Wednesday, August 19, 2020

California Ablaze

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


California Ablaze

 

From the crisp clear ocean air

Of the northern California coast

To the towering redwoods of Big Sur

Yosemite and old John Muir

From the majestic peaks of Sierra Nevada

To the gentle grace of Santa Cruz

Where artists pay their dues

From the enchantment of Hollywood

The diversity of the city of angels

To the stunning beauty of San Francisco

California is paradise on earth

 

But the world has turned upon its head

We’ve followed where the demon’s led

The air smells of burning soil

As if the water was replaced with oil

The sky is bright orange yellow brown

The people flee their cities and towns

The sun is burnt sienna red

More suited to a land of the dead

Fire strikes a barren land

Our fertile valley turned to sand

 

Misfortune piles on tragedy

Compounding fear with horror

We can see the enemy now

We can smell and taste its bitter fruit

We have survived the sickness

We have endured the plight

Now we must scale the walls

Of fire smoke and ash

To grasp the morning light

 

We are living in a land of flames

California is ablaze

 

(August 19, 2020)

Tuesday, August 18, 2020

Hong Kong

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY


Hong Kong

 

Democracy under siege

And no one seems to care

In Hong Kong freedom bleeds

At what the oppressors freely dare

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

You have to fight for your rights

When you have them

 

The people on the streets

Do not forget the hands

That beat them to submission

They take their stand

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

You have to fight for your rights

When you have them

 

The cameras have gone dark

The world is too distracted

With the virus traveling everywhere

Democracy cannot be enacted

 

Like the words of a song

Once you lose them they’re gone

Though we pray you can

Keep them Hong Kong

 

(August 2020)

Monday, August 17, 2020

Gravity

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Gravity

 

It takes hold of my soul

Presses me down

Like matter in a centrifuge

Water in a pressure cooker

Gas in a confined space

As if the hand of god

Came down upon my forehead

Embracing chest and shoulders

Holding me so still

I cannot think of moving

 

My body as an ornament

A useless lump of mass

A burden to the spirit

Damned and damaged goods

Discarded by the roadside

 

I feel its binding grasp

I sense its awesome force

Omnipresent omnipotent

Like the god of stillness

The god of indifference

The god of somnolence

The god of wait steady hold

And wonder why it bothers

And wonder what’s foretold

 

I am here I am gone

I am dreaming

Was I dreaming all along?

 

Take this weight

And let me fly away

Let me wander let me roam

Release my body

And guide me home

 


Sunday, August 16, 2020

Infant Leader

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  DEFEATING TRUMP


Infant Leader

 

To an infant the universe

Revolves around the self

The toddler is all ego

There is the father and the mother

There are no others

 

What can be said of a leader

Who believes a global pandemic

Is all about him?

The killing of a man in Minnesota

Is all about him?

Streets of protest from Portland

To Seattle all about him?

 

What kind of ego must you have

To believe that your head

Should be mounted on Rushmore

Alongside Roosevelt Jefferson

Washington and Lincoln?

 

We are cursed with an infant leader

Who believes he is anointed by god

Who has run the ship into the rocks

And believes he has landed

In the promised land

 

We are cursed with an infant leader

Who is lost in his own fantasies

And believes he can transform the world

By the strength of his will

 

We must break loose from this infant

Before his tantrums destroy the nation

And the world beyond recovery

Saturday, August 15, 2020

The Ultimate Narcissist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  TRUMP DIARIES


The Ultimate Narcissist

 

The ultimate narcissist is one

who sees a hundred thousand dead

and says it’s fine

as long as it’s not me or mine

 

The ultimate narcissist would rather

see the whole world blind

rather than leave his chosen behind

 

The ultimate narcissist

sees himself as a god

sees the rest as inferior

with a wink and a nod

 

The ultimate narcissist

cannot be bothered

with a poor man’s plight

as long as the prize

is within his sight

 

The ultimate narcissist

proclaims to this day

he was chosen by god

so get out of the way

 

Friday, August 14, 2020

Putin in Belarus

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR


Putin in Belarus

 

The godfather of international politics

Has worked his bloody charm on the

People of Belarus

Lukashenko is his lackey

(like the man in DC)

Steal the election the easy way

Count the ballots yourself

Round up the opposition

Jail anyone who refuses to accede

Take control of the news media

Put your thugs in the streets

Line them up and put them in trucks

Take them away

Disappear them

Like they never really existed

Like the dream of freedom

Like the democratic fantasy

Crush the resistance before it begins

Install your puppet

And move on to the next little nation

That dares to dream

Listen

Listen carefully

To the silence of the West

The leader of the western world

Has lost his voice

 

Thursday, August 13, 2020

Aurora

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES


Aurora

 

Home of Columbine

Where the weapons industry thrives

Where memories of mass shootings

Are planted in the collective mind

 

Aurora cops stop the wrong car

And force a black family face down

On the punishing pavement

Hands cuffed behind their backs

No apologies no decency

No sympathy for crying children

 

What is it about Aurora that leads

Humans to behave so callously

To commit such atrocities

To build a legacy of hate

 

Is it the water

Is it the militaristic mindset

Is it the culture

Is it a history of racial injustice

 

If ever a community required therapy

If ever the schools needed change

If ever the cops needed reform

It is now in this place and time

 

Wednesday, August 12, 2020

The Problem is Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GEORGE FLOYD SERIES


The Problem is Me

 

The problem with this wayward world

Is people who cannot see

The writing on the wall

The way it has to be

The problem with this world

Is old white men like me

 

We’ve ruled this land for centuries

Through hard times and disease

Wars at home and overseas

Civil rights and great upheaval

Systemic failures heartfelt pleas

Through twisted turns of history

The problem with the world is me

 

We keep on marching for the cause

We push for changes in the laws

We pledge our solemn solidarity

Moving forward in singularity

We hold on to the dream

And pray it comes to be

Through it all it’s plain to see

The problem with the world is me

 

Tuesday, August 11, 2020

Perverted Science

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES


Perverted Science

 

The day perverted science was born

They all clapped their soiled hands

They didn’t hear the scientists warn

This could be the nation’s last stand

 

So the CDC has changed its mind

Is it fair to say sold out?

What was verboten is now just fine

Their latest move leaves little doubt

 

How many lives will it cost

To send our children back to school?

The sanctity of inquiry lost

Our institutions painted fools

 

How many years are we set back?

Fact and knowledge tossed aside

Will we ever get back on track?

How long can we abide?

 

The laws of science have been perverted

We may never be the same

To faith and dogma we’ve been converted

Hang our heads in shame

 

Remember when the death toll mounted

We turned away from all we knew

We were at our worst when it most counted

We watched as the virus spread and grew

 

Will we ever find ourselves again?

Or have we lost our way forever?

Will we find our path through all that’s been?

And to wishful thinking say: Never!

 

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