Democracy Down in Belarus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Democracy Down in Belarus

 

In Belarus as in Moscow

They imprison dissidents for being dissidents

For expressing opinions contrary

To the state propaganda machine

For encouraging others to stand in protest

For writing and distributing pamphlets

For reporting the news

For being leaders and believers in democracy

For being journalists and doing their jobs

Honestly and well

 

Putin puppet Lukashenko has gone so far

As to hijack a passenger plane in flight

To abduct journalist Roman Protasevich

And his girlfriend Sofia Sapega

(girlfriends are dissidents too)

They are now subject to torture

As terrorists and enemies of state

Their friends and families must also suffer

As collaborators in terror

Their confessions and apologies

Will follow as night follows sunset

 

Do not believe them

Do not allow them to escape consequence

For crimes against humanity

For crimes against us all

They are the great oppressors

And they walk among us

Anxious for their turn at power

 

It is the way of tyranny

It is the way of dictators

It is the way of Putin and Lukashenko

Left standing it is the way democracy falls

 

Reclaim Patriotism (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

Howling Wind (for Phil Mickelson)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Howling Wind

 

Blow wind blow!

Howl like the scream of banshees in a raging storm

Let all god’s creatures beg for mercy

Howl like a rage of angry demons

Caught in a maze of thorns

 

Blow wind blow!

Blow like a ringing echo of horror

Let tall trees bow down before you

Let the dirt and sand carry your name

Shake their spirits into full flight

Put all of them to shame

 

Howl wind howl!

Push the sun and the clouds aside

Put all the earth’s forces on due notice

Let the whole world witness your glory

Let them speak of you in pubs and taverns

Let them tell your fateful story

 

Who dares to stand against the wind?

Who dares to break the chains?

Let him be called the last man standing

For he alone remained

 

[Congratulations to Phil Mickelson

2021 PGA Champion

Oldest winner of a Major]

 

Courage (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Courage (Choose Sides)

 

There are many kinds of courage:

 

The courage to speak out

When others remain silent

The courage to be silent

When others say too much

The courage to go to war

And put your life on the line

The courage to refuse to fight

When a war is unjustified

 

We should not be lulled into believing

Democracy has no price

Like anything of value

It demands sacrifice

 

We speak often of our founders

As if they were gentlemen of reason

But when they fixed their names

To the declaration

King George proclaimed treason

 

They are heroes now because

They were on the winning side

Had we lost the war we cannot know

The nature of the world in which

We now reside

 

They had great courage

They were willing to give their lives

They expected no less of us

If the republic is to survive

(Based on the excellent pamphlet  On Tyranny by Timothy Snyder) 

Book of Forms

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Book of Forms

 

Because it was written long ago

Some will say it must be so

Perhaps it was written that god embraces

A privileged class of superior races

Some would say it must be so

Why?  It was written long ago

So some are smitten

With what was written

Not I

 

I must find my own forms

My own guiding principles

My own codes and philosophies

My own measures of being

My own methods of seeing

Let others walk the trodden path

I will brave an unspoiled forest

Of dreams and novel mythologies

Exploring untold psychologies

Knowing that many years from now

My path may also be trodden

And braver souls will find

A braver and bolder way

To keep the faith

And claim the day

So be it

Monet's Garden

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Monet’s Garden

 

Explosions of light and color

The simple mind cannot contain

Reflected in a pool of pristine water

A sky of hovering grace

A mirage of beauty so striking so clear

It challenges the fiercest imagination

A symphony of water lilies

Colors so vivid they awaken the senses

The sweet scent of spring in bloom

Embellished by genteel parasols

Enchanting faces beneath white bonnets

Blessed by the sun’s full glory

This earth this whirling sphere

Has never been so teeming

With the breath of life

Rules

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Rules

 

The rules of economy

The rules of civility

That guide our morality

And inform common decency

 

Broken and scattered

Pummeled and shattered

Like particles imploded

Nothing lasts forever

To change we are devoted

 

The laws of gravity

The laws of motion

Suspended with revulsion

The real beneath reality

We haven’t got a notion

 

The rules of writing

The rules of grammar

Smashed to pieces

With a two-ton hammer

 

What’s young is old

What’s old is new

Yesterday’s false

Is sometimes true

 

The children have abandoned school

Their teachers are a band of fools

They don’t need no goddamned rules

They have their own survival tools

 

And so it is for old folks

Our truth becomes their joke

Accept it and then move on

We’re here and then we’re gone

 

Genocide in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Genocide in Gaza

 

The Holocaust

A policy of extermination

The buffalo massacre

Forced relocation

The slave trade

The Trail of Tears

Milosevic and the Serbs

 

There are many kinds of genocide

From methodical mass murder

To the evacuation of a people from

Their homelands under threat of harm

 

When we think of genocide

We think of the Nazi’s and the Jews

We think of the American Indians

We think of the Armenians in Turkey

We think of the aborigines in Australia

Maybe we think of South African apartheid

 

We never think of Israel and Palestine

We rarely think of Gaza

The forced relocation of Palestinian

Families women and children

Perhaps we should

 

If there is no right to fight back

Against genocide

Then there are no rights

 

The irony is just too rich

Israel

Palestine

Genocide

War Crimes

 

Are our memories so short?

Less than a century later

The victim becomes the perpetrator

 

Leaders Lost

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  WORLD DEMOCRACY

Leaders Lost

 

Adrift in a rocky sea

Deserted in a naked desert

Tied and suited on a sandy beach

Untethered in an empty place

Floating through oblivion

Like a drifting speck of dust

 

Our leaders lost our way

Absent map compass or divination

No one noticed until the day

We awoke in a foreign place

Where everyone had much to say

But no one had salvation

 

You promised us a rose garden

You delivered only thorns

We turn away in consternation

Curse the day you were born

 

Where now shall the people go?

To whom shall we turn?

After all we’ve seen and suffered

We’ve lost our will to learn

 

We struggle to find our bearings

Struggle to stay afloat

We’d settle for a good night’s sleep

Safe passage on a sturdy boat

 

Throw the captain overboard

Let him swim himself to shore

Take all our lousy leaders

And toss them out the door

Reclaim Patriotism (On Tyranny)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

 

Reclaim Patriotism

 

Tyranny flies under the flag of patriotism

Authoritarians always lay claim

But if we live in a true democracy

There is no greater lie

And can be no greater shame

 

The cry of patriotism fuels the lies of war

Demands the sacrifice of basic rights

Justifies unspeakable crimes

Defends the indefensible

Leads to internal strife

 

It is time to redefine patriotism

It is time to reclaim the flag

 

A patriot believes in the nation

For what it represents

Not unconditionally like lemmings

Marching blindly into the sea

But for what the nation stands for

And for what it proudly could be

 

A patriot defends the nation and her flag

Against those who would abuse her

Fomenting violence and immoral acts

Committing injustice in her name

And demanding we excuse her

 

A patriot knows and upholds

The bill of rights

Against pretenders who never read

Past the second amendment

 

A patriot stands for free and fair elections

The foundation of our democracy

Without regard for the outcome

But with respect for the ballot box

 

A patriot supports a free press

Including mainstream media

Especially when it conflicts

One’s own beliefs

 

A patriot raises a hand

Takes an oath to democracy

And swears to defend it

Against all enemies

 

(Based on Timothy Snyder's excellent pamphlet.)

Bodies in the Ganges

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Bodies in the Ganges

 

Bodies float down the Ganges

By the dozens by the scores

The result of too many corpses

To bury or burn and mourn

 

Take care it does not happen here

It can and surely will

If we do not heed the warnings

Our cemeteries will be filled

 

We have declared victory

Just as India and Brazil did

They opened the doors of commerce

They took the highest bids

 

Now there are bodies in the Ganges

There are loved ones left forlorn

And there are leaders in Mumbai

Whom the people have come to scorn

 

Fight Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Fight Back

 

Resist

Fight back

Seize the day

Let them know

There will be a price to pay

 

A landlord serves eviction notice

To a community of seniors

In a recreational vehicle park

They have nowhere to go

But they cannot stay

 

Resist

Fight back

Stand in their way

Let them know

There will be a price to pay

 

A Canadian oil company

Wants to drive a pipeline

Straight through Indian land

They claim there is

No other way

 

Resist

Fight back

Seize the day

Let them know

There will be a price to pay

 

A coal company stakes claim

To a beautiful lake in Michigan

The land the air the water

The wildlife and ecosystem

All will be thrown astray

 

Resist

Fight back

Seize the day

Let them know there will always be

A price to pay

 

Everywhere injustice raises its ugly head

Everywhere greed and avarice

Fill our pipes with lead

Every time the one percent

Bumps the price of bread

We must rise as one to say:

 

Resist

Fight back

Seize the day

Let them all know

There is always a price to pay

 

America Never Leaves

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

America Never Leaves

 

When the president announces an end to war

We take him at his word

We forget he’s not the first to promise

He is in fact the third

 

We did not leave the Philippines

We did not leave Japan

We did not leave Nicaragua

We did not leave the Nam

We did not leave Iraq

We have not left Iran

We will not leave Afghanistan

And we do not give a damn

 

We go to war where money talks

Not caring who it grieves

When America goes to war beware

America will not leave

 

So be wary if you want our help

There is something up our sleeve

When this mighty nation goes to war

We are not inclined to leave

 

Burning Books in Berlin

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Burning Books in Berlin

 

People say it cannot happen

The deplorables can never win

The Nazi movement got its start

Burning books in Berlin

 

America is not so different

We’ve elected the worst of men

Men who sabotaged democracy

They stand ready to do it again

 

They gather by tens of thousands

Not knowing it’s a cardinal sin

To steal the vote from the opposition

Like burning books in Berlin

 

It seems we’ve turned the page on history

Tossed it in the garbage bin

Or placed the book on a raging fire

Like the Nazi’s in Berlin

Don't Panic (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Don’t Panic

 

Inevitably

That which we fear will happen

Must happen

In the course of time

In the unfolding of events

In the race against the darkness

Don’t panic

Remain calm

 

Those who would deny your freedom

And steal you rights

Are counting on your reflex

At the next cataclysmic event

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Keep your feet on the ground

And your faculties intact

 

For there will always be cataclysmic events

And people who wish to exploit them

For humans are an unscrupulous lot

Of power seeking women and men

 

Bush the Younger and old Dick Cheney

Exploited September eleven

Vlad the Bad exploited numerous threats

It’s been going on forever and ever

At least since nineteen and seven

 

The storming of the Capitol Building

Is the latest in tragic exploitation

The call goes out for new laws

To strip away our civil liberties

To conquer domestic terror

 

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Remember the Patriot Act

Remember the names they called us

For opposing

 

Of course there are homegrown terrorists

Of course they pose a threat

But ask yourself: 

Do our security forces

Need any more power

To spy on our fellow citizens?

 

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Proceed in due caution 

 

 (Based on Timothy Snyder's excellent pamphlet)