Don't Panic (On Tyranny)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ON TYRANNY

Don’t Panic

 

Inevitably

That which we fear will happen

Must happen

In the course of time

In the unfolding of events

In the race against the darkness

Don’t panic

Remain calm

 

Those who would deny your freedom

And steal you rights

Are counting on your reflex

At the next cataclysmic event

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Keep your feet on the ground

And your faculties intact

 

For there will always be cataclysmic events

And people who wish to exploit them

For humans are an unscrupulous lot

Of power seeking women and men

 

Bush the Younger and old Dick Cheney

Exploited September eleven

Vlad the Bad exploited numerous threats

It’s been going on forever and ever

At least since nineteen and seven

 

The storming of the Capitol Building

Is the latest in tragic exploitation

The call goes out for new laws

To strip away our civil liberties

To conquer domestic terror

 

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Remember the Patriot Act

Remember the names they called us

For opposing

 

Of course there are homegrown terrorists

Of course they pose a threat

But ask yourself: 

Do our security forces

Need any more power

To spy on our fellow citizens?

 

Don’t panic

Remain calm

Proceed in due caution 

 

 (Based on Timothy Snyder's excellent pamphlet)

I Remember Mama (on Mothers Day)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Remembering Mama

 

I remember mama every time

I drive down the same road I drove

On my way to visit her at home

 

I remember mama every time

I see an easy rolling creek

Or majestic Sierra pines

Or old barns and rusted tractors

Like the ones she painted

With so much love and tenderness

 

I remember mama every time

I order cobbler or bread pudding

At an old time restaurant

That never seems to know

How to make it right

 

I remember mama every time

I see a game of scrabble

A deck of cards for pinochle

Rummy or Hoof and Mouth

And someone smiles like she did

When she scored a big hand

Or a seven letter word

 

I remember mama every time

I need an understanding ear

Or someone who will not judge

But will listen and nod her head

Knowing she is pleased just

To be here with her son

 

I remember mama all the time

 

Wishing you were here

Immortality

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Immortality

 

The essence of immortality:

Everything that is will always be

 

The stone becomes the mountain

The mountain yields to the sea

The whales sing their timeless songs

Recording the planet’s history

Everything that is will always be

 

Death is but an illusion

The tree gives way to seeds

Though we mourn each mortal passing

Consciousness is the key

Everything that was continues to be

 

Time does not exist but

As an invention of the mind

A tablet to tell the story

Of man and woman kind

 

From the gardens of ancient Babylon

To the temples of antiquity

Everything that ever was

Will forever be

 

Nature Strikes Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Nature Strikes Back

 

Nature betrays

Betrayed by man

Nature strikes back

Birds no longer passive

Recognize their mortal enemies

Band together in flocks and gaggles

Murders of crow

 

Oceans filled with toxic rage

Enough industrial waste to bury Africa

Enough poison for aquatic genocide

Tsunami winter is coming

Tsunami spring and summer

Vengeance of the sea gods

Poseidon and the leviathans

Wreaking havoc upon the land

 

The sky falls to a fevered howl

Angered at our indifference

Enraged at our willful negligence

Torrential wind and battering rain

Towers toppled and trees uprooted

Stripping the land of all monuments

To our never ending folly

 

Fire rips across the horizon

Converting lush green to dry brown

A barren cracked deserted land

No longer giving nourishment

No longer sustaining life

 

The earth cracks open

Angry molten lava springs forth

Four winds of destruction

Five directions to hell

 

A dream?

A vision ripped from the bowels?

The leanings of an overworked mind?

 

But fire bears no anger

Winds carry no rage

The rising sea seeks no vengeance

The abiding earth indifferent

We destroy ourselves

We take vengeance on ourselves

We have done this to ourselves

And we must make amends

 

The Day Democracy Died

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Day Democracy Died

 

History is a strange phenomenon

You don’t see it when it’s happening

You don’t know when it makes a difference

You don’t recognize the signs

You don’t piece together the facts

Until it’s too late to react

 

They lost an election fair and square

Nothing they could do about it

They yelled and screamed: it’s not fair!

Told the whole white world: we doubt it!

 

But when they charged the nation’s capital

They changed the nature of the game

No longer open to debate and reason

It begged another harsher name

They crossed a line to treason

 

If the traitors get away with it

If their treacherous leader is never tried

We may well remember that day

As the day our democracy died

 

Don’t think it cannot happen here

It can and will I fear

If we do not raise the warning cry

If we perpetuate the evil lie

If we do not give it proper weight

Dictatorship could be our fate

 

A Fool's Rights

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

A Fool’s Rights

 

Every fool has a right to folly

Every bigot has a right to bigotry

Every racist has a right to his own

Every ass imagines chivalry

The old South may have its charm

But no one has the right to harm

 

Say that the planet is a flat plain

Floating in a bowl of water

Tell me our leaders are reptiles

Born of reptilian daughters

Say that the people are mostly sheep

And none of us really matter

Tell me I’m dumb as a cucumber

Or as mad as the Mad Hatter

 

I’ll defend your right to speak freely

To say whatever you please

As long as you don’t harm others

Or spread a deadly disease

 

Arise and Behold!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Arise and Behold

 

Arise and behold

In the twenty-first century

Millions of people live in squalor

Millions have no medical care

Millions die for want of food

Millions drink from poisoned water

 

Arise and behold

The depths of our despair

WE CANNOT GO ON

We hold our breath and stare

PRETENDING NOTHING’S WRONG

At those who die for lack of care

SINGING YESTERDAY’S SONG

We’re trapped inside a lair

FOLLOWING THE MINDLESS THRONG

We demand what’s only fair

 

Arise and behold

We are the blessed and the bright

WE ARE YOUNG THEY ARE OLD

We take what’s ours and say goodnight

THEY ARE SOFT WE ARE BOLD

Trust our leaders will do what’s right

WE’RE THE SELLERS THEY’RE THE SOLD

Pick and choose the righteous fight

WE STAY WARM WHEN THEY ARE COLD

Keep our loved ones within our sight

NEVER WILL WE FOLD

Always reach the highest heights

THEY WILL DO WHAT THEY’RE TOLD

Always know we’ll be alright

 

Arise and behold

We are the greatest force on earth

FOR BETTER OR FOR WORSE

An empire greater than Charlemagne’s

A BLESSING OR A CURSE

Possessing wealth beyond imagination

GUARDIANS OF THE EARTH

Knowledge and technology

NEVER KNOWING WHAT ITS WORTH

The envy of all the gods

NEVER CARING WHO WE HURT

And yet we suffer from anxiety

TIL WE AWAKEN IN THE MORN

We suffer from insecurity

FORSAKEN AND FORLORN

We suffer at our own failure

STRICKEN TO THE CORE

To ease the world’s pain

 

Arise and behold

Or bow down and fold

We know we can do better

 

 

[Note: Jack Foley pioneered the multi-voiced poem or poetic duet.]

Kindness of Strangers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Kindness of Strangers

 

I remember small towns

Where common folks wore smiles

And welcomed you with kindness

Where nothing ever riled

As if they knew your heart

And found it filled with joy

They’d walk with you for miles

Just to show you the best way

Where all the girls and boys

Greeted you like a movie star

And begged for you to play

You’d think: they’re being coy

But they like the way you are

And they wish that you would stay

Another day it’s not that far

 

Those days are now gone

Like a calm before a storm

Like a wish for blowing candles out

Like the chill after a warm

People greet you with suspicion

And a strong measure of doubt

As if they know by intuition

Are you with them or agin them?

You’re agin them by and by

Unless you know what they’re about

And so we go our separate ways

Never knowing how or why

We became so lonely and alone

So estranged and so disturbed

Always gazing at the phone

Never trusting what you’ve heard

Never giving a kind word

To strangers in your town

Who do not know the way around

 

Adversity II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Adversity II

 

You cannot breach the summit

Without a slip

 

You cannot cross the river

Without a scare

 

You cannot complete a journey

Without a detour

 

You cannot fulfill a life

Without regrets

 

In any endeavor of importance

In any mission of worth

In any undertaking for any reason

In any venture on this earth

There will be adversity

 

The greater the objective

The stronger the resistance

Those who embrace adversity

Those who relish the opportunity

Those who take it in stride

Without grief or remorse

Will not only survive but thrive

 

Adversity is the great teacher

The developer of character

 

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