Prisoner of Politics (Alexi Navalny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Prisoner of Politics (Alexi Navalny)

 

Charged tried and convicted

Of daring to survive assassination

Charged tried and convicted

Of returning home to speak out

Charged tried and convicted

Of leading a movement for change

 

Suppression of dissent is not new

In Moscow or across the globe

What is new is the rising

Moscow Vladivostok and St. Petersburg

The rising of the people in protest

The rising in freezing weather

The rising against all odds

The rising against brutality

The rising against the lie

 

They cry out in unison: Let him go!

We cry out in return: Let him go!

 

The dictator should know better

You can imprison a man

But you cannot imprison an idea

You cannot lock away

The desire for freedom and truth

Self-expression and self-government

You cannot imprison a nation

 

You can poison a man

But you cannot kill a cause

Born in the heart of humanity

Behind Razor Wire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

Behind Razor Wire

 

They come from Nicaragua

From Bolivia and Columbia

Individuals and families seeking

Asylum in the home of the free

How different are they

From you and me?

 

They’re not asking for a free pass

They are asking for a fair hearing

They don’t want a handout

They want a chance to realize

Just a small piece of the

American dream

 

They live behind fences

Lined with razor wire

They subsist in tents

Through all kinds of weather

Waiting for their turn

To cross the border and

Make their case

 

They have lived for years

Under these conditions

They could give up and go home

But they choose to stay

Because living in tents behind

Razor wire is better than going home

To face gangs and oppressors

They only want a decent life

They only want to breathe free

Are they really so different

From you and me?

 

As conditions grow worse

As the criminals and gangs invade

Making camp life hell

Stealing and kidnapping

Bribing and raping

Some do return home

To seek refuge there

Others hire smugglers and coyotes

With what little they can gather

Gambling on a prayer

Ending up in trucks and vans

Desperate and abandoned

On the barren desert land

They do what they can

For themselves and for their families

Are they really so different

From you and me?

 

Beyond Redemption

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE INSURRECTION

 

Beyond Redemption

 

Again and again we are told

Not everyone who stormed the capitol

That fateful infamous day

Was guilty of insurrection

Guilty of racial bigotry

Guilty of violent extremism

Guilty of battering police officers

Guilty of murder in their hearts

Or guilty of murder in the flesh

 

Some were simply exercising

Their constitutional rights

To gather in public protest

To speak their points of view

To make their rightful demands

Some were peaceful

Some were not racist

Some were acting on conviction

Some believed the hype

 

Maybe …

 

Maybe some began that day

On the side of misinformed virtue

But if you were among them

When the racial epithets flew

When officers hit the ground

When the mob screamed for blood

When the gallows was erected

When the cry for vengeance grew

 

If you were there then

To witness what went down

And you did not turn around

Then you are as guilty as any thug

Guilty of crimes beyond forgiveness

Guilty beyond redemption

 

The Trial (Inciting an Insurrection)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Trial

 

We have been here before

An open and shut case

The man is guilty as hell

As plain as the nose on your face

 

Never before in history

Has a president been so brazen

To attack the heart of government

Is as warped as it is craven

 

Months in the planning

There can be no doubt

The mob was primed to kill

To force Joe Biden out

 

Do not think lightly

Of what happened January 6

It was a plotted insurrection

Not some cheap political trick

 

If you think it’s all over

That it can’t occur again

The militias are still out there

And they believe they can win

 

History Aforethought

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

History Aforethought

 

If you could see these events

Through the telescope of time

A century removed from now

When the passion has long subsided

When the partisan divide is tempered

When we’ve healed the great divide

Would we see things differently

Would we alter our actions

Would we take another look

 

If we could read history’s verdict

Would we see the great betrayal

With new and open eyes

 

If we could hear history’s decree

Would it alter our perspective

If Benedict Arnold knew he would

Live in eternal infamy

If Jefferson knew he would not be

Forgiven his crimes and misdeeds

If Sirhan and Oswald knew

They were being played for fools

If the Germans knew how it ended

If the South knew would they defend it

Would they sacrifice all dignity and pride

If they knew they were on the losing side

 

Would things be different today

Or would we just continue on

This march of shame

 

Support Democratic Institutions (On Tyranny)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

 

Support Institutions (Take a Stand)

 

So many things we take for granted

Before they tremble and fall

So many things we hardly notice

Until we make the call

And find no one home

It is then we are alone

And vulnerable

 

Institutions of justice

Institutions of law

Institutions of government

A free press and news media

Election officials

A civil society

 

Institutions do not support themselves

They cannot survive without the care

Of the people they serve

 

When the law is belittled

Take a stand

When the press is condemned

Take a stand

When a man claims to be above the law

Condemn the lie

When the ballot box comes under attack

Fight back

 

Institutions exist to protect democracy

It is our solemn duty to protect them

Even at the cost of our safety

Even at the cost of our lives

 

(See Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny)

 

Vetting the Guard (On Tyranny)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

 

Vetting the Guard

 

To don a uniform of the state

To wear a badge

To carry a gun in the line of duty

These are honors

That require responsibility

 

Insurrection and oppression

Have never achieved success

Without the acquiescence

Of the police or military forces

 

The price of service must include

A thorough vetting to assure

Loyalty to justice and democracy

The institutions of government

 

Those who carry deadly force

Must be beyond reproach

Of sound judgement and character

Free of prejudice and hate

 

We know it is a dangerous job

It extracts a heavy toll

Those who serve faithfully

We thank from the depths of soul

 

Military Coup (Myanmar)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Military Coup (Myanmar)

 

Beware military strongmen

Who claim to know what’s right

Nine times out of ten

The people lose this fight

 

The cornerstone of the republic

Is a peaceful transfer of power

When the military takes over

Our prospects become dour

 

There are many would be kings

It seems a basic human flaw

But if we want to maintain freedom

We need the rule of law

 

Do not sacrifice your rights

To any power hungry thieves

For when we make that woeful choice

We will perpetually grieve

 

Vaccination Free

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Vaccination Free

 

Who knows what the future holds

But for now I’m vaccination free

Two weeks for full effect

It is an astonishing thing to see

 

They say some react poorly

I do hope that isn’t me

For it’s a miracle of science

A gift of life to the elderly

 

Now I wait for two more doses

To protect my loving wife

The day cannot come too soon

To resume a normal life

 

So let it be and let us prosper

Get your second shot today

To overcome the deadly virus

There is no other way

Objective Truth (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Objective Truth

 

“Post truth is pre fascism.” – Timothy Snyder *

 

In the absence of objective truth

We reside in a world of fantasy

We imagine what we want to be

And invent our own reality

 

In the absence of objective truth

We are islands in an endless sea

Without connection to our fellow beings

All alone without friends or family

 

If we accept objective truth

We find a basis to communicate

Objective facts and causal reasons

Things we can substantiate

 

If we are free to fantasize

About the present and the past

Then we will talk and never listen

And our connections will not last

 

* From On Tyranny (Tim Duggan Books)

 

Conformity (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Conformity

 

Going with the flow

Bending to the wind

Pleasing the popular crowd

Taking the easy road

 

Evil can only succeed

When good people go along

And people go along because

They’re afraid to stand out

 

Stand out

Stand proud

Embrace diversity

Dance on clouds

 

Stand with the dissidents

Stand with the strange

Stand with the artists

Strand up for the deranged

 

Resist the waves of self-righteousness

Deny them influence with a stare

When they demand your compliance

Throw it back: you will not dare!

 

For you are the hope of this fair land

You who march to a different band

You who will lend a helping hand

And you who take a defiant stand

 

To be accepted by the hating crowd

Is the opposite of virtue

To be embraced by the bullies

Is a great dishonor

 

Reject their mold

Create your own

 

Stand out

Stand proud

Your country needs you

Now

 

Paramilitary Control (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Paramilitary Control

The second amendment is a dangerous right

In the hands of hoodlums and mobs

It heightens tension in any fight

And makes policing a difficult job

 

Gun advocates generally like to ignore

That important note on regulation

They carry guns in church and stores

Making ours a most volatile nation

 

We cannot survive with runaway mobs

Armed with weapons of mass destruction

Ask your local police department

If you need further instruction

 

When the right to bear arms is out of control

We must demand reasonable restraint

For mobs with rage and guns in hand

Cannot be trusted as if they were saints 

(Inspired by Timothy Snyder's On Tyranny)

 

 

Inevitability (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Inevitability

 

We have fallen under

A spell of comfortable passivity

 

The past is forgotten

The future is inevitable

 

The arc of history bends toward justice

 

Why fight for a cause however worthy

When the die is cast (alea iacta est)

And the future is ordained

Why bother with it all

Sit back and witness as our

Heroes on tall white horses

Save the day

 

Ask the victims of Mussolini

About the arc of history

Ask the Spanish about Franco

Ask the Jews about the Reich

The Chinese about the purge

The Russians about Stalin

The Ukrainians about Putin

Ask your elders about McCarthy

And the letters KKK

 

The future is not written

Nothing is inevitable

Nothing belongs to fate

 

Tyranny is enabled by passivity

Passivity is enabled by faith

In the inevitable

 

Obrador (El Presidente)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Obrador

 

He denied the grave danger

Opting not to wear a mask

Declared his right to live free

Corona virus? He only laughed

 

Now he has it and we will see

How fortunate his fate will be

What does the future have in store

For El Presidente Obrador?

 

Will he receive privileged treatment

Like the leader above the border?

Will his people learn a lesson

Or fall prey to the same disorder?

 

What does it profit a nation’s leader

To block science at the door?

Now they sing a song of sorrow

For El Presidente Obrador

 

Bolsonaro, Obrador

And the one we will not name

They failed to serve the people

While they played a political game

A Race Against Time

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Race Against Time

 

It is not a war

With bullets and guns

It is not an enemy

Of any kind

As the virus evolves

It may render us blind

It may steal our resolve

It’s a race against time

 

We have the vaccines

That protect us for now

But as the mutants take hold

We may not know how

To protect us tomorrow

And on down the line

It’s a long hard road

It’s a race against time

 

We know what to do

We know how it’s done

It will not be easy

And it will not be fun

But we have no choice

We’re caught in a bind

To survive this virus

It’s a race against time

 

So line up in your cities

Line up in your towns

Take your shot in the arm

When your turn comes around

For now we’re not worried

We’re feeling just fine

But tomorrow’s in question

It’s a race against time