May Day (Premature Celebration)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

May Day

 

The mood is jubilation

The Derby is in bloom

Thousands gather in celebration

A portent of what looms

 

Have we jumped the gun again?

Lowered the bar to the ground?

Have we forgotten where we’ve been?

Rising when we should stay down?

 

I fear the worst will follow

Declaring victory before it’s done

These celebrations will ring hollow

Raising a pennant we have not won

 

I dearly hope that I am wrong

But I have seen this act before

Could it be the same old song:

Dropping anchor too far from shore

Dignity

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  LIFE SONGS

Dignity

 

I am a proud man

In this I am everyone

I have crossed the seven seas

I have climbed the fiercest mountain

I have faced the beast and lived

I have witnessed the wonders of the universe

Explored the farthest reaches of space

Captured the mysteries of the heart

Lost my way in a maze of dreams

and known what awestruck means

 

I have created works of beauty

Drawn tears from the eyes of men

I have known the truth of love

I have felt the sting of betrayal

I have celebrated many victories

and learned the lessons of defeat

 

When you have taken all else

My sight my soul my memories

Be merciful have sympathy

Leave me with my dignity

 

Without dignity what reason is there

to remain in this world of wonder?

 

I am Dreaming

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

I am Dreaming

 

I am dreaming of a world

Where John Lennon enjoys old age

In the company of George and Yoko

Dylan Thomas and Walt Whitman

Where conversation is song

Reflection is poetry

And there is no wrong

I am dreaming of a world where

We all belong

 

I am dreaming of a world

Where the nightingale sings

Where the air smells of roses

Where waterfalls and clarion calls

Greet every waking morning

Where purpose is a given

Where every breath has meaning

Where there is no wrong

And everyone belongs

 

I am dreaming of a world

Where heartbreak is measured

By our ability to cope

Where every sad end has a bright

New beginning filled with hope

And treasures of happiness

Where sorrow never lasts too long

And all souls belong

 

I am dreaming of a place

Where love runs through our veins

In the rivers in the rain

Where every wish is kindness

Where every want is generosity

Where there is no war

Where we’ve forgotten what it’s for

Where there can be no wrong

Where we all get along

And everyone belongs

 

(after Ferlinghetti’s I am Waiting)

Modi of India

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Modi (PM Narendra Modi of India)

 

“He has lit funeral pyres in every house”

As they rush to bury the dead

“The monster swallows our people”

An overwhelmed official said

 

Modi declared victory many months ago

Celebrations ran across the nation

The deadly virus was defeated

Vaccines were the great salvation

 

Now the hospitals are overwhelmed

The crematoriums and cemeteries

The people suffer from exhaustion

Bitter with outrage and wary

 

They pretended all was well

Under their strong and boastful leader

But their collective overconfidence

Became a coronavirus breeder

 

Now they sound the toll of death

Every morning until night

What was once a victory dance

Has become an endless fight

 

The Intelligence of the Body

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  LIFE SONGS

The Intelligence of the Body

 

The body possesses intelligence

It informs the mind of what it needs

Seeking balance grace and nourishment

Healthy patterns is what it breeds

 

Abuse the mind offend the body

Abuse the body offend the mind

Mind body heart and soul

A balance of the delicate kind

 

Too often we listen to our hearts

And yield to passions of desire

Too much too soon too often

Can lead to consequence most dire

 

In following the way of the mind

Far too often we may pretend

We can far exceed our natural limit

Pushing past the point of mend

 

We often go the way of soul

We have no choice we must

But if the body cannot endure

We can no longer trust

 

The body is both hearth and home

It must endure our trials and tests

Take care to listen with respect

For the body knows what’s best

One World (Ode to India)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

One World (Ode to India)

 

The virus explodes in India while

The western world begins to breathe

America regains her footing

In Europe the crisis begins to ease

 

The vaccines slowly work their magic

Supplanting despair with hope

Transforming a worried world

Inspiring the ability to cope

 

There is little hope in India

Fear consumes the masses

Death invades the nation’s heart

Cutting across all classes

It steals the very breath of light

As hope slinks out of sight

 

There is not enough vaccine in India

It’s not that we don’t care

The western world has claimed its own

We just don’t care enough to share

To millions in Mumbai and elsewhere

America first becomes a death knell

Under the curse of Covid’s spell

 

India is not alone in desperation

Brazil and much of Africa cry out

For help that only we can provide

If we can overcome our doubt

And serve the nation’s pride

For we have more than we can use

We have millions who refuse

 

Open the doors and let them in

The world is a small place after all

We must unite to win this fight

We must answer the global call

Sacred Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Sacred Rights 

 

There is no right to yell fire

in a crowded theater

Yet there is a right to carry

weapons of war on the

streets of protest

 

There is no right to slander officials

for vile offensive acts

Yet there is a right to spew

vile abusive language on social

media or in the town square

 

The right to gather in protest

has long been under siege

undermined by both parties

as if they both agreed

to compromise our basic rights

in the interest of public image

or political expedience

 

We have stood by while too

many of our sacred rights

have been compromised or wished

away by overzealous officials

 

The right to vote

The right to speak out

The right to public protest

The right to impartial news

The right to free and fair elections

 

It is time to stand against the onslaught

It is time to stand for freedom

A freedom that is in balance

With democracy and civil rights

 

Guilty

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  GEORGE FLOYD SERIES

Guilty

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than an officer of the law

Justice itself was on trial

Compassion was on trial

The nature of truth was in the balance

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than a silver badge

More than the state of Minnesota

More than law in America

 

The history of race relations

The history of slavery and discrimination

The history of lies and betrayals

The history of civil rights

The blood of the martyrs

Tears of the fallen survivors

 

There was more than a man on trial

More than this nation

The tainted history of civilization

The oppressed and the oppressor

Centuries of recrimination

An honest reckoning for reparations

 

We were all on trial

The privileged and the innocent

The naïve and unknowing

The products of culture and education

Centuries of indoctrination

 

We were all on trial

And we were found guilty

Guilty of not knowing

Guilty of not believing

Guilty of not caring enough

To make the necessary changes

A long time ago

 

Hope Rises

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Hope Rises

 

Hope rises with a touch of spring

Fruit ripened on the vine

The scent of sun kissed pollen

Clouds of cream and golden glory

A symphony of wine and roses

The sweet and bitter taste of hope

 

We have bathed ourselves in

Endless waves of sorrow

We have seen the blood red sky

We have marched the mourning dirge

We have witnessed beauty die

 

Yet we have lived to tell the story

To keep our future’s faith alive

So we awaken to this morning

When tears of hope fulfill our eyes

Pray the worst is over now

Pray we have survived

 

Hope rises with the season

And empties out our shame

We remember all our wonders

Miracles too great to name

Justice in a Time of Passion

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE

Justice in a Time of Passion

 

Justice is not angry

Justice is cool calm and calculating

It desires truth as the poet desires love

It leans on facts as the toddler

clings to her mother’s hand

 

Justice is not vengeance

It is a balancing of the account

It is an assurance that injustice

will not and cannot happen

without appropriate consequence

 

Justice is not the great redeemer

Justice is not the avenging angel

Justice is not an impassioned warrior

Justice is a blind woman with a scale

 

She serves no one’s cause

She answers no one’s call

She stills herself to listen

She absorbs all the facts

She measures their worth

and delivers her judgment

 

If justice does her job well

no one is fully satisfied

but we are empowered

to accept her decree

and move on

 

Infinite Possibilities

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Infinite Possibilities                                                                              

 

The living universe explodes

with infinite possibilities

 

Possibilities that exist on every level

of every plain of existence

 

A black hole contains infinity

within a vacuum of eternal nothingness

 

A common object be it a lamp

a desk or a pen contains an infinite

amount of subatomic elements

within subatomic elements

 

We are the sum of all that exists

and all that has ever existed

in this life and all lives before

and after this existence

 

Every moment contains eternity

Every sunset is forever

There are no ends only beginnings

The world overflows with possibilities

Infinity possibilities

 

We possess the power

to select our experience

to choose the moments that form

the building blocks of our lives

 

Everything that was is

Everything that is will always be

In that there is hope and prayer

In that there is eternal being

 

Inside the Walls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Inside the Walls

 

For a year I have looked at walls

from the outside looking in

 

A barrier meant to be breached

by gates and doorways has blocked

my passage compromised my freedom

alter my perception and confined

my experience like prison bars

 

A world of spectacular sights smells

taste and touch profoundly altered

by a year of constant denial

 

How strange it now seems to enter stores

To walk freely among masked consumers

Testing produce by touch

Observing the public behavior

of our fellow beings

recalculating right and wrong

proper and improper

 

For I have dwelled upon another planet

far from the place I know

and I have returned to find myself

a stranger in a strange land

my normal no longer normal

my instincts out of rhythm

my song out of time

 

I will rejoice for I am welcome here

My feet can find the proper pace

My mind will restore the balance

My life will find its place

 

The Long War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY

The Long War

 

It began with the will to war

by a president whose claim to office

was as suspect as his intellect

 

It began with a lie as so many wars do

Afghanistan provided safe haven to AQ

(the CIA contracted and armed AQ

implanting them in the Afghan war

to defeat the Russians)

The truth is the first casualty of war

Journalism is often the second

 

We’ve carried the lies of war

for twenty years and carry them still

 

We fought to end terror

We fought to avenge 911

We fought for the Afghan women

We fought for democracy

 

When everyone knows we fought

to prove we were the biggest bully

on the Mideast block

We fought to prove we were badder

than the Russians

We fought because we needed a war

to test our weapons

to clear the docket for new weapons

to test our advanced technology

to show the world what shock

and awe looks like

in the flesh

 

We moved on to Iraq

but we forgot to move out

Afghanistan became an afterthought

A deadly wicked afterthought

It was a war we could not win

It was a war we should never have fought

We never had the hearts of the people

An invader never will

 

You cannot win the people

with death and destruction

We lost the war before it began

and we’ve been losing ever since

 

The bully always loses

in the end

 

Dust Bowl (History Series)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: HISTORY SERIES

Dust Bowl (History Series)

 

The dust rolled in like a giant wave

Sweeping the land and hills

Swallowing farms like morbid graves

Take cover and write your wills

 

Oklahomans lined up on the westward trail

To join the farm labor force

To them the American dream had failed

Leaving them without recourse

 

Mothers with their babes in arm

Fathers desperate to make a buck

Protect their children from all harm

Begging for work and praying for luck

 

Hard working women and men

Tossed out on a crowded road

Whole families rendered homeless

Like the family of ma and pa Joad

 

They lived in camps and rode the rails

Derided as ignorant no good bums

When they held a hand out for help

They were spit on and treated like scum

 

But they held their heads high

And they found a way

Hard times made them stronger

And they’re stronger to this day