Ida: New Orleans Survives

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Ida

 

Memories of Katrina haunt me

As if it happened yesterday

I want to scream at the TV screen:

Get out! You’re in the way!

 

Ida is category two and churning

From Havana to New Orleans

The roads are all jammed

The people are under warning

The fires of Hades burning

 

Will Ida hit like Katrina did?

Will the authorities be unprepared?

Will the lower ninth be flooded?

Will our sense of outrage be shared?

 

We have entered an age of tragedy

It often feels like the end of days

The chain of horrors relentless

Seems our legs are made of clay

 

New Orleans Survives

 

Ida hit the Gulf Coast hard

Like a bombardment of missiles

Like at twenty-foot wave

Like the breath of an angry god

Full of wrath wind and rain

 

The power died before nightfall

Leaving those who stayed behind

Hiding seeking shelter inside

They would baton down the hatches

They would fight back the storm

They would protect their belongings

They would protect their homes

They would do what they could

But the storm kept rolling

Churning like a beast

Spreading mass destruction

Like the Saint’s final feast

 

The people of New Orleans

Know they’re lucky to be alive

They have fought through the years

Self-assured they would survive

 

It’s not a war zone like Kabul

It’s not the end of a long drive

It’s a place where a culture

And its music still thrives

 

So help them through this crisis

As they suffer and we cry

We will do what it takes

To help New Orleans survive

The Congo (River Series)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Congo

 

You can hear the drums of the Congo

As if they were moving near

Charging western imagination

Filling our hearts with fear

 

Tarzan was lost in the jungle

That was fed by the Congo River

Where animals were wild and fierce

Making civilized people shiver

 

Alas the Congo was mostly myth

Invented by western writers

Reality is far more subtle

Than strange uncivilized fighters

 

The Congo feeds an abundant life

Its wildness is its glory

Without it so much life would cease

To shorten the planet’s story

 

The Nile (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Nile

 

The longest river on the planet

It shaped the lives of ancient Egypt

Gave birth to modern agriculture

Challenged our sense of entitlement

 

Cleopatra floated her royal barge

Down the waters of the River Nile

Mark Anthony and Julius Caesar

Made history for Shakespeare’s file

 

The granddaddy of African rivers

It feeds eleven modern nations

From Lake Victoria to the Mediterranean

It enabled an advanced civilization

 

Oh how we revere the River Nile

For its storied and mythical past

The river runs with an eternal force

Forever and always will it last

 

The Yangtze (River Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

The Yangtze  

 

The longest river in Asia

Among the longest on the planet earth

As the birthplace of their civilization

The Chinese value its worth

 

The Yangtze gives and the Yangtze takes

Its yellow waters are a blessing

It is known for frequent flooding

Yet the people have learned its lessons

 

Some call it the river of sorrow

For it has claimed a great many lives

Yet the people give their humble thanks

For with the river all wildlife thrives

 

Mercenaries

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHAN WAR

 

Mercenaries

 

Independent contractors

They don’t like to be called mercenaries

They don’t like to be called hired guns

Killers for pay

Have gun will travel

They answer to no one

They have no code of honor

They are torturers and war criminals

They are as old as war itself

 

So while we extend our forces

To evacuate diplomats allies and soldiers

Shed no tears for the mercenaries

Spill no blood for their safety

Let them find their own way home

 

One wonders what war would look like

If there were no hired guns

 

Woe Afghanistan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHAN WAR

Woe Afghanistan

 

The Taliban is an ancient sect

Sharia law is primitive and cruel

We will oppose this way of life

We will oppose the Taliban rule

 

But we can no longer fight a war

That we could never win

Great armies fell on these grounds

And they will fall again

 

The Afghans must themselves prevail

For they have always known

While they oppose oppression

This oppressor is their own

 

Others cannot fight this war

As we have proven over the years

We gave our blood and treasure

We shared Afghani tears

 

But war cannot go on forever

When it depends on foreign might

We have reached our solemn limits

No longer will we fight

 

Afghan Blame

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHAN WAR

Afghan Blame

 

Do not play the blame game

In Afghanistan at this late date

The sun has long set

The writing on the wall

Has faded to dust

 

This tragedy was decades in the making

Three presidents have tried and failed

To withdraw from the endless war

If you need to blame someone

Cast your vision back to the beginning

When an inept leader

Demanded a war of vengeance

And lost interest when the mission

Lost its clarity

And the glory lost its luster

 

If you need blame

Look to our military leaders

Who year after year reported progress

When there was no progress

Who all but promised victory

When victory was a tortured mirage

Who refused to plan an evacuation

Despite many years of notice

 

If you need blame

Look to our intelligence agencies

Who have established a record

Of incompetence unrivaled

In modern history

 

If you need blame

Look to the chorus line of cheerleaders

And talking heads who demanded war

And now question the consequences

 

If you still need blame

Blame the hypocrites and warmongers

Blame the pimps of patriotism

Blame the foreign policy experts

Blame American exceptionalism

Blame the history of empires

Blame yourself

For not speaking out

Until now

 

The Good War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Good War

 

They called it the good war

(even those who called themselves

the antiwar movement)

They called it the righteous war

(the war with noble intent)

 

When we marched a million strong

Against the war in Iraq

Some of us said: This is not Afghanistan

This is Vietnam

 

They were wrong

They can rewrite history for a thousand years

They will still be wrong

Afghanistan was Vietnam

Afghanistan was Iraq

They were all wars for empire

They were never wars for liberation

They became wars of occupation

With puppet governments

Their own people could not stand

 

In the vast history of civilization

An occupying power has never liberated

A people without the people’s support

The people will always view an invader with doubt

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight against the Taliban

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for American interests

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for women’s rights

The people of Afghanistan

Would not fight for American democracy

The people of Afghanistan

Are tired of war

 

They have fought for generations

Against more enemies than they can count

 

Leave them be

Let them determine their own destiny

We are not gods

We cannot tell them

What is worth fighting for

 

The war is over

Go home

 

Apology to Afghan Women

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AFGHANISTAN

Apology to Afghan Women

 

Is it better to have known freedom

And to have it taken from you

That to never know freedom at all?

 

Once upon a time we made a promise

We never intended to keep

We promised to give you liberty

A great and storied leap

 

But we did not keep that promise

And for that we apologize

 

Once upon a time we told the world

It was all about freedom and equality

The right to vote

The right to work

The right to speak freely

The right to an education

The right to worship as one pleases

 

We did not tell the truth

We fought for many reasons

But these were not among them

 

We fought for strategic advantage

We fought for an oil pipeline

We fought to prove to the world

That we were the baddest warriors

On the face of the earth

We fought for revenge

We fought for blood

 

We dropped our bombs and then forgot

We moved on to Iraq

 

We know now as our leaders knew then

It was a war we could not win

 

For that we must apologize

 

The Fall of Kabul

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Fall of Kabul

 

Kabul falls to the Taliban

The civilized world is in mourning

For those who fear theocracy

This serves as a dire warning

 

We knew this day was coming

Or at least we should have known

Through twenty years of occupation

Our fears have only grown

 

To the women of Afghanistan

Whose future looms most bleak

We offered many promises

We did not intend to keep

 

As you walk into a new world

Dark and shrouded in fear

You must find a path to hope

You must hold it near and dear

 

We must find a way to help

Without bullets and without bombs

We must isolate the Taliban

As we should have all along

 

Though we knew this day would come

We did not know when

Twenty years is a long time

To finally reach an end

 

Haitian Woes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

Haitian Woes

 

Sweltering heat

Floods and raging fire

A pandemic in relentless waves

Poverty and homelessness

A legacy of slaves

 

Take all our sorrows

All our deepest woes

Compound them by a force of ten

We would still fall short of Haiti

Whose tragedies strike

And strike again

 

An assassin took your leader

The virus struck you down

Now an earthquake and tsunami

Bends you to the ground

 

There is no end to heartbreak

Your people have endured

There is no end to misery

Of that we are assured

 

Shall we offer you our helping hand?

Should we offer prayers instead?

Shall we help you with the living?

Should we help you count the dead?

 

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