Monday, August 10, 2020

Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Freedom

 

WE WERE BORN IN FREEDOM

we hang our heads in shame

FOUGHT WARS IN FREEDOM

we wonder where we went wrong

SACRIFICED FOR FREEDOM

should we have put it in a poem

PAID A PRICE FOR FREEDOM

should we have sung it in a song

 

SO YOU CAN’T BE SURPRISED

you don’t have the right

THAT WE PROCLAIM OUR RIGHT

to yell fire in a crowd

TO BREATHE THE AIR UNHINDERED

you don’t have the right to kill

AND FOR THAT RIGHT WE WILL FIGHT

the right to harm is not allowed

 

WE DON’T HEAR WHAT YOU’RE SAYING

when it’s all said and done

TO US IT’S NOTHING BUT NOISE

we really must ask

WE KNOW WHO WE ARE

how many must die

AND SO DO OUR BOYS

before you wear a mask?

Sunday, August 09, 2020

Beirut

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR


Beirut                                                                                                             

 

Paris of the Middle East

City of enlightenment

Land of song and poetry

Jewel of the Mediterranean

Ancient city of commerce and trade

Rich in culture art and tradition

City that beckons the curious

And welcomes all

 

The heart of Beirut still beats strong

But she is wounded by war

Pestilence and strife

The world’s powers factions and tribes

Have made her their playground

 

Now misfortune finds misfortune

An explosion rips up the port district

Spilling blood and spreading terror

Through an already unsettled populace

 

What more can the fates unfold?

What more can the people endure?

 

Pray for peace

Pray for healing

Pray in whatever tongue you hold

Pray to whatever god you honor

Pray that Beirut becomes itself again

 

As Beirut goes

So goes the world

 

(An explosion in Beirut 8.6.20 killed

about 150 and wounded thousands)

Saturday, August 08, 2020

LIving with Fear

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Living with Fear

 

Will we live or will we die

Life is filled with mystery

Will we die or will we live

We know not what may be

 

We live in constant fear

The fear that is not knowing

We hide it in our shirt sleeve

And hope it is not showing

 

This fear of fear is strange

But we know it to be true

You keep it tucked away from me

I keep it hidden from you

 

We live our waking lives in fear

We have no other choice

I see it in the way we move

I hear it in your voice

 

How long can we get by this way

How long before we break

We stumble trip and fall each day

Surviving for survival’s sake

 

 

Thursday, August 06, 2020

Grateful

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Grateful

 

In these times of heavy hearts when

thoughts linger into sleepless nights

I’m grateful not to be alone

Grateful to share a home

With the one I love

 

I think of those less fortunate

Confined behind familiar walls

That bear no marks of affection

That share no living hope

 

I think of those with no one

to share the burden of the times

No one to tell one’s truth

No one to reflect one’s mind

 

I think of those who must choose

a life of loneliness and yearning

or risk no life at all

 

Our hearts were not designed

for such a heartless choice

We were born seeking the comfort

of our fellow human beings

 

I am grateful to have landed

in this place at this time

My love is my hope and comfort

Her love becomes mine

 

(for Julie)

Wednesday, August 05, 2020

Mama Never Lies

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR


Mama Never Lies

 

Mama taught us to believe

In the police the teachers and preachers

Mama told us so it must be right

Mama told us with a sigh

And mamas never lie

 

Mama taught us to show respect

For people in authority

And no one has more authority

Than the president

Even if you disagree

Even if you see the world

Through different eyes

Presidents do not lie

 

Mama told us to go to church

And pray to the baby Jesus

Listen to the preacher man

Be humble and be good

Go to heaven when you die

Preachers never lie

 

Mama taught us to say sir

When a cop stops to talk

Nod our heads and show our hands

Though she did not say why

We got the message and comply

Because cops don’t lie

 

I don’t go to church these days

I don’t much honor the president

I’m afraid of the police

I don’t trust the preacher

And I’m not sure about the teacher

Mama really didn’t know it

But I’ve learned as time goes by

Everybody lies

 

Except mama

Who did the best she could

To help her children survive

Monday, August 03, 2020

The Rule of Vlad

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PUTIN & TRUMP


The Rule of Vlad

 

They shared a common enemies list

In a call between the best of friends

Discussed elections the rule of law

The GRU a fly on the wall

 

And the leader of the western world

Bowed down before his master

To praise his holy eminence

 

All praise the rule of Vlad

All praise the power of Putin

 

He holds the keys to the American dream

As our leader falls to his knees

He’ll do anything he’s told

Negotiations he will fold

 

All hail the Russian king

Demure the American underling

 

To undermine our next election

He advocates natural selection

 

The absence of guilt is not

A declaration of innocence

It proclaims the absence of shame

Sunday, August 02, 2020

Solitude

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Solitude

 

In the misty haze of solitude

A change has enveloped my soul

I am no longer who I was

In the lost days of plenty

In the days we thought

Would last forever

 

I felt I needed no one then

I was an island in a flowing river

I had my love my family my closed

Circle of friends my chosen few

 

My circle is open now

Like blossoms in the heart of spring

I have discovered interdependency

While mortality has discovered me

 

In the solitude of forced confinement

The circles have found new order

The layers of protection break away

The layers of deception shatter

 

We are all fragile beings

In the loneliness of night

Yearning for connection

Yearning for common bonds

Yearning to understand

And to be understood

 

In the crisis of forced solitude

We are all the same

We want we need we hurt

We are vulnerable and exposed

Reaching for hands beyond our reach

Pleading for those we need

Saturday, August 01, 2020

Still

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Still

 

The air is still

Like a silence of the soul

No gentle summer breeze

To soothe our restless spirits

To comfort us with ease

 

The waves of heat bear down

To take away our breaths

We count the days by numbers

By days we count the deaths

 

The earth itself is sickened

By the state of our affairs

It’s so hard to feed the spirit

When you can’t bring yourself to care

 

The wind has howled long and hard

The rain has hammered home

The sun beats down in cries of fate

The very heavens exasperate

 

We may as well spell the wind

As wait for better days

 

The air grows still

Take comfort where you will

Friday, July 31, 2020

Civil War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE RESISTANCE


Civil War

 

Never before has a commander in chief

Declared war on American cities

 

Communities beware

Federal troops are coming to your town

To terrify your people

Teargas your mayor

Pummel your protesters

And send waves of fear

Through the suburban nation

 

By virtue of his supreme intellect

He declares your city a terror zone

A bastion of subversive thugs

A pit of moral depravity

A magnet for scum and criminals

 

People of Portland take heed

People of Albuquerque beware

People of Kansas City take warning

People of Chi Town watch out

The troops are coming

To explain what it’s all about

 

There’s an election down the road

And he’s a law and order man

A failure at everything he’s touched

So on this he’ll make a stand

 

He does not care who is harmed

If you dare stand in his way

He needs the television footage

To prove our state of decay


Thursday, July 30, 2020

False Dichotomy

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


False Dichotomy

 

Save the economy sacrifice lives

Save lives and sacrifice the economy

Suffer a headache or have a lobotomy

Plain and simple: a false dichotomy

 

Fools and small children

Only see the here and now

The day beyond today does not exist

Immediate gratification is all there is

We cannot see the forest for the trees

Rust for the junkyard

Mules for the donkeys

Waves for the seven seas

 

Be here now is a fine saying

But it has definite limits

Looking forward has its place

The future of the human race

 

Forced to choose between

hardship and sorrow

Bad choices will be made

The wise will find another way

 

Forced to choose between

today and tomorrow

The child will always choose today

The wise will choose tomorrow

and tomorrow beyond the day

 

The only way to secure the economy

Is to tend to the virus first

In sacrificing lives to save the markets

We sacrifice both and secure the worst

Wednesday, July 29, 2020

Brain Fog

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Brain Fog

The face on TV
WHAT’S HIS NAME
Had Covid two or three months ago
HIS BROTHER IS THE GOVERNOR
His symptoms linger on
HE WEARS HIS COURAGE
Among them brain fog
INSIDE HIS FEAR
He tells me
HE HIDES HIS FEAR
It may never go away
INSIDE HIS CONFIDENCE
Fear and rage take my place
WHAT IF?
It never goes away
IT NEVER GOES AWAY?
What cruel fate is this?
HOW DO YOU MAINTAIN A FACE?
Twenty million strong and counting
HOW DO YOU STAY STRONG?
Lost in a fog of tangled dendrites
KNOWING YOU HAVE LOST FOREVER
An endless maze of uncertainty
THAT WHICH MADE YOU
Knowing you will never again know
YOU
You

(the president says the virus
is 99% harmless)

Tuesday, July 28, 2020

Acceptable Loss

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Acceptable Loss

The old normal has gone away
We adjust our expectations
Increase our hospital capabilities
Improve our medications

We don’t believe the news we’re fed
We go our separate ways
We no longer follow where we’re led
If it means the end of days

We’re finally learning from other nations
They’ve managed so much better
It’s not all about the money
There are debts and there are debtors

We’re starting up the schools again
Without heeding to the boss
We need to make the classroom safe
While defining acceptable loss

We smell the toxic air
The problems we’ve ignored
We know it’s neither right nor fair
We’ve faced it all before

The new normal is a calculation
An unbearable equation
How many will we sacrifice
To normalize the nation

Monday, July 27, 2020

The Wall

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THE RESISTANCE



The Wall

Graffiti on a battered wall:
On this ground the fascists fall!

The stormtroopers are geared up
And primed to come your way
Teargas and riot sticks
Helmets and vests
Camouflage uniforms leather boots
Goggles masks and night vision
Like they had in Fallujah
In another time and place
Line em up and fire away
MAGA hats are standing tall
Everyone else against the wall!

Anarchists do you hear
Anti-fascists filled with fear
Longhairs blacks rainbows browns
Brace yourselves you’re going down
People who still read books
Students in college towns
Run hide and don’t be found
Prepare ye for the fall
Line em up against the wall!

We’ve seen this horrid act before
(the states of Kent and Jackson)
It’s how the politicians score
(and how they justify their actions)
Create the violence they abhor
(and gage the media traction)
Then mend the lace they tore

It’s a blood sport and they’re on the road
Stirring trouble everywhere they go
Appearing nightly on the evening news
A smashing action show

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Systemic Failure

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES



Systemic Failure

The rich got richer
The working folks barely got by
The poor became hungry and homeless
Too many old folks had nowhere to die

Then the pandemic hit

Any poor man’s mechanic can tell you
When a machine begins to sputter
You’ve only got so many miles
You can rig it and wrap it in duct tape
But it won’t take many more trials

Then the pandemic hit

We had a problem with inequality
And elected a white supremacist
We failed to house the homeless
And chose a man who did not care
The oceans were already rising
So we sanctified poison air
We sacrificed healthcare and schools
By handing it over to fools

Then the pandemic hit

The problems of all humanity
Bordered on the end of days
We needed a bonafide savior
So we went the other way

Then the pandemic hit