Good People on Both Sides

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Good People

Some words never fade

They stick in your mind

Where you don’t want to look

And wait for a reckoning

A moment of clarity

When finally as if by magic

It all makes sense

Good people on both sides

Neo Nazis and civil rights protesters

Swastikas against peace symbols

Advocacy against insults

Reason against threats

Resistance against aggression

A woman crushed for taking a stand

Good people on both sides

A man killed for being black

Good people and bad apples

As the nation explodes in rage

Our president yields to silence

Except to encourage violence

Nothing against the racist extreme

Nothing against the white supreme

Blame it on antifa: the anti-fascists

Blame it on the leftist scourge

Get tough against the mob

Good people on both sides

Nothing about the man who died

Nothing to heal the nation’s divide

Nothing but MAGA pride

Good people on our side

The others are all terrorists

You know what we do with terrorists

Lock em up!

Crush em like cockroaches!

Stuff em in a cage!

Teach em a lesson they’ll take

To the grave!

Some words never fade

Some folks never change

Some are elected president

To remind us of our shame

Burning Down Your Own House

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Burning Down Your Own House

Rage has no direction

It radiates like reflective light

You’re angry at the man

You’re angry at the world

Righteous anger is understood

But don’t burn down your hood

 

Been going on since the dawn of time

And nothing ever changes

We pretend to understand there’s a

Disease that infects the nation

But as time goes by we realize

It’s just another initiation

 

Our hearts grow cold and bitter

Our voices silent as a mouse

Anger burrows but it doesn’t help

To burn down your own damn house

 

The time will come as come it must

To turn the world around

Murder by the men in blue must end

It can’t be tolerated

The vast conspiracy of white silence

Must be terminated

 

It’s hard to wait another minute

But you know it does no good

To burn down the house of justice

When it’s in your neighborhood

Outside Agitators

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Outside Agitators

At the end of the trail

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Stands with pride for his people

Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride

MLK sits in a Birmingham jail

And writes that justice is the rightful

Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march

Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers

Of Solano and Bakersfield

To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road

Steinbeck looks out across the great

Fields of plenty and proclaims the right

Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign

To win final passage of the ERA

Bella Abzug declares that the age of

Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day

Leaders rise to the occasion

To calm a divided nation

To ease our collective pain

To bring us together

(if only for a moment)

To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage

Our president wonders aloud

If he can send his opponents to jail

If he can outlaw voting by mail

If he can order soldiers to crush

Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis

Leaders answer the call

Pretenders fall

Leadership in a Time of Crisis

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD / CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Leadership

At the end of the trail

Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce

Stands with pride for his people

Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride

MLK sits in a Birmingham jail

And writes that justice is the rightful

Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march

Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers

Of Solano and Bakersfield

To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road

Steinbeck looks out across the great

Fields of plenty and proclaims the right

Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign

To win final passage of the ERA

Bella Abzug declares that the age of

Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day

Leaders rise to the occasion

To calm a divided nation

To ease our collective pain

To bring us together

(if only for a moment)

To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage

Our president wonders aloud

If he can send his opponents to jail

If he can outlaw voting by mail

If he can order soldiers to crush

Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis

Leaders answer the call

Pretenders fall

Up in Flames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Up in Flames

When flames broke out in Minneapolis

The soul of a nation caught fire

It might have been the world

From Moscow to Madrid

From Israel to Istanbul

From Panama to Paris

From Lisbon to London

Primed and ready to explode

Like that long forgotten summer

When Watts went up in flames

And the westside of every town

From San Diego to the coast of Maine

Balanced on the edge of eruption

Held their breaths

And waited

Strike a flint and watch it burn

People cannot hold in place

So long without giving way

Without finding some release

Without setting off a chain reaction

That reaches from the smallest village

To the vast metropolis of LA

Like that summer of 68

When the students of Paris

Claimed the streets demanding

Fundamental change

The authorities didn’t understand

They don’t understand today

We have reached a tipping point

We stand on the precipice

Of total cataclysmic destruction

There is no mother that doesn’t smell it

There is no father that does not sweat

The powder keg is filled to brimming

And no one is beyond the reach

Of its destructive pull

May cooler calmer heads prevail

May poets and preachers carry the day

This is not a time for vengeance

It is a time for common cause

A time for human kindness to rise

And unchecked anger to subside

We are all in this together

Heart to heart mind to mind

We are all in this together

And together we must find

A way out of this bind

Protest in a Time of Pandemic

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Protest in a Time of Pandemic

The masses gather on the streets

Oblivious to the times

Rage surrounded by anger

Calls for justice shouts of indignation

Fear and fury grips the nation

They believe they’ve been granted immunity

By the righteousness of their cause

And the oppression of their community

The masses form a mob and push

A swirling wall of outrage

Chanting slogans waving signs

Demonstrating their despair

All while breathing toxic air

Swarming like disturbed hornets

Throwing elbows resisting calm

Taunting fingers seeking cover

Taking hits and shedding tears

While the cops exploit their fear

The gas swallows them whole

As they rush for shelter and affirm

A pledge of tribal unity

The right to gather in protest

The right to be heard

The right to live free and clear

May one day become

The right to die for your conviction

Some wore masks

Some did not

Some sought distance

Most forgot

Is it fair to ask

How many will die

For this one man’s brutal killing?

Five Days of Fury

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Five Days of Fury

Four days of civil unrest

Four days of building tension

Four days of subversion

By elements of anarchy

Lawlessness and looting

Incitement and instigation

Who are these insurgents

These promoters of violence

And division?

Anti-fascists or anarchists?

Agents of foreign interests

Hellbent on destruction?

On the fifth day they got their wish

Frustration turned to rage

And rage transformed to chaos

And chaos ruled the night

Like a demon shadow

In deadly flight

Detroit

A city long left behind

Chicago

Divide black and white

Philadelphia

Birth of a nation

Seattle

Youth against the fold

New York

Long suffering racial pain

Boston

A legacy of shame

Atlanta

City of segregation

Los Angeles

Watts never died

(it just faded away)

On the fifth day

The cops dropped their guard

And the battle began

On the fifth day

We held our breath and prayed

Earth's Revenge

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Earth’s Revenge

I’ve always sneered at people

Who assign human emotions

To inanimate things

A planet has no feelings

Its actions have no motive

It is it does that’s all there is

But consider this: 

All systems have defense mechanisms

The human body has antibodies

It employs in the destruction

Of viral enemies

Every society develops herd immunity

Antibodies on a grand scale

A planet is a system too

A contained system of great complexity

A system under constant attack

By the human species

A grand civilization dedicated

To destroying ecosystems

Threatening the health and balance

Of the whole

What if we are the virus?

What if the virus is the antibody?

The earth’s defense against us

Now it begins to make sense

The Fever

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Fever

Like a phantom in the depth of night

It creeps up on you

Taps you on the shoulder

Takes a bite

You wonder at the sudden chill

The sweat that crawls over you

Like a swarm of microscopic things

Like the warning you never saw

Before it was past too late

You’ve heard that taste and smell

Are dulled by the viral beast

You sniff the air

Nothing

Sniff the sheet

Fear grips you from the inside

Leaves you paralyzed

Staring like a fool

Into faraway empty skies

You don’t rush to the kitchen

You don’t take the test tonight

What if?  What if?

You wait

You take your time

You think

You prepare your mind

Eyes wide shut

Brain closed tight

Tension builds till morning light

Coffee never tasted so sweet

The Fire

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Fire

A flame sparks in the east

Wuhan

And the president said

Not a problem buy some bread

Sparks burst into flames

Seattle

And the president said

Go back to sleep nobody’s dead

Flames erupt into fire

New York

And the president declared

Blame Obama if you’re running scared

Wildfire spread across the land

Detroit Chicago New Orleans

And the president fumed

Not my fault if we’re all doomed

Out of control raging fire

And the president steamed

Wake up wake up! it’s only a dream

Earth Abides

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Earth Abides

The sound of robins singing

In the clear fresh air of spring

Births memories of simpler times

When we were free to breathe

The earth abides

We are but a whisper

Lost in a dream

And I am but a dreamer

Drifting with the breeze

To wolves and coyotes

To the rattlesnake and crow

The days of wonder have arrived

The day the humans stayed home

We were the stewards of this earth

But we failed to hold the line

Now we face the woeful consequence

Of pretending we’re divine

The earth abides

The sun still shines

Life blooms wildlife thrives

As we await the waning tide