always an element of chaos

Born of anger, rage, frustration

But when the words Outside Agitators

Are used by the authorities beware

What follows is an act of brutal violence

In the name of law and order

 

Outside Agitators was used to batter

The marchers for civil rights

On the Edmund Pettis Bridge

 

Outside Agitators was used to justify

The killing of student protestors at

Kent and Jackson State

 

Outside Agitators was employed in the

Tear gas and baton attacks on students

Of the free speech movement in Berkeley

 

So when you hear the words Outside

Agitators beware: We know what follows

 

Remember Kent State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Remember Kent State

 

Back in the year 1970

(most of you don’t remember)

The National Guard in the state of Ohio

Shot four students dead

They were not violent

They were not breaking the law

They were shot dead for being there

Shot dead for caring

Shot dead for the war machine

In Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam

 

We knew they hated us

We didn’t know they’d kill us

After Kent State we knew

We’d never forget the bloodstained path

The tears of innocence

The end of an era of hope

 

More than any other event of the decade

Kent State divided the nation

Kent State burned itself into our psyche

It spawned a generation of distrust

A distrust of government and authority

Passed down the years to today

 

If you love this nation

If you love its principles and ideals

If you want America to endure

Then remember Kent State

Remember Jackson State

Remember the age of protest

Remember the disenchantment

And make sure it never happens again

The Nixon Rule

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

The Nixon Rule

 

“When the president does it, that means

it is not illegal.” Richard Nixon

 

Are we prepared for what follows?

 

If the president is granted blanket immunity

for official acts even beyond his term as

president, what is to stop the next president

from purging the body politic of enemies and

adversaries alike?

 

If the next president is the man of Mar-a-Lago,

the purge will be immediate and revenge

will be ruthless.

 

The Department of Justice will be the president’s

personal hit squad, formulating a hit list and

taking all who oppose him out by all means

necessary, legal and illegal.

 

The Proud Boys could be deputized to the

dirty work of punishing demonstrators and

standing guard over voting precincts.

 

Truth Social could be declared the official

state media and all other media could be

sued out of existence by draconian bans on

slandering our dear leader.

 

There is no end to the damage our dear

leader could do to our democracy.

 

It is easy to lose democracy.

It is hard to get it back. 

 

Foundations of Law

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Foundations of Law

 

Justice is the foundation of law

If it is not the law becomes tyranny

Or rather an instrument of tyranny

Belonging to a tyrant

 

When the Supreme Court entertains

the notion of assassination for political

purpose as legal and beyond reproach

we are in grave danger

 

The attorneys for the United States are

too modest in their questioning

They should ask: if the president believes

in his heart and soul that certain justices

of the Supreme Court pose an imminent and

existential threat to American democracy

and the rule of law, could he order their

assassination as an official act without fear

of legal recourse?

 

Case closed. 

 

Peaceful Protest

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Peaceful Protest

 

The first amendment to the constitution

Our fundamental human rights

Is not just freedom of speech

Not just freedom of and from religion

The first amendment includes

The right to peaceful protest

The right to gather on the public square

To raise your collective voices

To challenge government authority

To express a dissenting view

 

To be free from police harassment

To be secure in your safety

To expect public servants to protect you

In the engagement of your rights

Is as fundamental to our republic

As the right to vote

 

A government that abhors protest

That suppresses public activism

That punishes those who march

That beats protestors with riot sticks

That demands passive obeyance

That regards protestors as mobs

That employs violent dispersal

Does not deserve the name

Of a republic

 

Let the students be

Let them engage their civil rights

Let them practice the art of politics

Let them demonstrate their involvement

As citizens of a democratic state

 

How Many?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

How Many?

 

A child born in Rafah

Just an hour before his fate

He had nothing to do with the raging war

His existence was soon erased

 

They are heaped in massive trenches

Like victims of a deadly plague

How horrid the stench of death

Like a nightmare from a lost dark age

 

A dozen here, a thousand there

They no longer have names or faces

The Gaza Strip is a hell on earth

The worst of the hellish places

 

We no longer want all the answers

We no longer want to know why

The only thing we want to know is:

How many more must die?

 

You once taught us to care for others

Now we’ve discovered it was a lie

If we fail to stop this brutal attack

How many more will die?

 

(re: Chris Hayes of MSNBC)

Notorious MTG

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Notorious MTG

 

They love her in the Kremlin

She’s as sweet as she could be

Her loyalty is steadfast

The best they’ve ever seen

She puts it on the line

She’s crude, loud and mean

Vladimir says she’s fine

Marjorie Taylor Greene

 

One day she’ll fly to Moscow

To meet her only friend

But he will only laugh at her

With a message he will send:

You were a useful idiot

There is no more to say

No one really likes you

It’s just a game we play

 

So Marjorie is alone now

No one to hold her hand

No one on the phone now

To say they understand

Nobody really cares now

What Marjorie says or does

She’s no longer in the loop

There is no Marjorie buzz

 

Mississippi Law

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Mississippi Law

 

Anything goes in Mississippi

The law is what they say it is

Whether you fall victim to abuse

Depends largely on what day it is

 

They taze you bro if they feel like it

They might beat you or abuse you

They don’t take you to the jailhouse

If they did they just might lose you

 

They’ve been doing it for decades

Getting away with it, too

If you think you’ve got your rights

You don’t know them like we do

 

This world can be an evil place

It doesn’t matter where you are

For evil thrives in evil hearts

But Mississippi sets the bar

 

These people who did the deeds

Should never be free again

What they did is beyond forgiving

They’ve become less than men

 

Justice Denied

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Justice Delayed

 

For those who consider him a fool

He knows how the game is played

Maybe he faked his way through school

But justice denied is justice delayed

 

There are many ways to push back time

His lawyers know how it’s done

A thousand documents at deadline

This is how their cause is won

 

They don’t have to escape the blame

They don’t have to win on the law

They just have to delay the game

It’s a monster made out of straw

 

You’d think we would have learned

Our patience and nerves are frayed

Play their game and you might get burned

For justice denied is justice delayed

 

Don’t look now, it’s turned around

We’re on the other side

Looking in and wondering how

Justice delayed is justice denied

 

316 to 94 (Aid to Ukraine)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

316 – 94

 

The vote on the floor of the House

Ukraine 316, Russia 94

Zelensky 316, Putin 94

Biden 316, Trump 94

 

The vote left no doubt

America is still America

The Putin caucus lost its pull

Crushed by a wave of patriotism

Battered by old-time allegiance

We will not be the reason

The Soviet empire was reborn

The Iron Curtain reforged

The world redivided into us and them

The free world and the oppressed

We will not return to the Cold War

(a war that was never cold)

We will not yield democracy to Europe

Not yet

Not this time

 

We are America and we will not

go down without a fight

We will hold our ground

with a new coalition

A coalition of democrats and republicans

Small d and small r

We will defend our birthright

Our legacy and our ideals

Unite in purpose and cause

 

(House passes foreign aid bill 316-94.)