Cruel and Unusual

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEATH PENALTY

Cruel and Unusual

 

In times past a king executed a human

being with the wave of his hand

 

Beheading

Hanging

Stoning

A firing line

 

A king, a queen, an emperor, a commander

gave the order and the executor executed

It was common though it was cruel

 

Today we subject the accused to a trial

that can take months or years

To an appeals process that takes decades

And an execution that drags on and on

in finding a method of killing that is

something less than horrific

 

Electrocution

Chemical injection

The gas chamber

Hanging or firing line

 

It is no longer common

but it is cruel beyond belief

If we make cruelty common

it is no longer unconstitutional

but it remains unconscionable

immoral and devoid of humanity

 

We are experimenting with death

Manipulating methods of taking life

until we find one that masks its

inherent cruelty

 

Our nation and culture can never be

civilized until we ban this barbaric practice

Every individual who supports the death

penalty should be forced to watch an

execution in real time

 

The dying of the light is common

The taking of the light is cruel

The state should have no right

Let mercy be the rule

The Great Redeemer

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Redeemer

 

He was a man of sin

Greed, gluttony and lust

He’d do anything to win

A man you could not trust

 

He was reborn overnight

No one knows how or why

He saw a brilliant light

He could never tell a lie

 

Now he faces persecution

He is a martyr to the cause

He represents divine solution

In defiance of all laws

 

He is the great redeemer

He was chosen for this fight

Just look at his demeanor

He is sure to make it right

 

A higher source is calling

Do not get in the way

His enemies are falling

The dawn is here to stay

 

Deluge in San Diego

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Deluge in San Diego

 

The city of sunshine under water

A deluge of winter rain

A thousand years of history

Another mark of climate change

 

San Diego is a place of warmth

They are not prepared for flood

Their streets turned into rivers

Their fields turned into mud

 

We are all believers now

Our doubts have brought us shame

Once they would deny it all

They would not even say its name

 

So let the angry waters roar

Laying waste upon their path

The deluge pounds away the shore

An angry planet has it wrath

 

Please forgive us for our ignorance

Please forgive our foolish ways

We place ourselves at your mercy

Guide us through these tragic days

 

Loyalty

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLITICS

Loyalty

 

Loyalty is not a virtue

It is a servant without a core

Depending on its master

It is a hero or a whore

 

If I pledge my loyalty

To the leader of a cause

It becomes a reassurance

Almost worthy of applause

 

But if I give my sworn devotion

To a mob bent on destroying

My loyalty becomes a curse

Far worse than just annoying

 

Do not pledge you loyalty

To anyone you don’t know well

To do so may be a promise

To march blindly into hell

 

There Will Be Chaos

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

There Will Be Chaos

 

When a man tells you he’s bad

Take him at his word

When he says there will be chaos

Where exactly have we heard

That sort of thing before?

 

When he says there will be blood

Do not turn your head away

In the days before the flood

Would you decide to stay?

 

Take heed he is the voice

Of a violent angry mob

He is offering us a choice

His fortune for your job

 

There will be chaos and unrest

If he’s not allowed to run

There will be riots in the streets

Before his day is done

 

That’s a promise he will keep

Unlike the border wall

Beware and do not sleep

In the days before the fall

 

Conspiracy of the Elite

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CONSPIRACY

 

Conspiracy of the Elite

 

I have a friend who’s well-informed

on most matters

He believes the elite created and

disseminated a virus to control over

population

He believes they invented a vaccine

to pacify the masses

To alleviate the discontent that

infects the lower classes

 

My friend may not be wrong

but he’s certainly not right

Davos is a party where

they drink into the night

They despise Elon Musk

They don’t want him in their sight

They can’t agree on anything

No less the planet’s plight

 

All the super-secret societies

have gone public these days

They’re all twiddling their thumbs

to the latest Hollywood craze

 

They don’t care about the masses

They only care about themselves

As far as they’re concerned

The whole world can go to hell

 

A Blizzard in the Warming

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

A Blizzard in the Warming

 

The world is filled with ironies

A wicked winter storm

Belies the greater truth

The earth is growing warm

 

Like sunshine on a winter day

Or like the tree that shades us

A cold streak in the month of May

The greater truth evades us

 

The hottest year in millennia

One hundred thousand to be clear

Cave men at the dawn of time

Did not see so hot a year

 

I am not worried for the earth

I am not worried much at all

I’ve lived my life for what it’s worth

I’m nearly ready for the fall

 

But I’m worried for the young ones

Who have not fully lived their lives

The good old days are almost done

Soon the reckoning will arrive

 

Overcome (for MLK)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Overcome 

 

The sickness and the sorrow

Invades my soul this day

Of all the things I know

No one reveals the way

I don’t know where I’m going

I don’t know where I’m from

And yet I still believe

We shall overcome

 

I walked a lonely mile

With Bobby and the King

I marched into the setting sun

When he sang Let Freedom Ring!

There’s nothing left of them

But the instrument I strum

And yet I still have faith

We shall overcome

 

We overcame the monarch

We overcame the Klan

We overcame the royalists

Who fought the Rights of Man

I hear the soldiers crying out

The pounding of the drums

We will not turn and run this day

We shall overcome

 

I bathed in sacred waters

I reached a distant shore

When hunger stood before me

I knocked upon the door

She said I have no whiskey

But I’ve got a little rum

I shed a tear of joy and said

We shall overcome

 

Ecuador

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Ecuador

 

Ecuador is a lawless state

A hostile takeover by drug cartels

A legacy of corruption

Transformed a nation into hell

 

Ecuador is a sinking ship

It has signaled its distress

To fight against the drug lords

She needs the armies of the west

 

We are in an age when nations

Are no longer strong enough

To fight back against the cartels

That have become military tough

 

This is greater than any nation

It goes beyond mere law and order

It is a metastasizing monster

That crosses every border

 

If you want to solve the problem

Join together in full force

Fight against a common foe

And over time hold the course

 

Taiwan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Taiwan

 

Taiwan will not surrender

They refuse to bend the knee

They have sent the world a message

From across the China Sea

 

The voters faced a choice

To hold an independent course

Or to yield to the power of China

With it superior military force

 

They voted with their hearts

Not assured where it will lead

The beast may rear its head

Or plant a million seeds

 

The mainland is unphased

They choose to bide their time

Taiwan lives in their shadow

Despite an independent mind

 

What does the future hold?

No one living really knows

Each time the monster flexes

Our worries only grow

 

The War Zone

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

The War Zone

 

Every week by small degrees

The zone of conflict grows

From Lebanon to Yemen

Each side lands another blow

 

The Red Sea passage is open

But it is subject to attack

The flow of oil is threatened

The Houthis will strike back

 

There is more than meets the eye

In the growing zone of war

The pieces are in motion

Across the world’s chessboard

 

We know all the players

The proxies and the powers

Each move pushes forward

Toward the final hours

 

This is not a game of intellect

To exercise our minds

If we fail to see the whole

We are playing the game blind

 

Genocide in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Genocide in Gaza

 

The holocaust that some deny

The annihilation of the Jews

When millions of people died

Though the Nazi side would lose

 

While the destruction of Gaza fails

When a comparison is applied

To reach that horrific scale

It should not be denied

Israeli vengeance is off the rails

And the world cannot abide

 

The forced removal of a people

From the place where they reside

The destruction of their homeland

So vast, so deep, so wide

The mass killing of civilians

With nowhere to run or hide

There is no other word

No other construct to describe

A deliberate state of madness

That word is genocide

 

(South Africa accuses Israel before

the International Criminal Court.)

A New Coalition

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

A New Coalition

 

Old school politics are dead and gone

The Grand Old Party is a fraud

The politics of right and wrong

Give a smile and spare the rod

The weakest ones are now the strong

There’s never been a party of God

We knew better all along

That road has been well trod

 

We need a brand-new coalition

Free of what we’ve done before

No more props or superstitions

Shove the old guard out the door

Say goodbye to politicians

We don’t want you anymore

 

If you believe in democracy

Join together and be heard

All our voices against autocracy

United is the sacred word

 

United for our legacy

United in our vote

United against our enemies

United in our hope