Thursday, July 16, 2020

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

Wednesday, July 15, 2020

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

Tuesday, July 14, 2020

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


Monday, July 13, 2020

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


Sunday, July 12, 2020

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

Saturday, July 11, 2020

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


Friday, July 10, 2020

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

Thursday, July 09, 2020

A Blessing

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES



A Blessing

Every minute of every day
Every intake of breath
Every morning we wake
Is a blessing

Every peek at a whispering wind
Every song of the woman in lace
Every dance of the muses
Every moment of grace
A blessing

Every scent of a lover’s perfume
Every taste of her kiss
Every touch of her contours
Every remembrance of bliss
Every flight of the spirits
Every feeling we missed
A blessing

If there is a glimmer of light
In this ocean of darkness
It is this:

To understand the deepest truth
That life itself is a blessing
And every measure of life
In its depth and width
Should be treasured
More than all the precious
Stones and metals
In creation

Even now as we face the precipice
Even now as we face an end
Even now as we seek a reckoning
Even now more than ever
We are grateful for all
The blessings we
Have received

Life is good
Life is wondrous true
Life is teeming with joy
Life is beauty and creativity
Life is a blessing without end


Wednesday, July 08, 2020

Pandemic Loneliness

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Pandemic Loneliness

We have all been lonely
It is among the experiences
That bind us as human beings
We are alone
In many ways we have always been
And always will be

Pick up a phone and call a friend
Our loneliness binds us to the end

We have found a realm of solitude
A loneliness for the ages
A pandemic of desperate hours
An illness grown in stages

Pity those who are alone
Within the loneliness of all
We will survive the virus
If we do not heed the call

We want to share this deathly sorrow
We want the madness to end
But it will not end tomorrow
It is a wound that slowly mends

Have patience my dear friends
Have faith that it must fall
And we will join together
Come one and come all

Tuesday, July 07, 2020

Typhoid Mary of Nations

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Typhoid Mary of Nations

 

Americans can no longer stand

On European ground

Where once we were greeted as heroes

No welcome can be found

 

Europe took the virus on

The challenge of our times

We stumbled and we bumbled

And pretended we were fine

 

Now the virus spreads its deadly breath

All across this wondrous land

People sick and people dying

Because we failed to make a stand

 

Not even Mexico will welcome us

If we continue this fall from grace

We are the Typhoid Mary of nations

Whose challenge we’ve failed to face


Monday, July 06, 2020

Banning COVID-19

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Banning COVID-19

They banned the virus in Nashville
Wherever music is played
A virus cannot exist in the city
Where the stars of country are made

They passed a law in Austin
Demanding cease and desist
In a place where artists thrive
No deadly virus can exist

They declared an end in Tallahassee
By virtue of decree
The corona will not persist
Past the date June 23

We mourn our foolish friends
For not believing what all could see
The virus cannot be banned
Or somehow waved into the sea

We know good people everywhere
Do not deserve what comes their way
Because their leaders discarded science
And let the silent killer stay

Sunday, July 05, 2020

What Color Am I?

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES



357.  What Color am I?

I’ve been told I was a slacker
Who didn’t care about my country
Who disrespected old glory
With no regard for the men in blue
I’ve been asked to go away
And I just sigh
What color am I?

I believe that black lives matter
I believe we are entitled to justice and equality
I believe in welcoming newcomers
Who work hard and earn their way
I believe the dreamers have a right to stay
I believe in a right to happiness
A right to die or not to die
What color am I? 

I’ve heard it said I’m lazy
And I’ve never earned the right
To speak my mind
I’ve been told I’m crazy
That I ought to be ashamed
That everything I think is wrong
That my entire life
Ain’t nothin’ but a lie
What color am I?

I am a human being
Entitled to every right of humankind
The right to live my life according
To the dictates of my mind
The right to speak when I see wrong
The right to make it right
The right to call a lie
What color am I? 

The color of rise
The color of fall
The color of everything
And nothing at all


Saturday, July 04, 2020

Happy America Day

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FOURTH OF JULY



Happy America Day

Today we celebrate the founding
Of a European nation on a faraway land
A land the inhabitants call
Turtle Island

The natives embraced the name Indian
Because it means People of God
People of the Great Spirit
In Dios we trust

The people of the Great Spirit
Did not know what to make of America
The Italian name after the explorer
Amerigo Vespucci
(they hardly knew him)

We might have been called Columbia
For the Indian killer and slave master

We might have been Liefland
After the Viking explorer Erikson
But the Vikings did not colonize
Did not write the history books

We might have been named after
The first slave traders
Or the early Spanish explorers
In search of golden treasure
And fountains of youth
But they did not find what
They were looking for

We are Americans in America
Though Peruvians and Canadians
Are Americans too

We are all Americans
Even those who were here long before
The European invasion
The conquest and genocide

We are all Americans
Even those who came without consent
From lands across the sea

We are all Americans
Even those who have toiled in the fields
And in the homes of affluence
Raising children of the chosen
Without acknowledgement

We are all Americans
Even those who were denied citizenship
And the right to vote
At the birth of the nation

We are all Americans
And we have a right to celebrate
How far we have come
And how far we have yet to go

Friday, July 03, 2020

Contempt

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Contempt

Contempt: worthless and deserving scorn

An out of control prosecutor
Can be found in contempt of court
An out of control president
Should be found in …

Contempt of science
Contempt of public safety
Contempt of justice
Contempt of democracy
Contempt of international order
Contempt of honesty
Contempt of common sense
Contempt of common decency
Contempt of working people
Contempt of the poor
Contempt of education
Contempt of intelligence
Contempt of the norms
Contempt of the presidency
Contempt of immigrants
Contempt of diversity
Contempt of humanity
In contempt of all we hold dear
In the land of the brave

Now the world holds our president
In contempt and Americans pay the price
Isolated and ostracized
Discarded and alone
Banished from the world
Of civilized tribes

Thursday, July 02, 2020

The Rising Tide

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



The Rising Tide

Where are they now
Those fools and make believers
Who said it was all a spoof
Invented by deceivers

Standing before a rising tide
They instructed us to sleep
They told us not to worry
It never gets this deep

Now we’re drowning in the waters
The cliffs are at our backs
And where are you the criers
Telling us to blame the blacks

We don’t believe you anymore
You’ve lied to us too long
Believing has cost too much
We’ve soured on your song

So go away and hide yourselves
We won’t follow you again
And if you show your face round here
The days of vengeance will begin

Wednesday, July 01, 2020

Dark Days Democracy

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Dark Days Democracy

The art of politics has yielded
to the dirty lowdown scourge
of mass disenfranchisement

The dark days of democracy
are knocking down the doors
Voting in the midst of a rapidly
spreading virus is hard enough
without closing down precincts
and denying vote by mail

Do they want the disease to spread?
Do they want us to die?
Have we arrived at a place
where our tolerance for others
is so low we would rather see
our opposition sick and dying
than to let their voices be heard? 

Dark days democracy
when a deadly disease becomes
a political lightning rod
When science and medicine
belong to one political party
When our president double dares
his political opponents
to risk their lives
by standing in endless lines
on election day

When did Republicans
abandon the republic?

Dark days democracy indeed

Tuesday, June 30, 2020

Guilt and the Sickness

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Guilt and the Sickness

Like a gentle breeze in the silent night
It comes to steal your life
We have been cautious
We have kept our distance
We have covered our faces
Avoided gatherings
Yet questions haunt me
For there are times
I might have slipped
Times I might have allowed
Someone to come too close
Or stay too long
Or share too much air
We are all human after all
And yet I am certain
We have been far more careful
Than nearly everyone we know
It does not seem fair
That we should be haunted
By guilt as well as the sickness
itself

Monday, June 29, 2020

The Bounty

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR



The Bounty

Russia offers a cash bounty
On American soldiers in Afghanistan
Money for bodies like coins for scalps
And the president stands down

The blood of our warriors
On his cold trembling hands
And America stands down

Vladimir to Donald:

Who owns you babe?
Who butters your bread?
Who paves the road ahead?
Bow down before your master!
Bow down and take your pill!
Nobody has to know
But you and me and heaven
Give me Georgia and Ukraine
Get me back in the G7
If it costs a few soldiers so be it
Remember when the union was Soviet

So be a good boy and bow your head
The American century is dead
Now Mother Russia rises again
And populates the earth
With strong Russian men!