Constructive Action

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Constructive Action

 

Constructive action is the fruit of knowledge

So the wise ones say *

Without knowledge we are wandering

Through the open fields of play

 

It is not enough to know

It is not enough to worry

Let your true feelings show

Whose favor would you curry?

 

We are our greatest enemies

We block the way of progress

To sit and feel a sense of ease

To fail our nation’s test

 

Americans will always rise

When our republic is in danger

From foreign or domestic spies

Our “leaders” or wealthy strangers

 

It’s not enough to shake our heads

To grimace in despair

To scoff at something someone said

To know it is not fair

 

So raise your hand and take a pledge

To vote each chance you get

Our virtue balanced on the edge

Our courage must be set

 

Let those who can take to the streets

Let others form alliance

Take hands with everyone you meet

Resistance and defiance!

 

* Chinese fortune cookie

 

(for John Miles)

Tesla Falls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Tesla Falls (Ode to Elon)

 

Sales of Tesla fall in France

The end of a green romance

The same holds true in Denmark

Where sales have lost their spark

They’ve lost their wonder in Berlin

In the Netherlands they cannot win

Tesla falls across the sphere

Wherever they can see and hear

The end of Tesla drawing near

They’ve seen it and they fear

 

They do not welcome autocrats

Who flaunt their rabid power

Those billionaires and greedy cats

Who build their faulty towers

The oligarchs and fascist pigs

Who flaunt their Nazi loyalties

Who celebrate at fascist gigs

As if they’re fascist royalty

 

So take your piles of dirty cash

And toss them down a hole

They’ve tired of your act at last

A man who lacks a soul

 

DEI (Diversity, Equity, Inclusion)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

DEI

 

Diversity is not a vice

White people are not oppressed

Here’s a little sound advice

Diversity drives success

 

Equity is not a sin

It literally means fair

Where does common sense begin?

Is there something in the air?

 

Inclusion is the way to be

The best that we can do

As anyone can plainly see

Engaging many points of view

 

We know what this is all about

And merit is not it

Rage against but have no doubt

The reason for this fit

 

They want us all to place the blame

On the people they don’t like

The darker ones by any name

The ones who are not white

 

(Trump bans DEI in government.)

 

US Against the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

US Against the World

 

He won’t stand for any opposition

At any time or any place

He’ll knock you down with great volition

Then he’ll throw it in your face

 

He is the king of all he sees

On every subject he knows best

There is no island he can’t seize

To rule the planet is his quest

 

Do you dare to call him brutal?

He will show you what it means

All attempts to calm him futile

He acts just like an impulsive teen

 

He will strike out anyone

Friends and enemies are the same

All who live beneath the sun

Must bow down to his name

 

Not content to rule one nation

He alone would have it all

All the earth in subjugation

The rise before a fatal fall

 

(Trump sanctions the ICC.)

The Great Purge

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP DAZE

 

The Great Purge

 

The purge has begun

On holocaust remembrance day

Thousands of migrant workers

Detained and sent their way

Venezuelans and Columbians

Mexicans who came to stay

The government purges bureaucrats

The military purges trans

Justice purges Democrats

There’s fear throughout the land

 

As the purge is taking hold

We begin to understand

It’s a purge of young and old

A hiring freeze and ban

The agents of immigration

Are breaking down the doors

Without warrant or invitation

It’s an immigration war

They’re just following orders

But it’s rotten to the core

 

Gaza Takeover

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Gaza Takeover

 

American ownership of the Gaza Strip

The United States as empire

Mass eviction of the Palestinians

The Middle East on fire

 

What will become of the West Bank?

What will become of Palestine?

A hostile takeover of a sovereign land

A proclamation from the divine

 

It is genocide by any other name

A line drawn in the desert sand

A declaration of eternal shame

The occupation of a foreign land

 

The world will simply stand aside

While we usurp all power

All other nations must abide

The is the American hour

 

We’ll set up beachfront properties

For the rich and upper classes

We’ll occupy the land with ease

Evict the native masses

 

(Trump proposes US ownership

of the Gaza Strip.)

 

Canadian Pride (Trade War)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CANADA

Canadian Pride

 

We’re sorry about our leader

He doesn’t care that we’re allied

He is the great deceiver

He’s aroused Canadian pride

 

No one wins a trade war

The harm is system wide

We’ve opened up a nasty door

We’ve hurt Canadian pride

 

Who knows if he’ll relent

He’s more stubborn that a mule

His sense of fairness bent

He would rather play the fool

 

Than admit that he was wrong

To consider another side

He’ll sing that Maga song

He’s aroused Canadian pride

 

We’re stuck for four more years

Four years on this wild ride

This is not the worst we fear

We praise Canadian pride

 

Homeless in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

Homeless in Gaza

 

Homelessness in Gaza

Is beyond out of control

These people need a job

Filling up their many holes

They’re lazy and they’re useless

There’s so much to be done

Give them all a shovel

A home for everyone

If they cannot find a home

Send them out the door

If they cannot find a job

Learn how to be poor

 

This homelessness must end

There can be no excuse

Let them go to Egypt

Let them be of use

Working in their homes

Working in their fields

Slavery is just a word

Working for a meal

It’s better than being homeless

It’s better than the war

If Gazans do not like it

Show them what’s in store

 

(Trump suggests sending Gazans

to Egypt and Syria.)

 

Sorrow's Garden

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

Sorrow’s Garden

 

Solemnity has taken the land

Our brothers and sisters are hiding

Mistakenly we elected a man

Whose one true gift is dividing

 

They’re loading them on planes and trains

They’re sending them far away

They’re leaving behind a moral stain

Our shining colors turned to gray

 

And who will speak for them in sorrow?

And who will dry their tears?

And who will work the fields tomorrow?

And who will count the years?

 

They are the people of the earth

We have known them as our friends

Citizens by right of birth

When will this madness end?

 

We have seen this many times before

We blame hard times on others

We cry out shame and bar the door

On our good sisters and brothers

 

You Own It (Don't Complain)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

You Own It (Don’t Complain)

 

Hyperinflation fed by tariffs

An acute shortage of farm workers

An outbreak of bird flu

A loss of worker gains

You voted for it

You own it

Don’t complain

 

The annexation of Georgia

The rise of dictatorship

The decline of democracy

The end of Ukraine

You voted for it

You own it

Don’t complain

 

Chains of hurricanes

Storms of mass destruction

The collapse of coastal cities

Flood and fire uncontained

You voted for it

You own it

Don’t complain

 

You may not care about immigrants

You may not care about free speech

You may not care about voting rights

But you all will feel the pain

You voted for it

You own it

Don’t complain

 

The Fate of Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Fate of Ukraine

 

The fate of Ukraine is in our hands

So many people have died

So much violence and bloodshed

For the sake of one man’s pride

 

We know this war must someday end

That day is coming soon

Ukraine will lose its strongest friend

The waning of the moon

 

They will leave a trail of brutality

The armies of the north

A bitter cruel reality

They’ve marked a tragic course

 

A proud and sovereign nation

Has paid a price in blood

In a war of deprivation

The stream became a flood

 

The invader on his bloody horse

The Kremlin’s mighty fist

If fate would hold its brutal course

Ukraine will not exist

 

Separation (Church and State)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Separation

 

The wall dividing church and state

Is crumbling into dust

From the land of pluribus unum

To in God we all must trust

 

Whose God?  Only mine

What book?  The book divine

Take down the walls of separation

We are a Christian nation

 

To hell with our first founding

The founders got it wrong

We have a religious grounding

We were Christians all along

 

The church will be our only voice

There can be no other way

The others will not have a choice

The church will rule the day

 

We’ll all be better off somehow

No one can disagree

All will sing in harmony

One ship upon the sea

Nullification (14th Amendment)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Nullification

 

If the president can nullify the constitution

With the waving of his pen

Erase the founders’ contribution

Just how can we pretend?

There is no constitution at all

 

If the president by his decree

With the power of the gods and fate

Can tell us what the law will be

Then the constitution of the United States

In all its vaunted majesty must fall

 

If the Court upholds this grievous act

To expose our constitution’s flaw

Then they become political hacks

Without regard for the rule of law

Then they’ve betrayed us all

 

A person born in freedom’s land

Is a citizen by entitled right

He should not fear to take a stand

Or hide or from the law take flight

All citizens stand brave and tall

 

(Trump negates birthright citizenship

by executive decree.)

 

A Slow Descent

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

A Slow Descent

 

Democracy does not die easy

It begins by forgiving acts of betrayal

It begins by selling influence

It begins by casting doubt

It begins by creating a great divide

The US against the THEM

It proceeds by a thousand cuts

Each one a compromise

A demeaning of the others

A rewriting of history

It begins by convincing people

That elections are unnecessary

That the ruling class knows best

That the richest of the rich

Are the smartest of the smart

The fairest of the fair

The wisest of the wise

We have begun that slow descent

Into rule by aristocracy

The end of our democracy

Unless we wake up

 

Tik Tok

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHINA

Tik Tok

 

He’s got something up his sleeve

An instrument of Chinese power

Tik Tok wins a late reprieve

Must be the Chinese hour

 

They’re collecting information

On every teenaged girl and boy

All to serve a sovereign nation

Though we may think it’s just a toy

 

The Russians have their ways

The Chinese have their own

We have seen the way it plays

The kids are dancing to their tone

 

We will see how this plays out

When the next election comes around

Will the Chinese gain new clout?

Will it shake our shaky ground?

 

Xi Jinping is not our friend

He will undo us if he can

On his motives we can depend

It is the long-term Chinese plan

Leonard Peltier is Free

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Leonard Peltier is Free

 

Of all the things Joe Biden did

In the final moments of his presidency

After fifty years of imprisonment

He set Leonard Peltier free

 

By this singularly important act

An act of executive clemency

By granting one man his freedom

He set a cause and a movement free

 

The FBI will raise a cry

But justice has been done

A long time late and bittersweet

But this battle has been won

 

Remember him at Wounded Knee

Remember what he sacrificed

For being a man of principle

He was chosen to pay the price

 

Like Geronimo before him

Like Crazy Horse and Sitting Bull

A spirit guide turned warrior

A hero and a man in full

 

Britain Takes the Lead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Britain Takes the Lead

 

As the US takes a neutral lane

Great Britain takes the lead

In a new alliance with Ukraine

An agreement signed with speed

 

The world’s preparing for the day

When America is in retreat

Ukraine must find another way

Or face a certain defeat

 

A one-hundred-year alliance

A promise for the ages

A higher level of reliance

As the war in Ukraine rages

 

While the future is uncertain

Across the hemispheres

Russia rebuilds its iron curtain

Triggering our darkest fears

 

Will Ukraine still be a nation

When the US is withdrawn?

Or will a new allied creation

Awaken a new dawn?

 

The Oligarchs

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Oligarchs

 

The oligarchs are taking over

Let the people stand aside

The wheel of power grinding slower

The nation must abide

 

The oligarchs are everywhere

Every branch is in their hands

They own the water and the air

Maybe now we’ll understand

 

When we failed to limit money

As they bought our politicians

They all thought it kind of funny

When they fed us superstitions

 

They bought the way we worship

They bought the news we get

Just listen to their news clips

The propaganda field is set

 

The oligarchs are taking hold

Of every means to power

The takeover is crass and bold

They own the media towers

 

Don’t say we didn’t warn you

We informed you loud and clear

Our democracy will mourn you

As they magnify our fears

 

No Time for War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

No Time for War

 

A crisis around every corner

Never knowing what’s in store

When you’re fighting for survival

There is no time for war

 

The beasts of the apocalypse

Come knocking at our door

Fire, flood and pestilence

There is no time for war

 

The rising tides of warming

Are swallowing the shores

If you’re inside the danger zone

There is no time for war

 

The cost of finding shelter

From the deadliest of storms

When no one has an answer

This is no time for war

 

The pillars of our society

Are shaken to the core

The pressures and anxiety

This is no time for war