Saturday, October 03, 2020

The Streets of Protest

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES


The Streets of Protest

 

The streets of protest

Are lined with the blood of martyrs

From the slave uprisings of ancient Rome

To the storming of the Bastille

From the modest Boston Tea Party

To the Haymarket Labor Riots

From the Freedom March on Washington

To the suffragettes for women’s rights

From the Free Speech Movement

To the Vietnam sit ins

From the global challenge to the Iraq War

To the George Floyd upheaval

The pages of history are marked

By the rising of the Left

The cause of humankind

 

Throughout the course of time

Liberty Freedom Justice Equality and Peace

Have always depended on Free Thinkers

From the Left

Never from the Right

The reactionary Right has always

Stood against the march of progress

Always

 

So when the Right cries Freedom!

We answer:  Freedom for who?

For the oppressed white men?

For the overprivileged class?

 

So when the Right comes to the streets

Of protest with their arms and helmets

Their riot sticks and bullet proof vests

Do not mistake them for liberators

Do not pretend they stand for order

They are the insurgents

They are thugs and bullies

Hungry for power and ways

To wield it

 

The Proud Boys

The Klan

The Secret Society

By any other name:

They are the enemies of the people

Enemies of America

Enemies of all we hold dear

 

Friday, October 02, 2020

Gone

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Gone

 

Remember what you cannot recover

The mist of a Pacific storm

The fog of a redwood forest

The scent of blooming passion

The wisp of a loved one’s sigh

 

Seize them by the core

Breathe them in and never let go

Store them where they’re safe and warm

Let them comfort and ease your soul

 

Gone now are the late night runs

Gone the endless nights till morn

Gone are the moonlight drives

Gone the way of carefree lives

 

We look back now with yearning

The inner fire no longer burning

Wondering where the passion went

The lifeblood of longing spent

 

We live our lives never knowing

Our true feelings never showing

Here today and gone tomorrow

Holding back our love and sorrow

 

When we spend more time

With what has been

Than we do with what will be

We’ll know that life

In all its humbling mystery

Has passed us by


 

Thursday, October 01, 2020

Proper Propaganda

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Proper Propaganda

 

I am not against propaganda

Gandhi was a proper propagandist

Paine and Jefferson wrote proper propaganda

Honest wise and virtuous

 

But our president and his sycophants

Are not proper propagandists

They deal in heavy handed subterfuge

Falsehoods deceptions and lies

 

With great irony and conviction

They give us the opposite of the truth

Truth without negation

Truth without truth

 

Climate change is (not) a hoax

Democrats will (not) destroy democracy

Democrats (do not) want anarchy and upheaval

They will (not) burn your homes

They will (not) take your women

They will (not) traffic your children (really?)

 

We will (not) give you good jobs

We will (not) provide healthcare

We will (not) guarantee social security

 

The opposite of truth

The truth sans negation

Truth without truth

 

They are (not) men of honor

They are (not) well intentioned

They are (not) well informed

They are (not) the hope of our nation

They will (not) make America great

They will (not) liberate the world

 

The truth is not the truth

As long as they are in power

Patiently we await

The reckoning hour

 

Wednesday, September 30, 2020

The Light

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


The Light

 

Pray for forgiveness

Pray for second sight

End this madness

Follow the light

 

For we have lived too long

Suffered too many lies

Cried too many tears

Sacrificed too many lives

To hang our weary heads now

And give up the good fight

Find your courage and

Follow the light

 

For I have witnessed darkness

And I have seen its face

It always pretends to care

As it fills our empty space

But we reject their message

As we stand for the right

Stern your resolve

Follow the light

 

For we have dwelled so long

In the caverns of darkness

Even the thought of light

Delivers palpitations of the heart

Our eyes close in fright

As if thought alone

Could damage our sight

Discard all distraction and

Follow the light

 

For we have breathed this toxic air

So long we think it’s healthy

When others have nothing

Having something seems wealthy

And we have sought our comfort

In shared grief and mourning

So long it sings us goodnight

Stand up stand strong

Reach out for the light

 

Come now the light will guide you

Into our mother’s loving arms

And it will make you whole again

And it will make you strong

Let it raise you to its lofty height

Find your strength inside

Come home to the light

 

Tuesday, September 29, 2020

The Longest Hours

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


The Longest Hours

 

From the hours of the deepest night

To the hours of early morn

When sleep no longer comforts

My thoughts become forlorn

 

I wonder if we cannot do

What destiny demands of us

I wonder if we cannot see

What history commands of us

 

Are you and I accountable

For this collapse of reason

Our failings to this point in time

May fall just short of treason

 

In the hours of the deepest night

To the hours of early morn

My musings chase the darkness

My nightmares are reborn

 

Monday, September 28, 2020

Relativity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY


Relativity

 

The truth is not the truth

But a momentary flash

One man’s treasure trove

Is another’s pile of trash

Like a drunken revelation

Like a phantom divination

Like a crack in the nation

At the core

 

Objectivity lost

Like a quiet in the storm

Like presidential scorn

Like a riot in a dorm

Reach for it and watch it fade

Like a vision that was made

With smoke and mirrors

 

The laws of physics are suspended

Fact and substance are dependent

On the bias of the backers

Trolls and Russian hackers

Take the money and go away

For tomorrow is today

And players do not play

Everything is relative



Sunday, September 27, 2020

We Will Survive

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Survive

 

A rolling spectacle of misery

The loneliness of isolation

The scourge of homelessness

The prospect of destitution

The hopelessness of prostitution

The stain of human bondage

The glorification of violence

The deification of criminality

The universality of suffering

A failing will to stay alive

Yet do not worry little ones

We have not lost our drive

We will survive

 

The western world on fire

A raging mother earth

Prophecies most dire

Pray for what it’s worth

The sound of towers crashing

The cry of souls in pain

Slaves receive a lashing

Tears like pounding rain

Yet do not worry little ones

Though hard times have arrived

Be strong and keep your head

We will survive

 

Friday, September 25, 2020

The Bitter End

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

The Bitter End

 

In this long life I’ve seen it all

Monsters rise and virtues fall

On this sad fate you can depend

We’re heading for a bitter end

 

The endless hours are unrestrained

The human race has gone insane

There are no crimes we can’t defend

Welcome to the bitter end

 

We hear preachers spinning riddles

Accompanied by fiddles

Screaming in the hollow nights

No relief within our sight

Sorrow’s message they do send

Welcome to the bitter end

 

We see four horsemen on the rise

Terror burns in desperate eyes

They have no helping hand to lend

Welcome to the bitter end

 

We stand strong and defiant

We will become self-reliant

Will not break though we may bend

Though we meet the bitter end

 


Thursday, September 24, 2020

Purgatory

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VISIONS

 

Purgatory

 

There is a place on earth

Between heaven and hell

Where the land is on fire

Where the senses rebel

Where the air smells of smoke

Where the leader laughs

And calls it a joke

 

There is a place on earth

Where the frozen tundra melts away

Where caution runs and folly stays

Where homes burn to the ground

And the land runs dry

Where grown men break down

And strong women cry

 

This is a land of prophecy

A dying breed

Where one world ends

And another takes seed

 


Wednesday, September 23, 2020

The Gateway

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

 


The Gateway

 

They stormed the gates of the Bastille

They stormed the gates of Brandenburg

They stormed the gates at Buchenwald

They stormed the gates of hell

 

Whenever change is needed

Wherever people are bound

Whatever hand oppresses

A gateway must be found

 

We are known for building barriers

We are famed for building walls

But a wall without a gateway

Is a wall that must soon fall

 

A way to bend both time and space

A gateway to beyond

A path to save the human race

And build a stronger bond

 

We are trapped within an endless maze

Desperate to escape

We are searching for a gateway

To take a leap of faith