Don't Swim in the Seine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

Swimming in the Seine

 

There are many things that you can do

Like singing in the rain

Like driving down a lonely road

Or strolling down a country lane

You can take a trip to Iceland

You can spend some time in Spain

You can say or do a million things

And do them once again

But you can’t swim in the Seine

 

For the river is a toxic stew

It would surely make you ill

You might survive the poisoning

If you take a magic pill

You might do it if you dared

But the wiser will refrain

There’s a world of awe in Paris

It’s a place where one has been

But don’t swim in the Seine

 

You can walk down Champs Elysees

You can visit Musee d’Orsay

Bow down before the Arc de Triomphe

Pay your respect to Notre Dame

You cannot miss la Tour Eiffel

Nor the grace of Pere Lachaise

The Louvre is filled with wonders

You can share them with a friend

But you can’t swim in the Seine

 

Day of Change

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Day of Change

 

What will we do when the lights go out?

When the grid no longer holds?

Will we find a place to hide away?

Or has our refuge since been sold?

 

What will we do when the lakes go dry?

When the rivers no longer flow?

Will we steal away our water supply?

Will we pack our bags and go?

 

A day of change is coming

We can feel it in the air

The ties that bind have come undone

It is much too much to bear

 

Will we sacrifice our decency?

Our sense of right and wrong?

Will we cast aside our dignity?

Have we known it all along?

 

That day of change is coming

The pounding of the sun

Best settle in the best we can

There is no place to run

 

France is France Again

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

France is France Again

 

The voice of France has risen

France is France again

A unity of disparate parties

Has defeated Marine Le Pen

 

There’s a lesson in this for all of us

Who are facing a similar choice

The way to defeat the extremist right

Is to find a united voice

 

They vilify the “others”

They exploit the people’s fears

They claim to have the answers

As the end of days draws near

 

But there answer is a power grab

That elevates their own

They dismantle your republic

And build a fascist throne

 

All of France can celebrate

But we must stand on guard

It’s easy to lose democracy

Maintaining it is hard

 

Strange Times

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Strange Times

 

The vagaries of changing clime

Wars in desperate lands

We place ourselves in other’s hands

These are the strangest times

 

We’re looking for someone to lead

Out of this wilderness

Someone who knows to plant a seed

To guide us with finesse

 

The end of our democracy

We’re on the edge of falling

Welcome to autocracy!

The ghost of Hitler calling

 

We’re living in the strangest days

We hope we will survive

Too late to learn another way

The hard times have arrived

 

But no one will give up the fight

On that you can depend

We have a sense of wrong and right

We’ll fight until the end

 

American King

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

American King

 

He can do anything he wants to do

He can lock her up

He can make lies true

He’s the master and we’re the slaves

He could have his name engraved

On the Statue of Liberty

On the Emancipation Proclamation

On the constitution of the nation

 

America! Of thee I sing!

All hail the American King!

 

I never thought I’d see the day

When we’d sacrifice our rights

When we’d throw it all away

And sail into an endless night

We’ve place him on a throne

So now we stand alone

We pray for his benevolence

For we’ve lost our independence

 

America! Of thee I sing!

All hail the American King!

 

Losing France

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Losing France

 

Losing France to Marine Le Pen

Is like losing a dearest friend

France is the heart of Europe

This wound may never mend

 

The fascist crowd will celebrate

The Vlad will raise a glass

A victory for war and hate

The flags are at half mast

 

Liberty is on the wane

Paris is in mourning

Fear and loathing rise again

To all this is a warning

 

They say there is another chance

There will be another round

A rising of the soul of France

A chance to hear that sound

 

Of people singing everywhere

That song of patriot’s pride

A song of freedom if you dare

Let us hear it far and wide

 

Time to Let Go (Dear Joe)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Time to Let Go

 

You’ve been a good president

Some would even say great

But the man we saw last night

At the presidential debate

Was lacking in substance

And slow at the plate

It pains me to say it

But in your heart you know

Dear Joe, it’s time to let go

 

The man at your side

Told lie after lie

But you stumbled and fell

And you gave him a bye

You failed on abortion

You failed on Ukraine

That you’re not fit for office

Has become more than plain

It gives me no pleasure

But the whole nation knows

Dear Joe, it’s time to let go

 

For the good of the nation

For the sake of mankind

We cannot go forward

With a man who is blind

To the stone-cold reality

Of the truth that we find

The whole planet saw it

And the whole world knows

Dear Joe, it’s time to let go

The Strange Case (Julian Assange)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY

The Strange Case

 

The strange case of Julian Assange

Will be an anecdote in history

He exposed the dirty lies of war

But his motives were a mystery

When he aided by omission

The campaign of a pretender

He went after one candidate

But he spared the worst offender

Who ever landed on the stage

With the help of Brother Vlad

In defiance of his age

We went from good to bad

 

Those who were offended

By the consequence of his actions

Will not accept or forgive him

Or his strained loyal faction

We hold him much to blame

For the threat to our nation

He should hide his head in shame

He should forego the celebration

For his reasoning was lame

When he served the Russian station

Did he really go insane

Or did he just enjoy sensation?

 

Democracy Fatigue

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

Democracy Fatigue

 

We’ve grown tired of democracy

We want someone to tell us

What to think and

What to do

We want someone to tell us

What is false

And what is true

 

Democracy is troublesome

You have to stay informed

You have to reason

You have to vote

You have to take a stand

You have to try and talk it out

When you don’t understand

 

Why not let it go?

Why not put it all to rest?

They are smarter

They are better

Why not let them do it all?

We’d hardly notice anyway

Why not let democracy fall?

 

And so we let it go

We just let it slip away

No more worry

No more bother

Like a friend we used to know

We never really cared

It was all just for show

 

But then they take your freedom

All the rights you took for granted

You shake your head

You walk away

What else can you do?

You have no right to speak

They decide it’s not for you

 

You don’t know until you lose it

The land of liberty

You object

You didn’t know

How important it could be

But now it’s far too late

That ship went out to sea

The Love Letters

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Love Letters

 

Remember those charming love letters

That our (former) president loved so much

Written with boundless affection

With a gentle and giving touch

 

All of you who have spoken ill

Of the man in the Oval Office

Who have blasted your obscenities

From the beds of moving trucks

If we lived under Kim Jong-un

You would find yourself imprisoned

Incapacitated or worse

Condemned to reeducation

Under the cloud of the leader’s curse

 

Remember the brotherly romance

Of our then president and the Vlad

The animosity that we showed him

Made our leader extremely sad

 

All of you who have expressed doubts

About the sanctity of our elections

If we lived under Putin’s rule

Your votes would be cast out

You children would be sent to fight

For the conquest of Ukraine

Your freedom would be compromised

Beyond all recognition

You would find yourself against a wall

In a compromised position

 

Be grateful for what we have

Be careful not to lose it

If democracy is not your bag

We can end it if you choose it

 

America Found

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

America Found (the Awakening)

 

We have lost our way before

We are not a perfect nation

We regarded the protectors of the land

As something less than human

As beasts to be exterminated

Or tamed and put in cages

It took centuries to awaken

To know the error of our ways

But we have awakened

To set forth a better day

 

We enslaved generations of blacks

We denied their basic humanity

We put them in chains

When they demanded their freedom

We hunted them down like rabid dogs

We whipped and hobbled them

We killed and raped them

It took centuries to awaken

To accept the truth that we betrayed

But we have awakened

To a more enlightened way

 

We have fought unprovoked wars

Unjust wars of mass destruction

We have followed poor leaders

We have embraced corporate greed

We have turned the clock backwards

We have stripped away rights

We have sanctioned child labor

We have done evil things

In our God’s holy name

But we have always awakened

In the spirit of righteous shame