Man of Honor (for John Lewis)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Man of Honor

Man of honor

Man of dignity

He overcame the weight of history

To become the conscience of the people’s house

They beat him down on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

They beat him back on the bus to freedom

He spilled his blood on the long march

to the promised land

Yet he never lost hope

He carried more than his share

of his generation’s burden

Yet he always believed he would get there

He marched with King

Stood beside Jesse Jackson

and prayed with Reverend Al

He broke bread with adversaries

and converted many to friends

It is tempting to believe

it is all for nothing

John Lewis was always there

to remind us where we’ve been

and remember how far we have come

Bolsonaro

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Bolsonaro

Was ever there a bigger fool than I

Under the vast Brazilian sky

I proclaimed the virus a joke

Just another liberal hoax

Now I suffer with the masses

Little children in their classes

Mothers fathers sons and nieces

Their whole world torn to pieces

They used to say if Trump was brown

Bolsonaro would hold his ground

But now we’ve turned it all around

The Brazilian smile becomes a frown

The world may say I have no shame

For Bolsonaro is my name

The brightest light in all the land

I have no light there is no band

Now I suffer by myself

I place my pride upon the shelf

My leadership no longer pretty

I spend my hours in self-pity

Black Men with Guns

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Black Men with Guns

They shoot horses don’t they?

They shot panthers back in the day

Doesn’t matter what you say or do

They shoot black men with guns too

Good old boys call themselves militia

And march right up to the capitol dome

Wearing swastikas with weapons of war

They are made to feel at home

But if blacks gather in the city square

With rifles over their shoulders

They are pronounced terrorists and thugs

Their reception could not be colder

They are told they are not welcome here

Go on home and take your guns

If they refuse and claim their sacred right

They will soon be on the run

Round here black men do not carry

And they do not mix with whites

But most of all they never claim

To possess a white man’s rights

Thirty Heroes

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Thirty Heroes

To be named an American hero

should be an honor that outlasts time

To be named an American hero

by the worst president in history

is something less than honor

How would Frederick Douglass feel

knowing that this president speaks

the language of the confederacy?

How would MLK feel knowing

this president has welcomed

white supremacy to his fold

and legitimized the Klan?

There are no native Americans

on the president’s list of heroes

There are no Asians or Chicanos

though some are “good people”

There are no scientists on the list

No artists poets or resistance leaders

To not be named is a badge of honor

The mendacity of this man

to think that he can dictate

American values and American heroes

is unbounded in the chronicles of time

We shall choose our own heroes

and you shall not be among them

Falling

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Falling

The dream of falling

Stumbling off a cliff

Sliding into a canyon

Toppling off a tower

The earth gives way

And you spiral into the depths

An endless pathway to nothingness

A dizzy downward tumble

That never ends

You know somehow that the bottom

Is the end of all you know

The end of consciousness

The end of being

The end of dreams

The end

Only now the dream of falling

Begins when we awake

And ends when we drift

Away into the starry world

Of sleep

Embrace

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Embrace

We used to embrace

As if to say I know you

As if to say I trust you

And you may trust me

We used to shake hands

(bare naked hand to hand)

We used to pump fists and slap shoulders

We used to let our bodies come together

To feel each other’s warmth

We used to stand in lines so close

We could feel the breath

On the back of our heads

We used to let our shoulders touch

As we found our way through a crowd

We used to dance hand in hand

Cheek to cheek with almost strangers

I remember human contact

As if it were yesterday

As if we awoke only this morning

To find that we are magnets

Charged to repel each other

We have only our memories

Of a time when we embraced

Without a second thought

Of a time we held each other’s hands

To push away our worries

Will we ever find that place again

The touch of human skin

Without fear

Corona Parties

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Corona Parties

They invite the infected to attend

Throw money in a pot

Who will get the virus first?

Who will win the lot?

Kids will be kids sins will be sins

But killing grandpa is no way to win

Are they blind to what’s happening?

Do they just not care?

Are they filled with contempt?

Do they do it on a dare?

Teenage angst is a dangerous thing

You just want to get on with it

Let your free spirit sing

It’s a passage in the game of life

It’s always been this way

But what was fine back then

Is a catastrophe today

Is it teenage angst? 

Did you do it on a dare?

Are you filled with rage?

Do you just don’t care?

I remember being young

Nothing mattered but the now

Times have changed and it’s not fair

Everyone is running scared

So take a moment to think about

For tomorrow there will be doubt

Old Folks

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Old Folks

Old folks move to warmer climes

Like Florida and Arizona

Where they live the life

In old folks homes

And retirement communities

Playing shuffleboard and golf

Having cocktails every evening

Watching the sun go down

Communal meals and activities

Gathering for televised events

Singalongs and bingo games

Playing pinochle and bridge

What could go wrong?

Some say rebellion is for the young

But stubbornness is the way of age

Masks are for Halloween

I didn’t live my life to keep space

A little shopping couldn’t hurt

A concert or a play

A night of fun at the cinema

Dinner and dessert

At what point do we let go?

Let the old folks do what they will?

We can’t cage the aged forever

We can’t make the sun stand still

Square One

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Square One

For a brief moment it seemed

We had it under control

We hunkered down

Sheltered in place

Recognized the threat

Protected our space

In a nightmare of misery

New York showed us the way

As our fellow citizens suffered

It was impossible to ignore

The harsh reality of pandemic

The bitter taste of death

Played out on our TV screens

Until our president stepped forward

To fight for the other side

(a side we did not know there was)

To challenge his supporters to defy

All means and measures of slowing

The viral cloud of destruction

Masks slowed the virus

Don’t wear a mask

A constitutional right

Distancing slowed the virus

To hell with distance

Open the bars and churches

Keep the meat plants running!

Everything that could be done

Was not done with relish

Even when the virus spread

Even when it spun out of control

Now we’re back to square one

And the president falls silent

Let’s move on now

And pretend it’s all a dream

We’ll snap our fingers

And make it go away

But it won’t go away

It will spread its deadly breath

Until a vaccine is ready

And another person sits

In the oval office

The Homeless Explosion

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Homeless Explosion

The moratorium is over

The payments coming due

And lives once lived in shelter

Will soon be tossed askew

A global pandemic

An exposition of police violence

A demand for racial justice

Mass protests on the streets

And now a homeless explosion

What heartless landlords

Could toss tenants to the streets

In times such as these?

What heartless mindless government

Could allow such a thing?

The same landlords who jacked up rent

During the great recession

The same government that fought

Harder against masks

Than it did against the virus

The same government that swore

It would all vanish in the spring

Like a bad dream

The homeless explosion is coming

And the virus is still here

Waiting for the huddled masses

To breathe the toxic air

A Blessing

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

A Blessing

Every minute of every day

Every intake of breath

Every morning we wake

Is a blessing

Every peek at a whispering wind

Every song of the woman in lace

Every dance of the muses

Every moment of grace

A blessing

Every scent of a lover’s perfume

Every taste of her kiss

Every touch of her contours

Every remembrance of bliss

Every flight of the spirits

Every feeling we missed

A blessing

If there is a glimmer of light

In this ocean of darkness

It is this:

To understand the deepest truth

That life itself is a blessing

And every measure of life

In its depth and width

Should be treasured

More than all the precious

Stones and metals

In creation

Even now as we face the precipice

Even now as we face an end

Even now as we seek a reckoning

Even now more than ever

We are grateful for all

The blessings we

Have received

Life is good

Life is wondrous true

Life is teeming with joy

Life is beauty and creativity

Life is a blessing without end

Pandemic Loneliness

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Pandemic Loneliness

We have all been lonely

It is among the experiences

That bind us as human beings

We are alone

In many ways we have always been

And always will be

Pick up a phone and call a friend

Our loneliness binds us to the end

We have found a realm of solitude

A loneliness for the ages

A pandemic of desperate hours

An illness grown in stages

Pity those who are alone

Within the loneliness of all

We will survive the virus

If we do not heed the call

We want to share this deathly sorrow

We want the madness to end

But it will not end tomorrow

It is a wound that slowly mends

Have patience my dear friends

Have faith that it must fall

And we will join together

Come one and come all

Typhoid Mary of Nations

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Typhoid Mary of Nations

 

Americans can no longer stand

On European ground

Where once we were greeted as heroes

No welcome can be found

 

Europe took the virus on

The challenge of our times

We stumbled and we bumbled

And pretended we were fine

 

Now the virus spreads its deadly breath

All across this wondrous land

People sick and people dying

Because we failed to make a stand

 

Not even Mexico will welcome us

If we continue this fall from grace

We are the Typhoid Mary of nations

Whose challenge we’ve failed to face

Banning COVID-19

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Banning COVID-19

They banned the virus in Nashville

Wherever music is played

A virus cannot exist in the city

Where the stars of country are made

They passed a law in Austin

Demanding cease and desist

In a place where artists thrive

No deadly virus can exist

They declared an end in Tallahassee

By virtue of decree

The corona will not persist

Past the date June 23

We mourn our foolish friends

For not believing what all could see

The virus cannot be banned

Or somehow waved into the sea

We know good people everywhere

Do not deserve what comes their way

Because their leaders discarded science

And let the silent killer stay

What Color Am I?

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

357.  What Color am I?

I’ve been told I was a slacker

Who didn’t care about my country

Who disrespected old glory

With no regard for the men in blue

I’ve been asked to go away

And I just sigh

What color am I?

I believe that black lives matter

I believe we are entitled to justice and equality

I believe in welcoming newcomers

Who work hard and earn their way

I believe the dreamers have a right to stay

I believe in a right to happiness

A right to die or not to die

What color am I? 

I’ve heard it said I’m lazy

And I’ve never earned the right

To speak my mind

I’ve been told I’m crazy

That I ought to be ashamed

That everything I think is wrong

That my entire life

Ain’t nothin’ but a lie

What color am I?

I am a human being

Entitled to every right of humankind

The right to live my life according

To the dictates of my mind

The right to speak when I see wrong

The right to make it right

The right to call a lie

What color am I? 

The color of rise

The color of fall

The color of everything

And nothing at all

Happy America Day

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FOURTH OF JULY

Happy America Day

Today we celebrate the founding

Of a European nation on a faraway land

A land the inhabitants call

Turtle Island

The natives embraced the name Indian

Because it means People of God

People of the Great Spirit

In Dios we trust

The people of the Great Spirit

Did not know what to make of America

The Italian name after the explorer

Amerigo Vespucci

(they hardly knew him)

We might have been called Columbia

For the Indian killer and slave master

We might have been Liefland

After the Viking explorer Erikson

But the Vikings did not colonize

Did not write the history books

We might have been named after

The first slave traders

Or the early Spanish explorers

In search of golden treasure

And fountains of youth

But they did not find what

They were looking for

We are Americans in America

Though Peruvians and Canadians

Are Americans too

We are all Americans

Even those who were here long before

The European invasion

The conquest and genocide

We are all Americans

Even those who came without consent

From lands across the sea

We are all Americans

Even those who have toiled in the fields

And in the homes of affluence

Raising children of the chosen

Without acknowledgement

We are all Americans

Even those who were denied citizenship

And the right to vote

At the birth of the nation

We are all Americans

And we have a right to celebrate

How far we have come

And how far we have yet to go

Contempt

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Contempt

Contempt: worthless and deserving scorn

An out of control prosecutor

Can be found in contempt of court

An out of control president

Should be found in …

Contempt of science

Contempt of public safety

Contempt of justice

Contempt of democracy

Contempt of international order

Contempt of honesty

Contempt of common sense

Contempt of common decency

Contempt of working people

Contempt of the poor

Contempt of education

Contempt of intelligence

Contempt of the norms

Contempt of the presidency

Contempt of immigrants

Contempt of diversity

Contempt of humanity

In contempt of all we hold dear

In the land of the brave

Now the world holds our president

In contempt and Americans pay the price

Isolated and ostracized

Discarded and alone

Banished from the world

Of civilized tribes