A Song of Despots: Erdogan (ER DOH WUN)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  WORLD DEMOCRACY

Erdogan (Er doh wun)

 

A man named Erdogan

Happens to be the only one

Allowed a voice in Istanbul

Where dissidents are sent to school

To learn how to think again

To criticize is a deadly sin

Give up you cannot win

 

It is time for Erdogan

To give way to another one

Who believes in self-government

And is sufficiently intelligent

To know that despots cannot last

Your time is coming fast

A truth you soon shall grasp

 

This is my song of despots

Be it ER DOH WUN or ER DOH WAN

Let go of power while you can

Free the people or flee the land

 

The Hong Kong Three

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

The Hong Kong Three

 

The spirit of democracy lives on

If not in America then Hong Kong

They arrested the Hong Kong three

For fighting to be free

 

Here we await the next president

There people are imprisoned for dissent

Maybe we’re not so bad after all

Presidents rise and presidents fall

 

We take to the streets and march for a cause

Sometimes we force a change in laws

In Hong Kong democracy hangs by a thread

In America it’s wounded but not yet dead

 

We must support our Hong Kong friends

On this democracy much depends

The people will not yield this fight

For in the end they know they’re right

 

Pardon Me (for Michael Flynn)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POETRY OF POLITICS

 

Pardon

 

Pardon me

Did I overstay my welcome?

Was I rude?

Was I too crude?

I am by nature brash

When attacked I tend to lash

But I did not intend

To dip so deep in trash

 

Lock her up! I shouted

But I have always doubted

Myself and all my friends

On this my soul depends

I was in it for the money

And I thought it kind of funny

So I played the cards I had

Intentions? Neither good nor bad

 

My name is Michael Flynn

Wake me up! Did I just win?

Or is it all a dream?

If so what does it mean?

 

Alright okay I lied

I took you for a ride

I served another nation

Who paid for my vacations

To Moscow and Istanbul

 

Pardon me

 

(What did Mike Flynn say

when he coughed? Pardon me.)

 

Vaccine (Beginning the End)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Vaccine (Beginning the End)

 

We have prayed for the day to come

The beginning of the end

A vaccine is just about ready

Despair is on the mend

 

We now hold our collective breaths

And hope that nothing goes wrong

We’ve lived our lives in a bubble

One joyous Christmas too long

 

The moment we’ve been awaiting

Will come knocking any day

Line up and take your medicine

A bright future is on the way

 

It’s an answer to our prayers

Our collective spirits lift

We thank all souls in heaven

For this most precious gift

 

(to the scientists who developed the

Coronavirus vaccines)

Delusions

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  AMERICAN POLITICS

Delusions

 

Delusions of grandeur take on new meaning

With the man in power screaming screaming

I won! I won! When he clearly lost

Democracy may be the cost

For a man who long ago lost touch

(kindness forbids to say how much)

With stern reality on planet earth

An empty vessel is more than he’s worth

 

He believes he can unwind the wind

And with a magic spell begin again

Falling falling to his knees

He summons the gods with his pleas

But his delusion runs too deep

His sanity he cannot keep

He bids farewell his sycophants

And falls back to his twitter rants

 

So long goodbye my president

All my reason is now spent

 

Quarantine the Court

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Quarantine the Court

 

The high court of the nation

Denies the role of government

In fighting back contagion

For the virus is heaven sent

 

The court decrees you cannot ban

A gathering where many trod

More deadly than we understand

If it invokes the name of god

 

So come ye faithful young and old

Drop thy mask and pull together

Raise up a hallelujah bold

Take shelter from the weather

 

Pack the congregation hall

Sing out to the heavens

Saints and sinners hear the call

Roll out your lucky sevens

 

We dare not question how and why

The justices abandoned reason

We dare not ask how many died

For this judicial treason

 

(The Court overrules New York’s

ban on religious gatherings)

 

El Paso Massacre

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR

 

El Paso Massacre

 

A young white killer

Walks into an El Paso Walmart

Six hundred miles away from home

Opens fire with his semi-automatic

Killing 23 wounding 23 more

Easy as mowing the lawn

 

The killer believed that Mexicans

(and blacks and Jews and others)

Were a part of the Great Replacement

A grand conspiracy to supplant

The pale with darker races

 

He is proof that thoughts combined

With weapons of mass destruction

Have the power to erase many lives

In the time it takes to tip your hat

 

There is no Great Replacement

There is no white genocide

But there is pathological insanity

Born of ignorance fear and prejudice

The world is changing faster

Than enfeebled minds can grasp

 

There is fear of others

Fear of weakness

Fear of being swept away

By unseen hands

And forces greater than

 

There is fear and there are weapons

There are those who take advantage

And there are those who prove their worth

By driving six hundred miles

To murder Mexicans

In a Walmart

 

A Man with Two Hearts

 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

 

First Nations (Native American Appreciation Day)

 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)

 

 

Finding Gratitude

 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!)

Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

 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

 

The Swedish Experiment

 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

 

 

Carriers

 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

 

Losing our Democracy: After the Storm

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

 

Poverty in a Time of Pandemic

 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%.)

 

Let it End

 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 

Space X

 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