Wednesday, April 08, 2020

Ode to a Balladeer (for John Prine)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Ode to a Balladeer

He sang the heart of America
From a place in the deepest soul
He understood the working man
A woman left yearning
A child’s world of wonder
An elder in an old folks home
What it’s like to be alone

He put himself inside
A stranger at your door
The deepest wounds of war
A woman at the kitchen sink
Wondering what it’s for
He dug beneath the surface
Tapped deep into the core

He was loved everywhere he went
An angel from Montgomery sent
Never lonely in his later years
Never had to buy a beer
A brother or a friend most dear
A warm smile was always near
At home in every town
With saints or sullen clowns

Now he’s on the other side
Looking back at us with that wry grin
Maybe tipping a glass of gin
Waiting for someone to say
Hello out there
Goodbye

He understood us better than
We understand ourselves

(for John Prine)

Tuesday, April 07, 2020

Solace

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Solace

At times of hardship
When the weight of the world
Comes down on you with the force
Of eternal woe

Seek solace in the ones you love
Seek comfort in joyful memories
Discover truth in acts of kindness
Find warmth in words you treasure
Hold onto the grace in pleasing melodies
Take heart in familiar passions
Take refuge in the love of family
And welcome the love of friends

We will survive these wretched times
To emerge stronger and more wise
But it will steal so many hours
And it will cost so many lives

Seek solace for the harm will pass
While love kindness and faith will last

Monday, April 06, 2020

Profiteering

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Profiteering

To those who see opportunity in tragedy
How much is a human life worth? 

To those who make money from misfortune
Would you trade your sacred soul
For a seat at the table of avarice? 

To those senators who converted
Secret knowledge of a global pandemic
Into stock market treasure
You have forfeited your right to serve
You have lost your place in civil society
You have lost the love of your fellow travelers
And the good and gracious will of humanity

You have lost the right to count yourself
Among the kind and decent people
Who survive without your help

Sunday, April 05, 2020

Flat Earth Society

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Flat Earth Society

The society is pleased to announce
A series of meetings for fifty or more
In spaces that hold seventy-five or less

On the agenda we relate
The appropriate response to the coronavirus
Or whistling Dixie while the ship goes down

We look forward to our planned activities
Bobbing for juicy red apples
Licking peppermint flavored envelopes
Heard it through the grapevine
Blowing out the candles
Sharing the community dip
And many other get-close activities
Fun for the entire family

We close each session as always
With a rousing rendition of
Good Night Irene

Saturday, April 04, 2020

Laughter in a Time of Pestilence

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Laughter in a Time of Pestilence

Now more than ever find the humor
In everyday things

The way your neighbor strikes a pose
The way your aunt Rose sings
The way a glance seems out of place
The way her eyes sit on her face

A scientist plays a fool
A genius struggles at school
A gardener in a surgeon’s mask
A penguin wobbling fast
A dentist who never smiles
A fast runner finishing last

A small man standing tall
A proud man takes a fall
A fancy Dan tromps through mud
A wily weakling plays the stud

In a time of sickness death and sorrow
Find the moments that amuse
Survive the hours till tomorrow
Find a way to beat the blues

Friday, April 03, 2020

Future World

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Future World

The question is not whether we will survive
The question is in what form will we survive

We are the creators of a self-perpetuating
Technology that will soon exceed the
Capabilities of the collective human mind

We can never be erased
We can never be eliminated
We cannot be destroyed without
Destroying the very soul of creation

We will exist but in what form?
As caged curiosities for probing?
Or as fully functional humans?

The choice may not be ours
Perhaps it never was

Thursday, April 02, 2020

Play Ball!

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Play Ball

Baseball doesn’t matter
It’s just a kid’s game
A pastime for old timers
Who have little time to pass
But a lot of time to spend

Baseball doesn’t matter
Let the kids play soccer
No expensive equipment
No bases no mask no gloves
Just a ball a field and two goals
Let them play stick ball
In open fields or on the streets

Let the multimillionaires who play
For glory adulation and treasure
Go home to count their money
And rest on their laurels

Baseball doesn’t matter
But when the call goes out again
I’ll be there in the stands leaning
Forward waiting patiently for the
Umpire’s proclamation:  Play ball!

We can’t go home again
But we can still dream

Wednesday, April 01, 2020

Art without Audience

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Art without Audience

Does art exist without the means
To appreciate it? 

Drama without tears
Comedy without laughter
Works of art without eyes to behold
Letters without readers
Concerts without ears

Does art exist in isolation? 
Would an artist bother with creation?

Yes! Yes! and Yes again!
Artistic expression is and always
Will be the highest endeavor of
Human existence

Tuesday, March 31, 2020

American Negation

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



American Negation

We are told not to gather in groups
We are told not to get too close
We are told not to touch our faces
So naturally we can think of nothing else

We are Americans
We do as we please
We travel our own paths
We proclaim our defiance
In bold proud terms

We will not be told what to do
We will not be commanded
We will not be informed
We will not be demanded

We do not believe in experts
We do not believe in science
We define our own existence
We make our own rules

Even if it kills us
Or our grandparents

Monday, March 30, 2020

Suspended Disbelief

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Suspended Disbelief

There are more of them every day
The ones who think they can bend
The world to their desires

More and more do not believe
What they do not wish to believe

They walk through the world
In defiant ignorance daring
Blowback to wash over them
Like a raging sea

I wish them well
I hope they’re right
I wish their way of thinking
Could became a reality

There is no danger
Because we want no danger
Because we are immune
Because we are the chosen
Because our minds project
Forcefields of protection

In the absence of hard facts
How long can disbelief be suspended
Before it turns to despair?

Sunday, March 29, 2020

Withdrawal

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Withdrawal

The great cultural experiment begins
Can we survive without sporting events
Without plays and movies
Without concerts and rallies
Without lectures and poetry readings
Without schools and universities
Without gatherings of any kind

We are social creatures
We exult in vicarious victories
We mourn vicarious defeat
We exist by watching others watching ourselves
We affirm our humanity by observing others
reflecting our place in the world

Who are we without circles of society?
Can we satisfy our needs through
social media and virtual reality?

We have begun our lives as experimental
subjects crash test dummies laboratory rats
like Pavlov’s dogs

We have become raw data to be
processed dissected and analyzed

We are withdrawing cold turkey
from our addictions and some of us
will not get out alive

Saturday, March 28, 2020

Corona


 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Corona

I respect words
I resent having a word burned into my
consciousness without my consent
I resent words being redefined with a
mark of death to the end of time

Corona
A crown
The blazing crown of the sun
The king of beers
Cerveza mas fina

What was once innocent and refreshing
is now and forever stained with
Deadly sickness hospitals and quarantine

Never again can we say corona
without conjuring an image of
destitution and plague

Friday, March 27, 2020

Isolation

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS


Isolation

Condemned to exist in a shrinking space
Where nothing living can penetrate
Isolation not as punishment
But as precautionary measure

Compelled to dive inward
To discover forbidden secrets
Fears and desires buried deep
In the hidden subconscious

How will we emerge from such an exercise?
How will we be transformed?

We are unwilling participants in the greatest
experiment in the history of the world


Will we rise or fall?
Will we thrive or wallow?

No one knows
No one has a clue

The only certainty is that nothing
But nothing will ever be the same

Thursday, March 26, 2020

The Plague

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS


The Plague 

A deep dark deadly shadow fell upon the earth
Spreading like wildfire crossing borders
Walls and oceans with little hesitation

No one listened when the ghosts of
Nostradamus warned the end is nigh
No one listened when the poets cried
The reckoning is at hand
No one listened when the bible thumping
Soothsayers brought down the hammer
Of the lord’s vengeance

We’re listening now
We’re making amends
We’re praying now

Praying it’s not the plague
Praying it’s not Armageddon
Praying it’s not too late

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

THE MARKET HAS SPOKEN

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  THE CORONAVIRUS


The Market Has Spoken

In the midst of pandemic the president
Declares:  Enough is enough!

We have to stop this market slide
So what if people die?

Take your sniveling driveling empathy
And toss it out the door
The flu takes thirty thousand lives
What’s thirty thousand more?

And the market sings hallelujah boys
The party’s on again
The working stiffs will always lose
And we will always win

So the Dow becomes a morbid measure
Of how many lives we lost
But the people will remember always
That it came at such a cost

[Note:  As I post this the Dow has risen over 3,000 points since the president declared he will not allow the virus to impede the nation's economy for much longer.]

Wednesday, March 04, 2020

The Hillary Roadmap to Losing in November


A LONG & WINDING ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE




THE HILLARY ROADMAP TO LOSING THE WHITE HOUSE


By Jack Random



No one exemplifies the definition of insanity (trying the same thing over and over expecting a different result) than the Democratic Party. 

On the Monday before Super Tuesday the Democrats in coordination with mainstream Democratic media (MSNBC, CNN) staged a rare and impressive display of party unity in an attempt to derail the Bernie Sanders train to the presidential nomination.  To a large extent their efforts succeeded.  If not for California the Sanders campaign would be on life support. 

The irony is: We have seen this act before.  The party is repeating the same pattern of behavior that culminated in losing the presidency to the most unqualified and ill-suited candidate for high office in all of American history. 

Congratulations, Democrats!  You’re doing it again. 

Perhaps the most unpopular nominee in party history, Hillary managed to win the nomination by capitalizing on her association with former President Barack Obama.  Without a direct endorsement, that association was good enough to win a dominant share of the African American vote.  She swept the South and used big money donations and free media promotion to run up an insurmountable lead.  By the time we got to the California primary it was all over. 

Then Hillary took her corporate friendly policies and an attitude of entitlement into the general election.  She won big on the coasts but she lost the rust belt where the good working people of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin abandoned her by the busloads.  They didn’t believe she represented their interests.  They had good reason not to believe her.  Her record did not support her promises. 

If this all sounds familiar it should.  Joe Biden is Hillary without the pantsuit or the political acumen.  On some vague, hard-to-define level, old Joe is certainly more likable than Hillary.  But he represents the same failings.  He represents a party that gives only lip service to the memory of Franklin Roosevelt.  He represents a party that loudly proclaims:  We’re not as bad as the other guys!  Yeah.  Well, maybe you’re not but there’s not a whole lot to get excited about. 

Hillary thought that argument would win her the critical states by default.  She was dead wrong.  She didn’t even bother to show up. 

Old Joe Biden goes on the stump and delivers every platitude and cliché known to the American history books:  Four score and seven years ago, our father who art in heaven...  Ah jeez, you know what I mean. 

Old Joe has challenged a man who dared question the job his son took in Ukraine to a pushups match.  His Democratic challengers have been exceedingly polite in not bringing up that crooked deal.  The first rule of politics is not to engage in behavior that has even the appearance of corruption. 

Do you think the Trump campaign or Trump himself will ignore the Hunter Biden story?  How do you think Old Joe will respond this time?  By challenging the man in the orange mask to a dual at sundown? 

Trump rode to the Republican nomination in 2016 largely on the strength of free publicity delivered by mainstream media.  Despite the fact that Bernie Sanders draws crowds in the thousands, his events rarely make an appearance on any newscast.  The blitz of Old Joe the comeback kid during and after the South Carolina primary was topped only by the open adulation and coronation before, during and after Super Tuesday. 

The only difference between the bumbling Joe before South Carolina and after South Carolina is that now he’s louder and more assertive.  How long will he get away with a stump speech that consists of the preamble to the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, the Gettysburg Address and an occasional Robert Frost quotation?  How long will the media be able to pretend that Old Joe has got his Mo back? 

How long will the Lib Media get away with ignoring Biden’s record of being on the wrong side of the issues?  Biden chaired the committee that skewered Anita Hill and secured Clarence Thomas a place on the Supreme Court.  Biden sponsored the notorious crime bill that led directly to the mass incarceration of minorities.  Biden forcefully sponsored and supported every American industry killing Free Trade deal from NAFTA to the Trans-Pacific Partnership.  Biden voted to repeal the critical Glass-Steagall regulation that protected consumers from reckless Wall Street speculation.  Biden voted for the bankruptcy bill that made it harder for ordinary people to cancel their debts to unscrupulous banks and business interests.  Biden failed to oppose the Keystone Pipeline and supports fracking.  Biden supported the Iraq and Afghan wars with all his heart.  Biden was an author and sponsor of the Patriot Act, an act that stands alongside the Alien and Sedition Acts as an assault on civil liberties. 

The only time Biden remembers the workers, the environment, equal rights, women’s rights or civil liberties is election time. 

If I sound a little disillusioned, I am.  Four years ago, faced with the prospect of a Donald Trump presidency, I warned everyone who would listen that Hillary Clinton was not only the wrong candidate to defeat Trump.  She was precisely the wrong candidate.  She suffered a severe credibility gap with working people.  She was saddled with enough baggage to supply the Olympic track team.  And she alienated the beating heart of the party: The Bernie Brigade. 

Yet all the party operatives and all the “liberal” media pundits went down the path to defeat with smiles on their faces.  Hillary couldn’t lose.  Until she did. 

Now they’re doing the exact same thing all over again. 

And now I’m sounding the same alarm and I hope it’s not too late.  If not for California standing up to all the media hype and Democratic machine propaganda, it surely would be. 

Biden is not the candidate they’re pretending he is and no amount of money or propaganda can sustain such an illusion from now to Election Day. 

Bernie Sanders, the Democratic Socialist or Social Democrat, is the man who can take us home.  He’s as genuine as an old pair of Levi jeans.  His only interest is to deliver a government that represents the common folk.  Biden talks the talk.  Bernie walks the walk. 

If the people are allowed to hear his ideas, they will embrace them.  They know by raw instinct he’s right.  Bernie’s Medicare for All will provide universal healthcare while saving the nation $450 billion per year.  It will also save 68,000 lives per year.  [1, 2]  Bernie is dedicated to a Green Economy, a national minimum wage, labor union protections and a foreign policy that works for peace.  Bernie wants an immigration policy that legalizes people who are already here and contributing to our society.  Bernie wants an end to the private prison industry.  Bernie wants access to quality education, including college or trade school, for all.  Bernie wants our most promising students to be free of unconscionable debt. 

Will he get everything that he proposes?  No.  But he will get something.  All newly elected presidents get something.  Obama got Obamacare and it clearly wasn’t enough.  If Bernie gets Medicare for All or something like it, we will all be significantly better off.  Bernie will get a lot more than that because the people will demand it and congress will respond.    

Don’t believe the same old hype.  The candidate to beat Donald Trump is Bernie Sanders. 

Jazz. 

1.     Improving the prognosis of healthcare in the USA.  Prof Alison P. Galvani, PhD, Alyssa S. Parpia, MPH, Eric M. Foster, Burton H. Singer, PhD, Meagan C. Fitzpatrick, PhD.  The Lancet.  February 15, 2020.
2.     Multiple studies show Medicare for All would be cheaper than public option pushed by Moderates. By Igor Derysh.  Salon, February 20, 2020. 

Saturday, February 08, 2020

BERN BABY BERN: BERNIE OR BUST!


LONG & WINDING ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE




BERNIE OR BUST!


By Jack Random



In the much awaited trial of the president Democratic members of the house took aim at Donald Trump’s manifestly crooked dealings in Ukraine.  In response, the president’s defenders took aim at Joe Biden. 

Both were previews of the campaign to come.  The prosecution of the president was a three-day, 36-hour attack ad against the presidency of Donald Trump.  The defense was an attack ad against Joe Biden via his son, Hunter Biden. 

The mainstream of both major parties presumed that the coming presidential election would be a match of elders, a contest between the corrupt incumbent against the entrenched Democratic challenger.  The smear machines are revved and ready.

Not so fast. 

Bernie Sanders may be elderly but he represents the young.  He brings the vitality, energy and resilience of the young to a stodgy old process that embraces structural conservatism. 

The old politicos had a hard time coming to terms with the fact that a non-politician without governing experience could win a presidential election by exploiting the flaws in an antiquated and eminently inequitable system.  They are having the same trouble with Bernie Sanders. 

In so many ways Sanders represents the existential threat that Trump posed but has not delivered.  Trump plays the game and makes no excuses.  Sanders tells it like it is. 

With his rise in the polls and his victory in the Iowa caucus (where I come from the one who gets the most votes wins) the operatives and dealmakers of the Democratic Party are beginning to panic.  They miscalculated badly by having Hillary Clinton deliver her attack against Bernie.  To this day they don’t seem to realize that Hillary is not popular among the majority of Democratic or independent voters.  Hillary holds the political class.  She can’t hold a candle to Bernie when it comes to political activists. 

Next they managed to persuade Elizabeth Warren to deliver an attack designed to weaken Bernie’s appeal to women.  It backfired.  People saw through the staged maneuver and moved to Bernie’s camp.  Warren may not recover. 

Now, just like the last campaign, the party is working overtime to find ways to stop the Bernie train.  One by one the surrogates step to the camera to deliver a tired old speech:  Bernie can’t possibly beat Trump.  Bernie’s a socialist.  Bernie is too far to the left.  Bernie’s a radical with radical ideas. 

Maybe they believe it.  Maybe they’re just doing their party’s bidding.  They seem to forget:  Hillary was the mainstream moderate who lost to Trump.  Why would they be so eager to try it again? 

After the impeachment trial Joe Biden is damaged goods.  Act One of the trial that wasn’t a trial was an attack on the president.  Act Two of the trial was a counterattack on the integrity of Biden.  The attack ads are already written.  When Biden calls out Trump for his dirty dealing in Ukraine, the forces of Trump counter with Burisma.  How much was it Hunter Biden made?  More in a month than working people make in a year?  What were his qualifications again? 

In the age of Trump it is not enough to be clean.  You have to be above the appearance of wrongdoing.  The old school politicians know this and Biden fails the test.  

When the Democrats finally accept this fact they will look to another option: anyone but Bernie.  There was a time when I would have included Warren on the list of unacceptable presidential candidates to the Democratic machine.  To all appearances she took essentially the same positions as Bernie but something changed along the line.  The party decided they could work with Warren.  Apparently they don’t feel the same about Bernie. 

Why?  Bernie is the most consistent candidate in the field.  Whether you label him a Democratic Socialist or a Social Democrat or an Independent, he believes now what he believed decades ago and he’s held his ground. 

Little noted in the mainstream cable media that looks more and more like a subdivision of the DNC there was a diversion of response to international crises in recent months. 

First came the coup in Bolivia.  Bernie condemned it as a coup and called for an international response.  Warren, Klobuchar and Buttigieg took the standard line, condemning the victim and supporting the usurpers.  It was an insult to democratic values and democracy itself.  Warren came around but only after Bernie led. 

Second came the events that threatened another forever war in the Middle East, this time with Iran.  The candidates tripped over themselves condemning the assassinated Iranian commander.  Only Bernie took a more measured perspective, stepping back from the precipice of war and condemning targeted assassination as an instrument of foreign policy. 

Third and most recently: the Trump administration’s dead-in-the-waters proposal for peace between Israel and Palestine.  Once again Bernie took the lead, calling out the proposal for the farce that it is.  He took the opportunity to call for an end to Israeli occupation and the establishment of two viable states, guaranteeing Palestinian self-determination as well as mutual security.  To her credit Warren followed suit with her own condemnation of Israeli annexation of Palestinian territories.  Buttigieg talked in his usual doublespeak but criticized the deal as one-sided.  Biden engaged in similar talk, criticizing the deal but emphasizing a long-standing loyalty to the state of Israel. 

More and more I am left with the conviction that Bernie is our best hope both at home and in foreign affairs.  He stands ready to make the fundamental changes that our times demand.  Moreover, he is the best candidate to expose the failures of the Trump administration.  For while the Trump years have seen a dramatic decrease in the unemployment rate, well-paying middle class jobs have been transformed into low-paying service jobs.  While the corporations and the wealthy have made a fortune, the rest of us still wonder how we’re going to make it to tomorrow. 

Bernie has been saying it for years:  It’s time for a political revolution.  It’s time to fundamentally transform an economic and political system that works extremely well for the ones at the top but not so well for the poor and the working people. 

I have not given up on Elizabeth Warren.  She remains my first choice as an alternative to Bernie.  But my confidence has been shaken not only by her politically reckless attack on her progressive rival but her stops and stumbles on policy and events in the daily news.  I fear she may be too anxious to modify her policies to please the party. 

Andrew Yang remains an intriguing choice and one that I would not only support but work for were he to win the nomination.  It would take a tsunami for that to happen. 

The other candidates, including Joe Biden, would be a major disappointment to anyone who believes as I do that the next president must enact historic change.  Would I vote for a Biden, a Buttigieg or Klobuchar, a Bloomberg or Steyer over Trump?  Of course.  But would I work for them, write for them, contribute and serve as a warrior for the cause? 

No, I would not. 

I am old enough to know that change happens.  Sometimes it happens when you don’t expect it.  Sometimes it happens overnight. 

But for now:  It’s Bernie or bust! 

Jazz. 

JACK RANDOM IS A WRITER LIVING IN CENTRAL CALIFORNIA.  HIS WORKS INCLUDE EIGHT NOVELS AND THE JAZZMAN CHRONICLES.