The Mask

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Mask

The man who’s never wrong

Admitted he was wrong today

He strutted into a famed hospital

And sang a different song today

He was not a happy man

You could see it in his eyes

He’d rather eat a dozen worms

Or tell a thousand lies

But he wore a mask today

And the pundits gave him praise

When they asked him why he said

Let’s see how it plays

You see it doesn’t really matter

That it would save many lives

It’s all about his favorability

And how his numbers rise

Johnny Got Covid

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Johnny Got Covid

Going back to school

Comes at a price

Johnny’s gonna get Covid

Sally’s gonna get lice

Kids will be kids

So the old folks say

It’s hard to control

How the children play

He comes home to mommy

She gives him a hug

A kiss before bedtime

Tucks him in snug

Life is a gamble

Kids are like chips

All will be well

Unless Johnny slips

Only the world’s biggest fool

Or a man without heart

Would order the schools open

Before they’re ready to start

White Privilege

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

White Privilege

I have known the hand of privilege

Been forgiven for my sins

Don’t they know under the surface

I am red beneath the skin

I have advanced above my betters

Some will lose while others win

Don’t they know under the cover

I am black beneath the skin

I earned more than my fair share

Don’t know where I should begin

Don’t they realize it’s all a mask

I am brown beneath the skin

No one tells you that its wrong

Like a song below the din

You accept the solemn truth

That it’s all about the skin

Roaches Survive

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Roaches Survive

Survival of the fittest is a two edged sword

There are times it strikes a wayward chord

For all its wonder and beauty

Nature can be unkind

It can smile on the wicked

And punish the divine

For the good may die young

And psychopaths may thrive

Butterflies perish

And roaches survive

Joy will leave too soon

And sorrow will arrive

The way of nature is logic

That seldom has rhyme

When it comes to science

Our destiny is blind

When it comes to mortality

There is so little time

But the truth will drive forward

And win in the end

We must never lose hope

We must always defend

But when it comes to survival

Just sheer brute drive

Butterflies will perish

Where roaches will thrive

Undocumented

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Undocumented

She was an essential worker

Producing fruit and vegetables

For your family dinner table

We sang her glory

Praised her sacrifice

Admired her honest labor

Neglecting to note

She had little choice

She did what she had to do

To put food on her own table

She was brave and strong

No one could deny

She showed up every morning

Worked until night

And took care of the kids

Every evening

She caught the virus

She did not know how

She had been cautious

(but had her kids?)

She wore a mask

(except at home)

She kept her distance

(the best she could)

Twice she went to church

To pray for the afflicted

Maybe then somehow

The laying on of hands

The shedding of tears

The close contacts

She was afraid to seek help

(and afraid not to)

She was undocumented

Would they send her home?

Would they deport her?

What would her children do?

She got sick and prayed

She closed her door and prayed

She told her kids to stay away

Until she was too weak to stop them

What else could she do?

She was undocumented

Not a person

Not a face

Just another number

Stricken by the virus

Taken by the disease

They cried for her in the barrio

They mourned her in Jalisco

They took her children in

Buried her in sacred ground

Sang of her in the cantina

Wove her into their folklore

Their culture of sacrifice

They prayed the rosary

Some say she died for being illegal

Others that she died for being poor

She was brave and strong

One country broke her heart

The other did her wrong

Gestapo in Portland

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE RESISTANCE

Gestapo in Portland

Unmarked soldiers in riot gear

Rounding up protesters in Portland Oregon

No charges no mandate no authority

But the political whim of the president

Desperate to prove his strength

He violates all constitutional guarantees

Ripping citizens off the streets

To establish his brutish credentials

Is this America?

Portland is a progressive city

That protects the rights of all

It is not a lawless state

It has not descended into anarchy

There are no riots in the streets

There is no absence of order

There has been no declaration

of Marshall Law

Yet the president orders

in his Gestapo troops to create

an illusion of disorder

that he can crush

like a bug underfoot

The strongman of Washington

employs the awesome power

of his office in the service of

fascist brutality

Go home Mister President

Take your stormtroopers with their

bullet proof vests and riot sticks

their rubber bullets and tear gas cannisters

and send them to a deep bunker

where they can hide their heads

in shame

This is not Moscow

This is not Tiananmen Square

This is not Chicago 1968

We are not a fascist state

And you are not Richard Nixon

Cease and desist

Man of Honor (for John Lewis)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Man of Honor

Man of honor

Man of dignity

He overcame the weight of history

To become the conscience of the people’s house

They beat him down on the Edmund Pettus Bridge

They beat him back on the bus to freedom

He spilled his blood on the long march

to the promised land

Yet he never lost hope

He carried more than his share

of his generation’s burden

Yet he always believed he would get there

He marched with King

Stood beside Jesse Jackson

and prayed with Reverend Al

He broke bread with adversaries

and converted many to friends

It is tempting to believe

it is all for nothing

John Lewis was always there

to remind us where we’ve been

and remember how far we have come

Bolsonaro

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Bolsonaro

Was ever there a bigger fool than I

Under the vast Brazilian sky

I proclaimed the virus a joke

Just another liberal hoax

Now I suffer with the masses

Little children in their classes

Mothers fathers sons and nieces

Their whole world torn to pieces

They used to say if Trump was brown

Bolsonaro would hold his ground

But now we’ve turned it all around

The Brazilian smile becomes a frown

The world may say I have no shame

For Bolsonaro is my name

The brightest light in all the land

I have no light there is no band

Now I suffer by myself

I place my pride upon the shelf

My leadership no longer pretty

I spend my hours in self-pity

Black Men with Guns

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Black Men with Guns

They shoot horses don’t they?

They shot panthers back in the day

Doesn’t matter what you say or do

They shoot black men with guns too

Good old boys call themselves militia

And march right up to the capitol dome

Wearing swastikas with weapons of war

They are made to feel at home

But if blacks gather in the city square

With rifles over their shoulders

They are pronounced terrorists and thugs

Their reception could not be colder

They are told they are not welcome here

Go on home and take your guns

If they refuse and claim their sacred right

They will soon be on the run

Round here black men do not carry

And they do not mix with whites

But most of all they never claim

To possess a white man’s rights

Thirty Heroes

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Thirty Heroes

To be named an American hero

should be an honor that outlasts time

To be named an American hero

by the worst president in history

is something less than honor

How would Frederick Douglass feel

knowing that this president speaks

the language of the confederacy?

How would MLK feel knowing

this president has welcomed

white supremacy to his fold

and legitimized the Klan?

There are no native Americans

on the president’s list of heroes

There are no Asians or Chicanos

though some are “good people”

There are no scientists on the list

No artists poets or resistance leaders

To not be named is a badge of honor

The mendacity of this man

to think that he can dictate

American values and American heroes

is unbounded in the chronicles of time

We shall choose our own heroes

and you shall not be among them

Falling

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Falling

The dream of falling

Stumbling off a cliff

Sliding into a canyon

Toppling off a tower

The earth gives way

And you spiral into the depths

An endless pathway to nothingness

A dizzy downward tumble

That never ends

You know somehow that the bottom

Is the end of all you know

The end of consciousness

The end of being

The end of dreams

The end

Only now the dream of falling

Begins when we awake

And ends when we drift

Away into the starry world

Of sleep

Embrace

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Embrace

We used to embrace

As if to say I know you

As if to say I trust you

And you may trust me

We used to shake hands

(bare naked hand to hand)

We used to pump fists and slap shoulders

We used to let our bodies come together

To feel each other’s warmth

We used to stand in lines so close

We could feel the breath

On the back of our heads

We used to let our shoulders touch

As we found our way through a crowd

We used to dance hand in hand

Cheek to cheek with almost strangers

I remember human contact

As if it were yesterday

As if we awoke only this morning

To find that we are magnets

Charged to repel each other

We have only our memories

Of a time when we embraced

Without a second thought

Of a time we held each other’s hands

To push away our worries

Will we ever find that place again

The touch of human skin

Without fear

Corona Parties

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Corona Parties

They invite the infected to attend

Throw money in a pot

Who will get the virus first?

Who will win the lot?

Kids will be kids sins will be sins

But killing grandpa is no way to win

Are they blind to what’s happening?

Do they just not care?

Are they filled with contempt?

Do they do it on a dare?

Teenage angst is a dangerous thing

You just want to get on with it

Let your free spirit sing

It’s a passage in the game of life

It’s always been this way

But what was fine back then

Is a catastrophe today

Is it teenage angst? 

Did you do it on a dare?

Are you filled with rage?

Do you just don’t care?

I remember being young

Nothing mattered but the now

Times have changed and it’s not fair

Everyone is running scared

So take a moment to think about

For tomorrow there will be doubt

Old Folks

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Old Folks

Old folks move to warmer climes

Like Florida and Arizona

Where they live the life

In old folks homes

And retirement communities

Playing shuffleboard and golf

Having cocktails every evening

Watching the sun go down

Communal meals and activities

Gathering for televised events

Singalongs and bingo games

Playing pinochle and bridge

What could go wrong?

Some say rebellion is for the young

But stubbornness is the way of age

Masks are for Halloween

I didn’t live my life to keep space

A little shopping couldn’t hurt

A concert or a play

A night of fun at the cinema

Dinner and dessert

At what point do we let go?

Let the old folks do what they will?

We can’t cage the aged forever

We can’t make the sun stand still

Square One

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Square One

For a brief moment it seemed

We had it under control

We hunkered down

Sheltered in place

Recognized the threat

Protected our space

In a nightmare of misery

New York showed us the way

As our fellow citizens suffered

It was impossible to ignore

The harsh reality of pandemic

The bitter taste of death

Played out on our TV screens

Until our president stepped forward

To fight for the other side

(a side we did not know there was)

To challenge his supporters to defy

All means and measures of slowing

The viral cloud of destruction

Masks slowed the virus

Don’t wear a mask

A constitutional right

Distancing slowed the virus

To hell with distance

Open the bars and churches

Keep the meat plants running!

Everything that could be done

Was not done with relish

Even when the virus spread

Even when it spun out of control

Now we’re back to square one

And the president falls silent

Let’s move on now

And pretend it’s all a dream

We’ll snap our fingers

And make it go away

But it won’t go away

It will spread its deadly breath

Until a vaccine is ready

And another person sits

In the oval office

The Homeless Explosion

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

The Homeless Explosion

The moratorium is over

The payments coming due

And lives once lived in shelter

Will soon be tossed askew

A global pandemic

An exposition of police violence

A demand for racial justice

Mass protests on the streets

And now a homeless explosion

What heartless landlords

Could toss tenants to the streets

In times such as these?

What heartless mindless government

Could allow such a thing?

The same landlords who jacked up rent

During the great recession

The same government that fought

Harder against masks

Than it did against the virus

The same government that swore

It would all vanish in the spring

Like a bad dream

The homeless explosion is coming

And the virus is still here

Waiting for the huddled masses

To breathe the toxic air