The Lies of War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GLOBAL POLITICS

The Lies of War

 

The lies of war begin

Before the last bomb explodes

Before the last civilian dies

Before we travel down this road

We need to know what the mission is

We need to know before we go

 

We were wrong to make Afghanistan

The playground for our wars

They should have known

What they were in for

We should have known

What was in store

 

This was Vietnam all over

Another dirty little war

We pretend we are the heroes

As we scurry for the door

 

We leave behind those who trusted us

Those who treated us as friends

We shrug and swear to heaven

This will never happen again

 

[Honor the warrior; despise the war.]

 

The Amazon (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Amazon

 

The river that feeds a continent

That nourishes a vast rain forest

That mystifies the curious

And terrifies the adventurous

Holds secrets we have hardly glimpsed

Medicines to cure diseases

Formulae to life abundant

Lifeforms that defy all knowledge

Tribes that perfect new ways of life

 

The Amazon has stirred imagination

For as long as humans have been

It dares us to explore its mysteries

Defies us to make it home

 

Without the Amazon to cleanse the air

Our world would long have ceased

We thank the Amazon for its mercy

And promise to live in peace

 

The Mississippi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Mississippi

 

Old Sam Clemens steered his riverboat

Down the muddy waters of the Mississippi

Spinning yarns of childhood dreams

Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn

 

The Missouri and the Mississippi

Split the north American continent

Lifeline along the continental divide

Heartbeat of a vast great nation

 

Those who have traced the great river

From her northern most birth

To her womb in New Orleans

Know the grandness of her waters

Her majesty and vulnerability

 

Men have tried to steer her course

With tragic and empty results

We have built towns in her path

And watched them mowed down

The mighty river will not be told

She is stronger than we are bold

 

We must learn what the riverboats know

Let the river flow where it flows

 

World on Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

World on Fire

 

Pillars of billowing smoke and ash

From Turkey to the isles of Greece

The fires feed on dry crisp land

Like hungry rabid beasts

 

The world goes up in flames

The people pray for rain

There is nowhere to escape

Trapped on a runaway train

 

Will we survive this great ordeal

Or will we make a sorry end

Make peace with all your enemies

For you may meet them round the bend

 

We must hope there is still time

We must pray it’s not too late

Are we the last of our kind

Are we bound to a tragic fate

 

Dictatorship in Hungary

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Dictatorship in Hungary

 

The dismantling of democracy

Whether here or over there

Should never go unnoticed

Not here not anywhere

 

The enemies of democracy

Are the enemies of the soul

The brethren of autocracy

Are our eternal foes

 

The loss of freedom anywhere

Is a blow to every one of us

A warning to all free nations

A betrayal of our trust

 

No matter where you live

No matter where you breathe the air

Now is the time to give

Now is the time to care

 

No one paid attention

When the Nazis rose to power

It is time to raise our voices

It is the reckoning hour

 

Fire Sky

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Fire Sky

 

The morning sky is brown

Like the rust of an abandoned car

The sun is fire orange

It smells of smoke and tar

The forest is burning

To the north and east

The forest is burning

Like a fiendish beast

 

Listen

You can hear the coughs

Look closely

You can see the flames

Breathe deeply

You can smell the charred remains

of homes that used to be

Breathe again

You can taste it

It is the taste of sulfur

It is the taste of dying

It is the scent of disease

 

We live in a land of flames

We breathe a toxic blend of

air and smoke and fire dust

We drink the spoiled waters

We pretend the sky is blue

and the water runs clear and true

We pretend the sea is green

and the rivers run forever clean

and the forest lives eternal

 

 

The Rhine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Rhine

 

The river that gives life to Berlin

The beating heart of the German nation

River of castles and fortifications

Where the Romans claimed their empire

 

The Rhine has grown angry and proud

Determined to have its revenge

The only way it knows how

It rises to claim the land beneath homes

Beneath buildings bridges and towns

The people are at her mercy

They run for cover

They plead for help

They pray for survival

 

When the river is angry

The people listen

There will be no comfort

It will not be fine

Til they make their peace

With the River Rhine

 

Covid's Friend

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Covid’s Friend

 

People of Florida:

Is this what you wanted?

First in the nation in new cases

First in morbidity

First in new hospitalizations

Among the last in vaccinations

 

You’re nobody’s fool

You went to the best school

(Harvard University)

You have a law degree

Yet you’ve sentenced

Thousands to death

By executive decree

 

Do you just not care?

Is this some grand design?

Get rid of all the riffraff

Leave the takers behind

 

We know you’re running for Prez

By any and all means

Nothing less is sufficient

It is your only dream

 

But is it worth the price

To be a man among men

When it comes to Covid

There is no better friend

 

Square One Part II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Square One II

 

How long (we asked) will this go on?

How long before it’s done?

Eighteen months and counting

Now we’re back to square one

 

We’ve been pushed to our limits

Some have strained their will to live

How much more must we take

When we have little left to give?

 

It is the summer of the warming

The August sun is burning hot

We dream of cooler climates

Somewhere where we’re not

 

So the test begins again

At least now we’re more prepared

We know what we must do

But do we know enough to care?

 

We are reaching for an end

But we’ve seen this play before

When it’s over it begins again

Til we’re angry to the core

 

We’ve searched through our memories

We know there is no other way

We must let go of all our anguish

And live from day to day

 

The Seine (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

 

The Seine

 

Along the banks of the River Seine

Sat Claude Monet with his easel

Toulouse-Lautrec and Marcel Proust

Balzac and Victor Hugo

King Louie and Marie Antoinette

Some call it the pinnacle of culture

Some simply call it vain

Monarchs have bowed before her

The mighty River Seine

 

Where Danton raised his rebel cry

And lost his life beneath the blade

Where students pledged their lives

And workers stood beside them

Hand in hand boot to boot

Liberte egalite fraternite

They marched for basic freedoms

Til the little emperor came along

With a promise of immortality

So they sang another song

 

The center of the western world

The best and worst of men

All along the River Seine

The French will rise again

 

The River Thames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS (RIVER SERIES)

The River Thames

The island river of old Britannia

Known by some as Isis

Its dark waters have floated kings

To exile and exultation

 

The rising tide under London Bridge

Projects a mirror image

Parliament the tower and the wheel

A window to princes and monarchies

Ancient grudges and uprisings

The birth of human dignity

The rights of humankind

 

Echoes of the Globe Theater

Where Hamlet philosophized

Where Henry railed against the French

Where Falstaff belittled kings

Before his bitter end

 

All along the River Thames

The people take their comfort

For through the storied ages

While royal houses rise and fall

Their pomp and pageantry aglow

No matter who the palace holds

The river always flows

The river always flows

Mandate

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Mandate

 

Freedom has its limits in a free society

You are not free to do harm to others

You are not free to seize my home

You are not free to steal my property

You are not free to invade my privacy

You are not free to spread disease

 

Freedom has its limits in a sane society

You are not free to pollute my water

You are not free to poison my air

You are not free to disturb my peace

You are not free to practice medicine

Without a legitimate degree

You are not free to spread disease

 

You have a right to speak your mind

You have a right to vote as you will

You do not have a right to make me sick

You do not have a right to kill

 

For the greater good of all

The rights of the one must fall

If a mandate is what we need

To a mandate we will accede

 

Freedom Day in London Town

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Freedom Day

 

It’s Freedom Day in London Town

One has to wonder why

Is it the freedom to live one’s life

Or the freedom to rot and die?

 

Boris the Clown is back

He shrugs with a mischievous grin:

If not now then when?

 

Here’s an answer for you Boris

When the virus is on the wane

Not a moment before then

Or have you gone completely insane?

 

But Boris is not listening

Seems he’s been here once before

He’s in quarantine again

And he seems a trifle bored

 

So Britain becomes a petri dish

For mutations to rise and spread

How will it all affect us?

Will we stop counting the dead?

 

We must wonder if it had to be

Could the people stand no more?

Will we wonder at the price and ask:

What were we fighting for?

 

Blunder Down Under

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Blunder Down Under

They’ve hit the streets in Sydney

To strike a blow for wonder

How did they lose control?

The great blunder down under

 

They locked their borders early on

To keep the deadly virus out

But it found its way somehow

And now they have their doubts

 

They thought they were a lucky nation

They didn’t need to vaccinate

Now they know that vaccination

Is the only way to escape this fate

 

They thought they did it all right

In so many ways they did

But when it came to the vaccines

They submitted a lower bid

 

So now they pay the price

And the price seems too severe

If you’re planning a trip down under

Best wait until next year

 

March of Civilization

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

March of Civilization

 

We slithered out of the swamps

Grew limbs fingers and toes

Stood upright and developed our brains

Formed families tribes and traditions

 

We developed spoken language

Increased the ties that bind

Invented the written word

So that lessons learned could survive

Across the generations

 

We built societies into nations

Nations into kingdoms and empires

Gathered magnificent armies and alliances

Constructed walls defining borders

Fought battles against fierce enemies

Defined human rights

Gave birth to representative government

Founded the principles of science

Formed institutions of education

Built civil societies and social order

 

We created from the raw earth

The most astounding works of

Art and architecture

Medicine and journalism

Government and literature

Technology and entertainment

 

Yet here we are

On the precipice of oblivion

So many of our people eager

To push us over the edge

 

Have we come this far only

To crawl back into the swamps

From which we came?

 

 

The Colorado

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Colorado

 

The river that carved Grand Canyon

That courses through vast deserts

Giving life where none existed

Now fuels the water wars

Of Southern California

 

The wild Colorado with its twisting rapids

The flowing Colorado easing its way

To the monumental Hoover Dam

At one time the seventh wonder

Of the modern world

 

Without the Colorado

The expansive Los Angeles basin

Would have dried and cracked ages ago

 

Without the Colorado

The phoenix would not have risen

 

Without the Colorado

There would be no Las Vegas

 

How long before the great river itself

Dries to a barren crisp

Leaving us to our own device

Abandoned in the wasteland?