October 7

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

October 7

 

Before October 7

Young people filled the streets of Tel Aviv

Every day and every night

Protesting the anti-democratic laws

And hardline policies

Of their warlord prime minister

 

Before October 7

The people on the streets of Tel Aviv

Were the future of Israel

The young were the people of peace

They believed in fair representation

They believed in equal rights

They believed in an independent

Palestine

 

On October 7

Hamas pointed its deadly force directly

At the young people of Israel

Hamas attacked a gathering of music

And celebration

Hamas killed hundreds of young Israelis

Hamas killed the future of Palestine

 

After October 7

There can be no peace

For as long as the sun will shine

For as long as the rivers flow

For as long as lovers love

For as long as the moon will glow

There can be no peace

 

Across the great divide

I hear your voice saying

There was no other way

But there is always another way

You could have joined the young

Israelis on the streets of protest

You could have joined your voices to theirs

You could have made your voices heard

You could have demanded change

To Netanyahu you could have said:

No! No more

 

After October 7

You have no voice

Hamas has stolen it away

All that remains is endless sorrow

 

Orwell

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

Orwell

 

We’re expanding the war

To keep the war from expanding

The commander saw no wry humor

No sense of contradiction in his statement

We’re increasing the bombardment

To bring peace to the region

Orwell would be proud

 

The war will end when

We have defeated the enemy

When we have defeated the enemy

The war will come to an end

This is the way of war in the 21^st century

We fight until there’s no one left to fight

We destroy the enemy head to toe

We yank him out by the roots

 

Yes innocent people will die

Yes civilians will suffer mass casualties

In modern warfare there is no alternative

The enemy uses its people as shields

But in the end they will thank us

In the end they will call us liberators

The commander saw no irony

No sense of the absurd in his statements

Until a reporter finally asked:

How can dead people thank you?

How can ghosts greet you as liberators?

 

The commander had no more to say

He turned on his heels and walked away

War is peace, said Orwell from his grave

War is peace and the dead cannot be saved

Strength of Soul

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE WAR

Strength of Soul

 

The times demand a strength of soul

To push away these forlorn blues

A way to map the days ahead

Despite the tragic news

 

The war seems like it will not end

The innocent keep dying

A breath of hope we wish to send

To keep ourselves from crying

But words of vengeance do not bend

The bullets keep on flying

It seems this heart will never mend

The cause is mystifying

 

We wonder how we can endure

When every day seems worse

We pray for mercy and a cure

To lift this ancient curse

 

The Right to Kill

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

The Right to Kill

 

What is it with all these madmen?

Does it give them a twisted thrill?

The right to arms has now become

A sordid right to kill

 

They do not care what others think

The world belongs to them

We never asked them what they thought

Who are we to condemn?

 

They kill because they have the right

They kill because they can

They kill because they fear the night

Will no one understand?

 

There are more of them each day

They are arming to the hilt

If you ask them why they will proclaim

They have the right to kill

 

I did not give them weapons

I will not share the blame

But when he pulls the trigger

He does it in our name

The Creature of the Deep

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Creature of the Deep

 

There is a creature that dwells in sleep

With tentacles long and many

As many as are necessary

In the moment of deep, deep sleep

Its tentacle reach out in all directions

Taking hold of every sleeping soul

In that instant we are all connected

Each of us knows what every other thinks

Each of us feels what every other feels

Each of us understands we are one

 

The Israeli feels what the Palestinian feels

The Russian sees what the Ukrainian sees

The Islamist understands the Hindi

The Christian understands the Buddhist

The deist understands the atheist

The saint understands the bigot

Each of us understands the other

 

When we are in that deep cave of sleep

We are naked and everywhere

When we climb out of that deep cave

We clothe ourselves with prejudice

We clothe ourselves with bigotry and hate

We don the cloth of closed minds

That we may thrive among our people

 

Yet at moments of silent clarity

When all is quiet in the soul

We remember the creature of the deep

We remember that instant of knowing

We remember that we are one with all

And all are one within

Self Determination

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL-PALESTINE

Self Determination

 

Every people and every nation

  Including Palestine and Israel

According to the laws of civilization

  From Ukraine to Afghanistan

Has a right to self determination

 

When that right is denied

  In Iraq or in Sudan

All authority will be defied

  In Vietnam or in Myanmar

Human rights must be applied

 

Every people and every nation

  From the Aborigines to the Kurds

Beyond the rights of invocation

  Including Chechens and Armenians

Has a right to self determination

 

A world that does not uphold

The right to self determination

Will never live in peace

Will never find salvation

Plight of the Dispossessed

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL & PALESTINE

Plight of the Dispossessed

 

As we enter the days of propaganda

That accompany every war

Remember the plight of the dispossessed

Like the Israelis were before

 

The people are very much the same

No matter where they are

They only want to live in peace

Though they pray to a different star

 

There once was a land called Palestine

That was supplanted by Israel

If you want to know the whole truth

Ah the stories they could tell

 

Of an enemy that has no mercy

That kills the innocent without regret

They would testify their suffering

And the river of blood they let

 

The Israelis have their own accounts

Of being killed and moved aside

They bear witness to an evil

That gave birth to genocide

 

Israel and Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Israel and Ukraine

 

Now that Israel is on the news

Every day and every night

Will we forget about Ukraine?

Will we forget about their plight?

 

Ain’t that just like the western world?

We cannot keep two thoughts

If we think about what we’re doing

We cannot think about what we’re not

 

But the fate of these two nations

Are linked as never before

If we do not hold the line

They’ll come bashing through the door

 

Ukraine will fight until the end

That much we certainly know

The state of Israel will not bend

Her fears will never show

 

And we must stand with both of them

We cannot waver, must not fail

Until the aggressor nations suffer

And the perpetrators are in jail

 

Human

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Human

 

Are we not human?

Do we not bleed?

In the name of humanity

Have mercy we plead

 

It is a time of grave danger

The cry of vengeance is loudest

Near the heart of deep sorrow

And the sorrow builds

Sorrow upon sorrow

Until it is changed to burning rage

And the tears of sorrow

Become tears of pain

And the end of pain is vengeance

 

A child of Palestine

Is a child of the earth

If you possess a heart

You acknowledge his worth

 

But vengeance is a forever thirst

The more you drink

The more thirst you feel

It can never be satiated

It grows and grows in leaps and bounds

It ravages all whom it entices

It replaces the heart with a blackened thing

That poisons all it touches

 

Hold on to Humanity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

Hold on to Humanity

 

As our pain becomes unbearable

As we brace ourselves for what’s in store

A word of caution to all involved

Do not become what you abhor

 

We are proud of our civility

We must hold on to our human core

But while we suffer and we mourn

Do not become what you abhor

 

A thousand ways to hate and kill

All saints of mercy we implore

Let others do what others will

Do not become what you abhor

 

Hang on to human dignity

Do not be tempted to that door

We must retain our basic values

Do not become what you abhor

 

All is fair in love and war

We’ve heard it many times before

But we must never be those people

Do not become what you abhor

Hamas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

Hamas

 

You attack women and children

Old men on their pensions

Young people at dances

You commit unspeakable crimes

Against nature and humanity

You kill without care as if those

You kill understand your rage

As if your victims deserve your wrath

 

You know well what follows

You expect and even welcome it

You bring this upon your own people

With eyes wide open, hearts closed

With wicked smiles of sarcasm

When the Gaza underground

Is reduced to stone and blood

When your people plead for mercy

When your mothers cry and your

Fathers break down in mourning

Will you still wear that crooked smile?

That knowing smile of horror

Will the blood of Israelis still comfort you?

Will you still taunt your enemy?

Will you still beg for more?

 

Hamas is no longer a cause or party

It is an instrument of terror

By dehumanizing your enemy

You have dehumanized yourselves

The Promise

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Promise

 

You have given your solemn promise

Before your god and before the world

That you will do all in your power

To avoid the killing of civilians

 

You have said so of your own conscience

Though your enemy has made no such vow

You have sworn to uphold a higher standard

Even while your people were slaughtered

Even while your children away burial

You have given your word even though

Your blood boils with rage

 

It is this promise upheld that divides you

From your enemy

What they may perceive as weakness is

What makes you stronger

You have the strength of conviction

You have the fortitude of principle

 

Now you must hold true to your word

No matter what atrocities transpire

Despite the cries for blood vengeance

No matter how many loved ones fall

 

Voices for peace have called for

Safety zones and cease fires

Let it be so

They ask for time to evacuate civilians

Let it be so

They ask Egypt to open its crossing

Let it be so

 

Let the world observe you decency

Let the world observe compassion

Let your enemy bow in shame