RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR
A Man with Two Hearts
A man with two faces
Has learned to deceive
A man with two tongues
Cannot be believed
A man of two minds
Remains paralyzed
A man with two hearts
Can never be wise
For his affection follows
His wandering eyes
He cannot be trusted
Nor should be despised
For his love is shallow
With no lasting ties
His fate is sorrow
Be it fall or rise
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: NATIVE AMERICA
First Nations
Arapaho Cherokee Standing Rock Sioux
Laid claim to this land before me and you
Apache Hopi Cheyenne Hoh
They planted seeds that we should sow
Comanche Paiute Seminole Cree
If you cannot help then let them be
Lakota Iroquois Navaho Crow
Let the spirits rise and the four winds blow
Mohawk Inuit Huron Osage
Remember all the wars we waged
Their numbers followed the buffalo
Twelve million to 235 thousand
From Columbus to near extinction
There are no sides to genocide
But the buffalo is still alive
Along with Turtle Island’s tribes
Their way of life is still here
Like the earth mother they hold dear
Our first nations are owed a debt
We cannot rest until it’s met
So give respect and give again
What is the price of original sin?
(Today is Native American Appreciation Day)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GRATITUDE
Finding Gratitude
If there is no hunger where you live
Be grateful to the earth that gives
If you’re not exposed to a wind that roams
Be grateful for your sturdy home
If you have friends and ones you love
Be grateful to the stars above
If you smile and laugh in ample measure
Be thankful for the simple pleasure
If you have a warm family circle
Be grateful for the ties that bind
If you’re blessed with common courtesy
Be grateful for a world that’s kind
No matter what and where we are
We can always be grateful
We should thank our lucky stars
We have not become hateful
For there is love in all things
And there are those who care
And the one above does not
Give us troubles we can’t bear
Hard times tell us what really matters
Lesser things will fall and scatter
(Happy Thanksgiving to all!)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: END TIMES
Abyssinia (Ethiopia)
A scourge has come to Abyssinia
Rebellion on the plains of Eritrea
An explosion of deadly virus
A plague of locusts
A swarming mass of refugees
On the border of Sudan
On the horn of Africa
The birthplace of modern man
Become a place of misery
Surrounded on all sides by war
Hunger famine hopelessness
A land of genocide and hate
A land ravaged by drought
Where failing crops are consumed
By hordes of hungry insects
An ancient timeless land
Where the four powers of the earth
Converged in times forgotten
Where the world’s enduring religions
Collided in blood and fire
Where legends sprang from the well
Of a long lost land of sorrow
A land become forsaken
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
The Swedish Experiment
It was never herd immunity
But something like
They did not ignore the virus
But they hid it from sight
At first there was promise
We held out for hope
When it turned for the worse
They could no longer cope
So they’ve locked down the nation
They will let no one in
They are searching their hearts
For a new way to begin
Too many have died
There can be no doubt
Now they must find
Another way out
If there is a lesson
Perhaps it is this:
You can’t fight a virus
With hope and a wish
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Carriers
They bear no ill intentions
They live and breathe the open air
If they bring death and suffering
It’s not because they do not care
They are the carriers of a disease
In which they do not believe
Until their loved ones are stricken
Then they pray and grieve
All of you who will not wear a mask
Listen to my desperate plea
Would you give your child a life jacket
For a journey on the sea?
We know you care about your elders
You care about all those you love
We hear you care so very much
You often pray to God above
So how is it you do not see the truth
When it comes to a viral disease
You could take preventive measures
And you could do it with relative ease
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY
After the Storm
Remember every bit of this
When we survive the storm
Every solitary crack in the system
Every violation of the norms
A fool’s last testimonial:
It won’t happen again
Bad and evil always lose
The righteous always win
They said it twenty years ago
When we were wounded to the core
The wise and righteous warned:
Beware the curse of Bush v. Gore
So now we’re forced to realize
How easily the republic falls
Our revered institutions depend
On the faith of one and all
We need to take real action
We need to pass new laws
Or the glory of our republic
Will become a sad lost cause
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Poverty in a Time of Pandemic
The Standing Rock Sioux
Stood up to the oil industry
They fought long and tough and hard
To defend the earth from harm
The people of Standing Rock are poor
Where others offer money and time
The tribe put it all on the line
Poor people do not vote
So it is said and too often it’s true
But the time has come to break old habits
Strike out at something new
Poor people are sick and dying
Poor people are denied healthcare
Poor people suffer heart disorders
Tuberculosis cancer lung disease
Poor people have drinking problems
Hard drugs and addiction
Because they want to escape
Because they’ve lost hope
Because no one cares
When times get hard for all
Some people cut expenses
Some people tap their savings
Some people do without
Poor people become homeless
Jobless hungry desperate
When all is said and done
Poverty kills
Poverty in a time of pandemic
Kills ten times quicker
And more often
(The poverty rate at the Standing Rock
Reservation is 43.2%.)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES
Let it End
I have never been a man of religious faith
Yet I often pray
If it would be of any useful purpose
(and I believe it would)
I’ll bow my head today
For I have seen too many suffer
And I have lost too many friends
O lord if you’re listening
Let there be an end
We all know it is not over
Sometimes it seems it’s just begun
If the virus was an enemy
Then the enemy has won
But this is not a war
There is no ground to defend
O lord if you care
Let there be an end
We are filing wills and testaments
We are throwing in our cards
It is testing all our limits
Lord knows it’s getting hard
There are no heroes in the mirror
Upon whom we can depend
So lord if you’re willing
Let there be an end
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR
Space X
The great mystery remains
The exploration of space
No greater mission of discovery is
Destined for the human race
We have tapped beyond the sun’s reach
We have grasped the surface of Mars
We have bent the force of gravity
We have peeked beyond the stars
What greater purpose can there be
Than to explore the mysteries of space
To test the depths of understanding
To recognize our place
We must always expand our thinking
Set aside our little lives
There is so much to see and know
The goals for which we strive
We are better than we have been
We must see beyond our worth
We will see it all with new eyes
No longer tethered to the earth
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIAN HISTORY
Washita River
Black Kettle remembers the day
The blue coats came to Sand Creek
He remembers holding the white flag
Of peace that the government said
Would protect his tribe
He remembers the thunder of hooves
The onslaught of gunfire
The plunging of bayonets and knives
He remembers trails of blood that ran
From the camp to the creek
He remembers the cry of women and children
He remembers Medicine Woman Later
By his side as they rushed to cover
He remembers surviving to witness
The scene of bloody carnage
Through the reeds by the creek
He remembers the soldiers
Cutting body parts from his people
To become trophies and curiosities
He survives to tell the story
The blue coats said it was a mistake
It could not happen again
The survivors moved to Indian Territory
And settled by the Washita River
The blue coats gave him a white flag
That he buried in remembrance
Of those he buried as Sand Creek
They swore it would not happen again
It is daybreak under clear skies
When he hears the thunder of horses
With their pounding iron hooves
A sound he has heard before
He looks to Medicine Woman Later
And knows that she knows
Together they sing their death songs
And take comfort in knowing
They will not witness the scene again
Their blood marks a trail to Washita River
Where they leave behind a curse
The white eyes will never forget
What their blue coats did this day
(The Washita River Massacre:
November 27, 1868)
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY
Hong Kong
The people gathered in city squares
To hold their leaders to their word
A government of and by the people
If not a democracy then something like
A movement toward democracy
Acknowledgement of basic rights
They took away the right to gather
Took away the right to speak
Took away the right to protest
Stripped down the right to privacy
Broke down a free media
Rendered the vote all but meaningless
And America stood silent
The leader of the free world
Is absent without leave
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: DEMOCRACY BETRAYED
Peru
Emboldened
The fascists take aim and strike
They are the moneyed class
Who can stop them?
Who can tell them what to do?
They own the police
They own the courts
They control the banks
They own the media
The people have nothing
But the streets
Up north they have their fascists too
Their leaders refuse to leave office
Their elections have no meaning
They cheat and pack the courts
They lie and scheme
They make up the rules
They take want they want
They have no laws
They have no justice
They have no balance of power
They mock their own principles
Why should Peru honor the system?
Why should Bolivia?
Why should anyone?
The people have nothing
But the streets
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR
I Am America
I have had my day in the sun
I have known the glory of conquest
I have suffered the heartbreak of loss
I have experienced delusions of grandeur
I have descended the depths of despair
I am but a child and yet I am old
I am strong and yet weary
I am wealthy but impoverished
I am hope and I am destruction
I am your dearest friend and harshest enemy
I am the darkest night and brightest day
I am everyone and no one
I am all and nothing
I am America
I was once a shining beacon
Become a dying ember
I have fallen but
I will rise again
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR
Untethered
We have wandered so far from the ropes
We no longer know where we started
Where we end is beyond the scope
We are untethered unbound adrift
Floating aimlessly on an open sea
We have forgotten why we began
This endless journey to unknown lands
Each day we awaken to a new dream
Reality has strayed from our grasp
We reach for it and it slinks away
We dive for it as it turns to dust
We conjure it in distant memories
We have become separate and aloof
While our concrete world escapes
We claim the right to invent the
Planets and the stars that reign over
Our waking lives in day and night
Even our dreams are borrowed
We were not born this way
The real world once fed and nurtured us
We grew and prospered in its grace
We suffered in stubborn defiance
When and how did we lose touch
How and when did we lose hold
When did life slip from our senses
Who cut the ties that bound us
To this breathing pulsing earth
We must find our way home
We must plant our feet on solid ground
We must feel the wind and taste the air
We must learn to love our lives again
We must love our gracious mother
In all her teeming splendor
RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: 2020 ELECTION
A Promise of Unity
The promise of tomorrow begins today
We clear our sleepy heads in wonder
Was it a dream or will it stay
To cast our fears asunder
We wait with guarded optimism
As a divided nation lends its ears
To the newly elected president
Who owns the wisdom of his years
Those who brought him to the dance
With affection give him cheers
Others concede to give him a chance
To push back our darkest fears
A spirit of unity is born again
After four long years in hiding
Those who walked a lonely path
Are pleased to finally be riding
The way ahead will not be easy
We all know that much is true
But we are pledged to understand
What it’s like to wear another’s shoes
For tomorrow is another day
A chance to write the story new
We are a nation of true believers
Neither red nor green nor blue
