Saturday, June 13, 2020

Willful Ignorance (for James Baldwin)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Willful Ignorance

The words of a great man
From a former generation
Haunt the white man’s world
With the weight of eternal history
And the depth of eternal knowledge

“If you can overcome the curtain of my color”
Then we can live in peace
If not we will be at war perpetually
A war like most wars that no one can win

“I want exactly what you want”
I want to be left alone
I want to walk the streets of America
Without fear of never returning
To my home
I want my children and theirs
To grow up in safe neighborhoods
Where kindness and wisdom thrive
Where hatred and brutality fail

“You will listen or you will perish”
And we will perish together
Like pigs in a pen
Like fools in a pool of madness
We are human beings
We are not bison or beavers
That you can hunt into extinction
We are not leaving
This is our land as much as yours
You brought us here as slaves
But we are free
We have won our freedom
And we will not yield equality
We are here to stay
Make peace with that reality

(respectfully for James Baldwin)

Friday, June 12, 2020

Killing Doctors in Moscow

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Killing Doctors in Moscow

We show mercy to the terminally ill
We shoot animals in pain
They let doctors die in Russia
For telling the truth in vain

A doctor takes a solemn oath
To treat the sick and do no harm
When you witness dangerous situations
You have a duty to raise alarm

But the Kremlin thinks its surrounded
By a bubble of immunity
If they keep it all a secret
It does not hit your own community

It doesn’t matter where you’re from
Or where you practice your occupation
You deserve respect and common decency
From the leaders of your nation

So cry now for Moscow
And let your tears flow
The image of a proud nation
Falls to the one we know

Thursday, June 11, 2020

It Ain't Over

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



It Ain’t Over

You can’t end a war with a fantasy
You can’t tell a virus to cease and desist
You can’t halt death with a snap of your fingers
You can’t stop a storm with a wish

Did you think it would all disappear
If you said there was nothing to fear?
Did you believe it would go away
If you commanded it not to stay?

When we were bright eyed kids
And the world was ours to declare
We could pick up our marbles and leave
If we thought the game wasn’t fair

But those days are forever gone
We now face the fate we’ve earned
When we pour fuel on a fire
We know we will get burned

You can’t stop the sun from rising
You can’t stop the sea with a prayer
You can’t stop an eagle from flying
You can’t stop disease with a dare

It ain’t over till it’s over


Wednesday, June 10, 2020

New York Breakdown

RANDOM POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



New York Breakdown

Brutality on the streets of New York
Betrayal of the public trust
The shining beacon on an island
Has gone from boom to bust

New York we love you
But you’re beating us down *
The city of enlightenment
City of dreams now broken
And scattered into a million
Little pieces on bloodied ground

When the pandemic smashed into you
Like the first wave of a tsunami
We turned to you in admiration
We looked to you for salvation
We held you up for inspiration
We felt for you and prayed

Now you revert to political form
And blame the beaten
For being bruised

New York we love you
But you will be forsaken
After centuries of injustice
It’s time to awaken

[* LCD Soundsystem:
New York, I Love You but You’re Bringing Me Down]

Tuesday, June 09, 2020

Lockdown Pennsylvania Avenue

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Lockdown Pennsylvania Avenue

With the impeachment trial
An enemies list
Disdain for lawful protest
Rejection of civil rights
And disregard for civil liberties
The horrors of the day
Recall the reign of Tricky Dick
Who resigned in disgrace

But it was LBJ who hunkered down
In the Oval Office
Locked down in the White House
While an army of vocal protesters
Camped out beyond the fence
And refused to leave
LBJ ended his reign under siege

In an act of common decency
To spare the nation further pain
He refused to seek a second term
Acknowledged nothing more to gain

If only this president
Had the decency of LBJ
He would step down and fade away

But he is neither Nixon nor LBJ
He’s under lockdown behind razor wire
In the fortress on Pennsylvania Avenue
Alone and despondent
He knows now he couldn’t make the grade
He curses ghosts in the darkness
Lashes out at those he sees
Devolves into madness
Issuing his decrees

Johnson escalated Vietnam
Nixon doubled down
But neither put our troops
On American ground

Monday, June 08, 2020

Not Enough

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Not Enough

Justice calling with charges of
Second degree murder
Aiding and abetting
A first and second step
Toward peace
Not enough

Remove them from the force
And all their collaborators
End the conspiracy of silence
Review every case
The dirty cops ever touched
Compensate their victims
And free the abused
Put them behind bars
And ask how they like it now
Still not enough

Rebuild the inner cities
The westsides the eastsides
From the ground up
Provide decent housing
And living wages
An end to homelessness
And mass incarceration
Restore voting rights
Healthcare for all
Not enough

It will never be enough
Until the hearts and minds of all
Are altered at the core

It will never be enough
Until every bad cop
Is relieved of duty
Now and forever

It will not be enough
Until cops go to jail
For crimes committed
Behind the badge
Beneath the cover of darkness

It will never be enough
Until people of color
Can walk down the streets
Without fear of the color blue


Sunday, June 07, 2020

Vampires of Protest

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Vampires of Protest

Looters and instigators
Thieves and agitators
Brick throwers and manipulators
Leeches and parasites
Vampires of protest
Who hide out in the daylight
And only come out at night

Bloodsuckers feeding
On righteous indignation
The poison well of exploitation
Poised to march and ready to fight
But the vampires only
Come out at night

Justice seekers hit the streets
Day after day soldiers of light
To change what’s wrong
And uphold what’s right
A cause subverted by
Losers and lowlifes
A disgusting sight
They only come out at night

Saturday, June 06, 2020

Insurrection

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Insurrection

The uprising begins
The insurrection is upon us
Soldiers march on the streets of America
Our own against our own

Mounted police in the nation’s capital
Batons riot sticks and pepper spray
Facing down peaceful protesters
In the glaring light of day

The eyes of the world are watching
The earth bears witness to this offense
The official deployment of brutality
Against the right of the people to speak

The president declares insurrection
Swears an oath to beat them down
Like rabid dogs without homes
Put them in their rightful place
Restore law and order
As only brutes and monarchs can

Remember Kent State
Remember Ohio
Remember Jackson State
Remember Berkeley Square

The president declares war
On his own people
And we know how it ends
Someone must die
To appease the king
And uphold the lie
Of justice in America

Friday, June 05, 2020

Good People on Both Sides

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES


Good People

Some words never fade
They stick in your mind
Where you don’t want to look
And wait for a reckoning
A moment of clarity
When finally as if by magic
It all makes sense

Good people on both sides
Neo Nazis and civil rights protesters
Swastikas against peace symbols
Advocacy against insults
Reason against threats
Resistance against aggression

A woman crushed for taking a stand
Good people on both sides
A man killed for being black
Good people and bad apples

As the nation explodes in rage
Our president yields to silence
Except to encourage violence
Nothing against the racist extreme
Nothing against the white supreme
Blame it on antifa: the anti-fascists
Blame it on the leftist scourge
Get tough against the mob

Good people on both sides
Nothing about the man who died
Nothing to heal the nation’s divide
Nothing but MAGA pride

Good people on our side
The others are all terrorists
You know what we do with terrorists
Lock em up!
Crush em like cockroaches!
Stuff em in a cage!
Teach em a lesson they’ll take
To the grave!

Some words never fade
Some folks never change
Some are elected president
To remind us of our shame

Thursday, June 04, 2020

Burning Down Your Own House

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Burning Down Your Own House

Rage has no direction

It radiates like reflective light

You’re angry at the man

You’re angry at the world

Righteous anger is understood

But don’t burn down your hood

 

Been going on since the dawn of time

And nothing ever changes

We pretend to understand there’s a

Disease that infects the nation

But as time goes by we realize

It’s just another initiation

 

Our hearts grow cold and bitter

Our voices silent as a mouse

Anger burrows but it doesn’t help

To burn down your own damn house

 

The time will come as come it must

To turn the world around

Murder by the men in blue must end

It can’t be tolerated

The vast conspiracy of white silence

Must be terminated

 

It’s hard to wait another minute

But you know it does no good

To burn down the house of justice

When it’s in your neighborhood



Wednesday, June 03, 2020

Outside Agitators

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Outside Agitators

At the end of the trail
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
Stands with pride for his people
Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride
MLK sits in a Birmingham jail
And writes that justice is the rightful
Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march
Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers
Of Solano and Bakersfield
To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road
Steinbeck looks out across the great
Fields of plenty and proclaims the right
Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign
To win final passage of the ERA
Bella Abzug declares that the age of
Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day
Leaders rise to the occasion
To calm a divided nation
To ease our collective pain
To bring us together
(if only for a moment)
To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage
Our president wonders aloud
If he can send his opponents to jail
If he can outlaw voting by mail
If he can order soldiers to crush
Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis
Leaders answer the call
Pretenders fall






Tuesday, June 02, 2020

Leadership in a Time of Crisis

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD / CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Leadership

At the end of the trail
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce
Stands with pride for his people
Saying: I will fight no more forever

At the end of a long bus ride
MLK sits in a Birmingham jail
And writes that justice is the rightful
Inheritance of all human beings

At the end of a dusty march
Cesar Chavez stands with the farmworkers
Of Solano and Bakersfield
To declare their right to organize

At the end of a long hard road
Steinbeck looks out across the great
Fields of plenty and proclaims the right
Of all men and women to live in dignity

At the end of a long futile campaign
To win final passage of the ERA
Bella Abzug declares that the age of
Gender inequality is over

In times of crisis at the end of the day
Leaders rise to the occasion
To calm a divided nation
To ease our collective pain
To bring us together
(if only for a moment)
To reassure and awaken our faith

At the end of a twitter rampage
Our president wonders aloud
If he can send his opponents to jail
If he can outlaw voting by mail
If he can order soldiers to crush
Protesters in the streets

In times of crisis
Leaders answer the call
Pretenders fall



Monday, June 01, 2020

Up in Flames

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



Up in Flames

When flames broke out in Minneapolis
The soul of a nation caught fire
It might have been the world
From Moscow to Madrid
From Israel to Istanbul
From Panama to Paris
From Lisbon to London
Primed and ready to explode

Like that long forgotten summer
When Watts went up in flames
And the westside of every town
From San Diego to the coast of Maine
Balanced on the edge of eruption
Held their breaths
And waited

Strike a flint and watch it burn
People cannot hold in place
So long without giving way
Without finding some release
Without setting off a chain reaction
That reaches from the smallest village
To the vast metropolis of LA

Like that summer of 68
When the students of Paris
Claimed the streets demanding
Fundamental change
The authorities didn’t understand
They don’t understand today

We have reached a tipping point
We stand on the precipice
Of total cataclysmic destruction
There is no mother that doesn’t smell it
There is no father that does not sweat
The powder keg is filled to brimming
And no one is beyond the reach
Of its destructive pull

May cooler calmer heads prevail
May poets and preachers carry the day
This is not a time for vengeance
It is a time for common cause
A time for human kindness to rise
And unchecked anger to subside

We are all in this together
Heart to heart mind to mind
We are all in this together
And together we must find
A way out of this bind



Sunday, May 31, 2020

Protest in a Time of Pandemic

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Protest in a Time of Pandemic

The masses gather on the streets
Oblivious to the times
Rage surrounded by anger
Calls for justice shouts of indignation
Fear and fury grips the nation

They believe they’ve been granted immunity
By the righteousness of their cause
And the oppression of their community

The masses form a mob and push
A swirling wall of outrage
Chanting slogans waving signs
Demonstrating their despair
All while breathing toxic air

Swarming like disturbed hornets
Throwing elbows resisting calm
Taunting fingers seeking cover
Taking hits and shedding tears
While the cops exploit their fear
The gas swallows them whole
As they rush for shelter and affirm
A pledge of tribal unity

The right to gather in protest
The right to be heard
The right to live free and clear
May one day become
The right to die for your conviction

Some wore masks
Some did not
Some sought distance
Most forgot

Is it fair to ask
How many will die
For this one man’s brutal killing?