Reaching for Gratitude (Thanksgiving)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Reaching for Gratitude

 

In the overwhelming times

Of dread and disappointment

The relentless days of gray

The dismal nights of longing

The endless drone of mourning

We extend our wanting arms

Our open palms of yearning

The simple grace of gratitude

 

I am grateful for the autumn bloom

Of bright and glowing colors

The oranges of Hieronymus Bosch

The sunsets of Maxfield Parrish

The colors of enlightenment

The forever changing earth

 

I am grateful for the friendships

I have built over the years

The ones who never turn away

Despite the madness or the tears

 

I am grateful for my family

What greater fortune can there be?

The warm embrace of family bonds

The strength of the family tree

 

I am grateful for good tidings

That warm our worried hearts

That single promise of forever

We will never be apart

 

I am grateful for so many things

Far beyond my reach or touch

For all the things that give me hope

I confess it’s all too much

 

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Heartless

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

Heartless

 

How do you tell a child

This world no longer wants you?

How do you tell a child

You must leave your home?

 

Millions of mothers and fathers

Aunts, uncles and grandparents

Must now have that conversation

To prepare for the uncertainty

Of the days that lie ahead

 

Juanita, you are not welcome here

Jose, it is time to go

Your friends are not your friends

Your teachers will not protect you

The police are now your enemies

They will take you from your home

They will place you in a cage

They will make you feel alone

Your family is your only refuge

There is no one else

It is time to go

 

Yesterday is yesterday

Say goodbye to all you know

All that was is no longer

What remains is a lonely road

 

The Chinese Hack

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHINA

The Hack

 

A weapon of war or the men in black?

A declaration of warlike intent?

Beyond all doubt the Chinese hack

Reveals a heart and motive bent

 

The Chinese have been our friends

In business and in trade

On them the corporate world depends

The nation’s workers we betrayed

 

In Xi Jinping we placed our trust

Now we’d like to take it back

Our good relations will go bust

In respect for the Chinese hack

 

China clearly wants to reign

Far beyond the Asiatic sphere

This hack will leave a lasting stain

That all the western world should fear

 

The global balance has gone wrong

The global train is off the tracks

We curse the powerful and strong

Strike back at the Chinese hack

 

Tulsi Gabbard

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

Tulsi (Fox in the Henhouse)

 

The fox is guarding the henhouse

The hens are running scared

The cat has cornered the mouse

Betray her if you dare

 

She is on Putin’s payroll

We’ve long known it is so

She delivers Russian talking points

On all the rightwing shows

 

Now Tulsi holds the keys

To all our secrets and our plans

Our weapons and our strategies

And where we’ll make a stand

 

If that doesn’t give you pause

You’ve lost all sense of reason

What she will do despite our laws

Will tempt a charge of treason

 

I do hope that I am wrong

But I fear that I am right

She will sing a Russian song

And she will fight the Russian fight

 

(Tulsi Gabbard announced as

Trumps choice for Director of

National Intelligence.)

 

Oil on the Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Oil on the Fire

 

We all know who’s to blame

The cold aggressor in this war

North Koreans in the flames

You have brought them to the door

Now you want Ukraine to fold

You warn of consequence most dire

Because your enemies grow bold

You call it oil on the fire

 

Would you have them raise their hands?

Should they surrender to your might?

We all know what you have planned

Ukraine would vanish from our sight

 

You’ve put your bankroll on the table

Now you are counting on your friends

To fight as long as you are able

Before this horror finds an end

You’ll swear you never felt a threat

Though you have wallowed in the mire

The mighty Kremlin is in debt

You’ve poured oil on the fire

 

(Putin accuses the US of throwing

oil on the fire: ATACMS missiles.)

 

Putin's Gamble

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN

Putin’s Gamble

 

What he could not accomplish

on the battlefields of Ukraine

He has accomplished on the

stage of American politics

 

Where he could not succeed

in France or the Netherlands

He has triumphed in the vast

open plains and the industrial

Midwest and the deep southern

forests of America

 

He gambled it all

on the wickedly flawed

American electoral laws

 

He gambled it all

on a conman from Queens

with his propaganda machine

 

The whole world will attest

Putin won the west

and with it he won Ukraine

 

The Air in Delhi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Air in Delhi

 

They have closed the schools in Delhi

There is poison in the air

The smoke and dust of industry

Is more than anyone can bear

 

They are breathing fine particulates

That climb into their lungs

It is killing off their elders

It is poisoning their young

 

All this to serve the masses

To meet the world’s demands

The toxic air is spreading outward

From India to Pakistan

 

They know well it is not healthy

But they feel there is no choice

The people have a desperate need

Though they have a quiet voice

 

They breathe the air they’re given

They will sacrifice their health

Their growing numbers in cheap labor

Supply much of the nation’s wealth

 

Days of Change

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

 

 DAYS OF CHANGE

The assassinations of JFK, MLK & Bobby

Each event a nation mourned

Each event a hidden element celebrated

We wondered who benefited

Who struck a deal with the devil

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The killing of the kids at Kent State

The killings at Jackson State

Shit got real fast

We knew how they hated us

We did not know how much

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The resignation of LBJ

Now we knew we could bring change

We could stop an evil war

Bring peace to the killing fields

A new era of hope and wonder

That’s when they killed Bobby

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The resignation of Richard Nixon

The man who embraced China

The man who elevated dictators

The man who won 49 states

The man who hired burglars

And kept a long enemies list

Resigned in disgrace

Days of wonder

Days of change

 

The morning the twin towers fell

An act of unconscionable violence

The death of thousands

A declaration of vengeance

The global war on terror

Iraq and Afghanistan

Days of sorrow

Days of change

 

The reelection of Donald Trump…

Jack Random is the author of eight novels (including Pawns to Players and Wasichu), three collections of short stories, two volumes of plays, ten volumes of political essays (Jazzman Chronicles) and six books of poetry (including Life Songs and Lost in Her Soul).  His most recent works are Poemics Americana and Poemics International (Crow Dog Press).

North Korea Crosses the Line

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Korea Crosses the Line

 

Japan and South Korea in the East China Sea

Sending Xi Jinping a warning sign

Crossing swords with the Philippines

While North Korea crosses the line

 

The Russians are emboldened

By the election in the west

A new deal with the dear leader

Will their new weapons pass the test?

Meanwhile Trump is almost giddy

Netanyahu is his special guest

While most of Europe is in mourning

The autocrats are feeling fine

The Ukrainians are in panic

North Korea has crossed the line

 

What kind of world are we handing down?

To an undeserving generation?

A world of warming wayward bound

Years of war and devastation

 

Is it too late to sound a warning?

Is it too late to make a change?

We are in the age of warming

With all solutions out of range

Flames of November

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Flames of November

 

As fire rips through the great northeast

We will long remember

The flames of November

As the warming gathers its feast

 

We look back on the days not long ago

When the soil was too wet for flames

The season passed through November slow

And the seasons were largely the same

 

Now the laws of nature no longer apply

The flames find root in dry ground

We are not at leave to wonder why

Though the naysayers still astound

 

The age of the warming will take its toll

Beware the flames of November

The vast destruction was foretold

For those who care to remember

 

Now the world is in its final throes

Though the world will not surrender

We will live to sing our song of woe

Just remember the flames of November

 

Conscientious Objection

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

Conscientious Objection

 

There was a man named Olaf *

I remember him quite well

I remember his defiance

On the day his brothers fell

Olaf held his principles

Until the day he died

While all around him faltered

His conscience did abide

 

The more we look around

The closer we inspect

All citizens have a right

To conscientiously object

 

We are watching as our freedom

Is threatened to the core

The truth has little value

Our rights have little more

A woman’s right to choose

The right to organize

The right to march the streets

To call out all the lies

 

The more we see their actions

The less we can respect

All citizens have a duty

To conscientiously object

 

* I Sing of Olaf by e.e. cummings

 

Wind and Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Wind and Fire

 

Wind and fire, thunder and rain

The world we live in

Is a world of pain

From Southern Cal to the south of Spain

Wind and fire, thunder and rain

 

We don’t believe in the warming earth

Our faith can stop the rain

To a new world we are giving birth

Our powers will not wane

 

Fire and smoke, wind and rage

The time we live in

Is an angry age

In every nation on the world stage

Smoke and fire, wind and rage

 

We the people have lost our way

We’ve sold out to the money crowd

If you have the money they’ll let you play

No dissident or dissent allowed

 

Flood and storm, wind and fire

We’re balanced on

A high tightwire

With consequence both harsh and dire

Raging storms, wind and fire

The Case for the Kurds

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Case for the Kurds

 

Erdogan is arresting rival leaders

For their connections to the Kurds

Disregard the lies you’re told

Put aside what you have heard

The Kurds are freedom fighters

You can take them at their word

 

They fight for their own homeland

For an independent nation state

They have earned their right to freedom

And no longer will they wait

They want back what they have lost

They believe it is their fate

 

They fought like lions against ISIS

They were our allies and our friends

This should never be denied

Their cause will never bend

Despite the avalanche of lies

There is a message we must send:

 

Give them what they deserve

Admit their cause is right

Take them at their solemn word

Stand behind them in their fight

 

The Next Phase (Resistance)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY

The Next Phase (Resist)

 

We approach a turning point

A transition in the struggle

An acceleration in our efforts

Or a fundamental change

A continuation of the battle

Or the start of a new phase

 

What applies in America

Applies equally in Ukraine

As we await the election

We prepare for a change

If it is not as we have hoped

If the unthinkable comes to pass

We begin the resistance

A phase that will last

 

In the battle for democracy

We will take it to the streets

If they strike us down like cattle

We will march to a different beat

We will march in silent protest

We will refuse to move on

We will test the limits of their brutality

We will fold back if necessary

Into the shadows of resistance

And we will resist

 

In the battle for Ukraine

If the unthinkable comes to pass

The Russians and their allies

Become the hated occupiers

Ukraine becomes the resistance

How long can the occupation hold?

The spirit of independence lives

The resistance will not fold

Forever and a day

We will resist

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

The occupation will fail

 

Forever and a day

We will resist

 

The Day that Shook the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Day that Shook the World

 

We should have seen it coming

The writing was on the wall

The day that shook the world

May be the day that we fall

 

Europe stands on edge

Ukraine is on the line

NATO is forming contingencies

For a world that is realigned

 

Vladimir Putin wears a smile

That will last until tomorrow

The dictators are in ecstasy

The free world is in sorrow

 

A new age has begun

Filled with worry and despair

The autocrats are in power

And corporations do not care

 

About the warming of the planet

About protecting human rights

About the fall of a republic

We watch it vanish from our sight

 

Mourning in America

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Mourning in America

 

The majority* of Americans

Have made their feeling clear

The rest of us are mourning

For the nation we hold dear

 

We cannot deny the mandate

Unlike the opposing side

We’ve lost our democratic state

Now we’re forced to take a ride

 

Down the autocratic lane

Where brutes and tyrants live

So begins the tyrant’s reign

That history will not forgive

 

It is mourning in America

And all around the world

The once proud democracy

Into the void was hurled

 

We will not give up hope

We’ll rise to fight again

We’re facing a daunting slope

With a deep desire to win

 

* Plurality

Erosion of Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Erosion of Democracy

 

We do not lose democracy overnight

It erodes gradually over years

We watch it happen without a fight

It does not arouse our deepest fears

 

They strip away our voting rights

They degrade our vote with gerrymander

They push our protests out of sight

They diminish our side with candor

 

The wealthy buy our fourth estate

They take control of our information

They beat us down and call it great

Say goodbye to our once great nation

 

Our corporate mobsters have the power

Awarded by the Court Supreme

Some will applaud the final hours

The death of the American dream

 

Will we rise from our deep despair?

To gain back what we have lost

There are far too many who do not care

Bend the knee to our new boss