Sacred Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Sacred Rights 

 

There is no right to yell fire

in a crowded theater

Yet there is a right to carry

weapons of war on the

streets of protest

 

There is no right to slander officials

for vile offensive acts

Yet there is a right to spew

vile abusive language on social

media or in the town square

 

The right to gather in protest

has long been under siege

undermined by both parties

as if they both agreed

to compromise our basic rights

in the interest of public image

or political expedience

 

We have stood by while too

many of our sacred rights

have been compromised or wished

away by overzealous officials

 

The right to vote

The right to speak out

The right to public protest

The right to impartial news

The right to free and fair elections

 

It is time to stand against the onslaught

It is time to stand for freedom

A freedom that is in balance

With democracy and civil rights

 

Guilty

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Guilty

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than an officer of the law

Justice itself was on trial

Compassion was on trial

The nature of truth was in the balance

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than a silver badge

More than the state of Minnesota

More than law in America

 

The history of race relations

The history of slavery and discrimination

The history of lies and betrayals

The history of civil rights

The blood of the martyrs

Tears of the fallen survivors

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than this nation

The tainted history of civilization

The oppressed and the oppressor

Centuries of recrimination

An honest reckoning for reparations

 

We were all on trial

The privileged and the innocent

The naïve and unknowing

The products of culture and education

Centuries of indoctrination

 

We were all on trial

And we were found guilty

Guilty of not knowing

Guilty of not believing

Guilty of not caring enough

To make the necessary changes

A long time ago

 

Hope Rises

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Hope Rises

 

Hope rises with a touch of spring

Fruit ripened on the vine

The scent of sun kissed pollen

Clouds of cream and golden glory

A symphony of wine and roses

The sweet and bitter taste of hope

 

We have bathed ourselves in

Endless waves of sorrow

We have seen the blood red sky

We have marched the mourning dirge

We have witnessed beauty die

 

Yet we have lived to tell the story

To keep our future’s faith alive

So we awaken to this morning

When tears of hope fulfill our eyes

Pray the worst is over now

Pray we have survived

 

Hope rises with the season

And empties out our shame

We remember all our wonders

Miracles too great to name

Justice in a Time of Passion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Justice in a Time of Passion

 

Justice is not angry

Justice is cool calm and calculating

It desires truth as the poet desires love

It leans on facts as the toddler

clings to her mother’s hand

 

Justice is not vengeance

It is a balancing of the account

It is an assurance that injustice

will not and cannot happen

without appropriate consequence

 

Justice is not the great redeemer

Justice is not the avenging angel

Justice is not an impassioned warrior

Justice is a blind woman with a scale

 

She serves no one’s cause

She answers no one’s call

She stills herself to listen

She absorbs all the facts

She measures their worth

and delivers her judgment

 

If justice does her job well

no one is fully satisfied

but we are empowered

to accept her decree

and move on

 

Infinite Possibilities

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Infinite Possibilities                                                                              

 

The living universe explodes

with infinite possibilities

 

Possibilities that exist on every level

of every plain of existence

 

A black hole contains infinity

within a vacuum of eternal nothingness

 

A common object be it a lamp

a desk or a pen contains an infinite

amount of subatomic elements

within subatomic elements

 

We are the sum of all that exists

and all that has ever existed

in this life and all lives before

and after this existence

 

Every moment contains eternity

Every sunset is forever

There are no ends only beginnings

The world overflows with possibilities

Infinity possibilities

 

We possess the power

to select our experience

to choose the moments that form

the building blocks of our lives

 

Everything that was is

Everything that is will always be

In that there is hope and prayer

In that there is eternal being

 

Inside the Walls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Inside the Walls

 

For a year I have looked at walls

from the outside looking in

 

A barrier meant to be breached

by gates and doorways has blocked

my passage compromised my freedom

alter my perception and confined

my experience like prison bars

 

A world of spectacular sights smells

taste and touch profoundly altered

by a year of constant denial

 

How strange it now seems to enter stores

To walk freely among masked consumers

Testing produce by touch

Observing the public behavior

of our fellow beings

recalculating right and wrong

proper and improper

 

For I have dwelled upon another planet

far from the place I know

and I have returned to find myself

a stranger in a strange land

my normal no longer normal

my instincts out of rhythm

my song out of time

 

I will rejoice for I am welcome here

My feet can find the proper pace

My mind will restore the balance

My life will find its place

 

The Long War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY

The Long War

 

It began with the will to war

by a president whose claim to office

was as suspect as his intellect

 

It began with a lie as so many wars do

Afghanistan provided safe haven to AQ

(the CIA contracted and armed AQ

implanting them in the Afghan war

to defeat the Russians)

The truth is the first casualty of war

Journalism is often the second

 

We’ve carried the lies of war

for twenty years and carry them still

 

We fought to end terror

We fought to avenge 911

We fought for the Afghan women

We fought for democracy

 

When everyone knows we fought

to prove we were the biggest bully

on the Mideast block

We fought to prove we were badder

than the Russians

We fought because we needed a war

to test our weapons

to clear the docket for new weapons

to test our advanced technology

to show the world what shock

and awe looks like

in the flesh

 

We moved on to Iraq

but we forgot to move out

Afghanistan became an afterthought

A deadly wicked afterthought

It was a war we could not win

It was a war we should never have fought

We never had the hearts of the people

An invader never will

 

You cannot win the people

with death and destruction

We lost the war before it began

and we’ve been losing ever since

 

The bully always loses

in the end

 

Dust Bowl (History Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY SERIES

Dust Bowl (History Series)

 

The dust rolled in like a giant wave

Sweeping the land and hills

Swallowing farms like morbid graves

Take cover and write your wills

 

Oklahomans lined up on the westward trail

To join the farm labor force

To them the American dream had failed

Leaving them without recourse

 

Mothers with their babes in arm

Fathers desperate to make a buck

Protect their children from all harm

Begging for work and praying for luck

 

Hard working women and men

Tossed out on a crowded road

Whole families rendered homeless

Like the family of ma and pa Joad

 

They lived in camps and rode the rails

Derided as ignorant no good bums

When they held a hand out for help

They were spit on and treated like scum

 

But they held their heads high

And they found a way

Hard times made them stronger

And they’re stronger to this day

 

Teach your Children

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Teach your Children

 

The way of the world is not determined

It could take most any path

It could go the way of enlightenment

Or choose the way of wrath

 

Teach your children right and wrong

There is no greater lesson

Help them grow up brave and strong

And always to ask questions

 

Teach them to respect all others

Without regard to race or creed

We are all equal in human value

Without regard to need

 

When in doubt do not pretend

Admit that you just don’t know

Allow them to discover truth

And give them room to grow

 

The children will become the teachers

To guide us through the night

If they learn their lessons well

The future will be bright

 

How many tears?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

How many tears?

 

How many times must we bear witness?

How many tears must we cry?

How much sorrow must we endure?

How many souls must die?

 

As we depart the days of winter

And breathe the freshness of spring

It is a time of revival and rebirth

When the robins and angels sing

 

Yet the time of mourning still lingers

The wail of the nightingale’s song

The executioner’s gaze still haunts us

With the dead of society’s wrong

 

It seems we will never learn

As it happens again and again

The nightmares of history repeated

The horrors that have always been

 

So how much blood must flow?

How many tears must we cry

Before we learn beyond knowing

That too many people have died?

 

National Pride

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

National Pride

 

(for Hideki Matsuyama)

 

The pride of his nation

He represented with honor and dignity

He faced down the beast of adversity

Not once or twice but thrice

He stared into the abyss

And hunted down the victory

Like a man driven by destiny

He felt enormous pressure

But he would not yield

 

Few of us will ever feel the kind

Of pressure brought to bear

On this one man’s shoulders

The massive weight of generations

The eyes and ears of millions

Their hopes prayers and devotion

All placed in one man’s hands

 

He is a champion for the ages

He will dwell in the house of heroes

All the days of his life

He will dwell in the hall

Of legends forever

The Martyr (for Navalny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

The Martyr (for Navalny)

 

The bravest warrior or the foolish heart

Those who fall in battle play the part

Of martyrs for a righteous cause

The return of justice or better laws

Let us bow our heads and pause

 

For every cause must pay a cost

Nothing’s gained if nothing’s lost

The people must be made to feel

The loss of someone true and real

Martyrdom must seal the deal

 

The one who’s called to pay the price

Must volunteer to sacrifice

His sweat and tears are not enough

His blood pain enduring strife

He must yield his very life

 

Fellow citizens of every country

All across the planet earth

We celebrate the founding martyrs

To give democracy its birth

For that is what the cause is worth

 

We celebrate Navalny

Behind the nation’s bars

In death he will assume

His place among the stars

And in the people’s hearts

 

January 6

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

January 6

 

To all those who watched the insurrection

Without revulsion or remorse

You are not a patriot

No matter how many flags you wave

They attempted to overthrow democracy

And they did so in our name

 

To those who shrug and turn away

As if it was just another day

You can no longer call yourselves Americans

You have lost the right

You do not know what America represents

You do not know what America stands for

You do not know what America is

 

To those who say what’s done is done

Be forewarned

If the insurgents get away with it

They will be back

And this time they’ll carry guns

 

Obsession

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Obsession

 

Fixation to the point of madness

Where nothing else exists

There is not another anywhere

There is only this

 

I have known a life of order

I know exactly what it is

There are so many things of interest

I have made an extensive list

 

But something grabs ahold of me

It will not let me go

It takes me by the hand

And tells me what I know

 

For some it’s about money

For others it’s about a game

For some it’s about a lover

In the end it’s always the same

 

Obsession steals a man’s soul

Leaves him desperate and lost

For the object of our obsessions

Will exact an unbearable cost

American Spring

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

American Spring

 

The air implodes with life

Bursts with excitement

Players stand ready

On the field of play

A jump in every step

A smile on every face

 

Flowers in full bloom

Lovers in the parks

Reclining on lazy blankets

Sipping wine with tender lips

Enchanting glances

A gentle kiss

Tasting the nectar of life

 

Children laugh dance and play

Carefree cartwheels on the lawn

Butterflies and violins

Ice cream trucks and daffodils

Moms with strollers

Babes with wide eyes

Drinking the sensory feast

 

Springtime in America

Hope and happiness abound

Somehow we know

It will all be okay

Somehow we sense

It begins again today