The Nuclear Option

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (Ukraine)

 

The Nuclear Option

 

Putin raises the nuclear threat

Hide your heads and place your bets

When the nuclear option is on the table

We have to believe he’s willing and able

 

Is he a madman who’s lost his senses?

Or is this but one in a line of defenses?

Either way we are in grave danger

What was strange has become much stranger

 

The situation is out of control

He is digging a deeper hole

With each day he erases all doubt

We’d be better off without

The madman as head of state

Who keeps tempting a nuclear fate

 

It is time past time for Putin to go

We grow tired of this grotesque show

If he continues to threaten us all

It is time for the madman to fall

 

Barbarians at the Gates

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

 

Barbarians at the Gates

 

Once they were reluctant warriors

Now they are willingly debased

Soldiers of the dark

Barbarians at the gates  

 

Gone is the empathy that once

Held their arms in check

Gone is the humanity that once

Spared the elderly and infirm

Gone is the sense of brotherhood

The commonalities of culture

The pride of proximity

Of friends and families shared

 

What remains is something less

Than human and humane

What remains is barbarity

Cruelty and horror

 

Return to your country

Lay down your arms

And face the great dictator

Or stay in Ukraine

To fight for humanity

To become something human

To embrace the humane

Join the army of Ukraine

 

 

(NOTE: Reports of atrocities increase.)

Erasure

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Erasure

 

Putin wants to erase Ukraine

To erase a nation

Its culture and language

Its history and people

The dictator wants us to forget

The Ukrainian people ever existed

 

What the dictator wants

His soldiers try to deliver

They erase whole buildings with bombs

They erase mothers and children

They erase media towers and schools

They erase Ukrainian families

They erase towns and villages

But they cannot erase emotions

They cannot erase loyalties

They cannot erase that which exists

Within the heart, the mind and soul

 

Can you erase freedom?

Can you erase a dream?

 

Ukraine has existed for millennia

It has been conquered and liberated

Ripped apart and invaded

But it has always been

As it always will be

It can never be erased

 

Navalny Speaks Out

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Navalny Speaks Out

 

Already on trial for speaking out

Against the great dictator

Alexi Navalny speaks out again

Against the barbaric attack

To deny Ukraine its sovereignty

 

Let there be no doubt

The dictator is a war criminal

A thug and a brutal tyrant

Already he has detained thousands

Of his people for protesting

The madness in Ukraine

 

Navalny is their leader

Navalny is their voice

Putin is the single reason

The people have no choice

 

He has sacrificed his freedom

He very nearly gave his life

When Navalny speaks the people listen

Listen to him now

 

We must all do our part

To stop this illegal war

We must speak out

We must march in the streets

We must boycott and call for boycott

We must plead with our leaders

 

We must be prepared to sacrifice

For there will always be a price

There is always a price

 

But as the cost of oil rises

And with it the cost of all goods

Remember the sacrifice of Navalny

Remember the sacrifice of Zelensky

Remember the sacrifice of Ukraine

 

Zelensky II

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Zelensky II

 

He hunkers down below

As the war rages above

His face is pale with worry

For the people that he loves

 

He risks his life by staying

Yet he will not be dissuaded

Not a soul alive would blame him

But his resolve has never faded

 

The good people of Ukraine

Their hearts are filled with pride

Their leader is both good and strong

And the world is on their side

 

The soldiers of the invaders

Know that they are in the wrong

They will be painted as monsters

They will be vilified in song

 

This is a moment of truth

It is not a tragic play

If you come upon Zelensky

Turn around and walk away

 

The End of Abstraction

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

 

The End of Abstraction

 

A darling little girl

Laying still in a hospital bed

A moment captured on camera

The little girl lay dead

 

Her father is not pictured

Her mother is in tears

Her sorrow belongs to all now

The worst of all our fears

 

War used to be an abstraction

Printed words on a page

Now it’s all up close and personal

We are in the digital age

 

There have been many wars before

Unprovoked and unjustified

But only rarely have we observed

The faces of those who died

 

This war belongs to Putin

It might have been Iraq

Now the world has been awakened

Time to halt and take stock

 

Propaganda Failure

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Propaganda Failure

 

When the propaganda fails

We wonder if it ever worked at all

Did the people just pretend to believe?

Did they go along to avoid punishment?

Were they waiting for the chance

To express the truth?

 

That they never did believe

That they knew the truth all along

That the dictator was lying

That his hold was not that strong

That he stole the people’s money

Stashed in foreign banks

Buying castles and glorious yachts

As well as missiles bombs and tanks

They knew it from the start

He was a power-hungry brute

A man without a conscience

A man without a heart

 

The emperor has no clothes

No courage and no strength

The emperor does not care

Who suffers or who dies

He will go to any length

To gain his fame and fortune

To claim his brutal prize

 

He is naked and exposed

His reputation grows

And everybody knows

His game

Annihilation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Annihilation

 

The Ukrainians need our help

They want our boots on the ground

But that is a risky measure

That would render the world unsound

 

For while Putin may be mad

He possesses nuclear power

That could reduce the earth to dust

And set in motion our last hour

 

Putin’s Russia is a rogue nation

We will do all that we can

But we can’t risk annihilation

By combat hand to hand

 

We must rely on sanctions

To put the despot in his place

For this world may not survive

His assault on the human race

 

Resistance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Resistance

 

In the face of an aggressor

Against the fiercest foe

The people gather together

Their numbers begin to grow

They feel the spirit move them

And they begin to sing

When the beast is at the gates

Resistance is everything

 

The odds are stacked against them

Their army is much too small

Their enemy is powerful

And still they stand up tall

For they know their cause is right

The bells of freedom ring

When invaders are at the gate

Resistance is everything

 

The war bears down upon them

They’ve come to kill them all

But they will never surrender

Until the last battle call

They’ll hold their heads up high

Like proud warriors or kings

In the face of the invaders

Resistance is everything

 

Sanctions

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS (UKRAINE)

Sanctions

 

Banished from the world of nations

Banished from the earth

All the money that is traced to him

That money has no worth

 

He might have a trillion rubles

Tucked away in hidden places

But what good is all that fortune

If he’s confined to darkened spaces?

 

Take his money and his treasure

Take it all in ample measure

Take his mettle and his spark

Steal his papers in the dark

 

Let him live without his wealth

Take his glory and his health

Make it suffer, let it hurt

Take his gold and give him dirt

 

The Isolated Authoritarian

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS 

 

The Isolated Authoritarian

 

He hides inside his castle

Looking out on the Siberian Sea

Shaking to his very bones

Afraid of what could be

If the virus came a hunting

The lords of tyranny

 

He has no faith in doctors

There is no one he will see

He lives inside his twisted mind

In fear of what might be

If the virus comes a knocking

At his castle by the sea

 

He cannot stop his shaking

He finds it hard to breathe

His enemies are lurking everywhere

In the shadows behind the trees

Paranoia creeps inside of him

The fear of what could be

When the virus comes a hunting

At his enclave by the sea

 

Zelensky (Courage Under Fire II)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Zelensky (Courage under Fire II)

 

He is target number one

The prime object of Putin’s wrath

He refuses to turn and run

His determination is steadfast

The dictator is enraged

By now it should have passed

Anxious to turn the page

How long can Ukraine last?

 

If courage under fire

Is a measure of a one’s worth

Then Zelensky takes his place

Among the bravest on earth

 

Where is Putin in this fight?

Sitting safely in his room

Watching monitors, giving orders

Turning Ukraine into a tomb

 

Many Voices (for Ukraine)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Many Voices

 

Voices converge on a singular message

Like a symphony of instruments

Like harmonics in a song

 

We march along the boulevard

Like soldiers in formation

A hundred thousand strong

 

We are the multitudes

We are the guiding force

We have been here all along

 

We were silent in our suffering

We were silent through the years

We have found among our voices

The voices of our tears

 

We march together side by side

We march for our salvation

No longer guided by our fears

We march to claim our nation

 

The Uprising

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Uprising

 

In Moscow and Vladivostok

In St. Petersburg and Kaliningrad

In towns and cities across Russia

The people rise in protest

Against the invasion of Ukraine

And the dictator shows his weakness

By arresting and detaining protesters

By the hundreds and the thousands

As he does with political opponents

As he does with dissidents

As he does with journalists

As he does with anyone who speaks

Truth to power

 

The Great Dictator is afraid of dissent

He is afraid of real journalism

He is afraid of political opposition

He is afraid of free speech

He is afraid the truth will leak out

That his support is as thin as paper

That his leadership depends on fear

 

The Great Dictator is falling

He has made a critical mistake

He learned nothing from Afghanistan

He learned nothing from Iraq

He learned nothing from the Cold War

He believes he is the magician

Who can turn back time

 

He is not a fool

He is ruthless

He is egocentric

And he is wrong

True Patriots

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

True Patriots

 

While you’re deriding Joe Biden

With your childish chants

And inept comparisons

Remember that it was Biden

Who withdrew from a twenty-year war

That Bush the younger started

And two successors failed to stop

We were the invaders then

And we answered the call

We were the occupiers then

And we took to the streets

Several million strong

 

Now you serve as cheerleaders

For the despicable Russian despot

As he bombs and bulldozes

His democratic neighbor

Now as the missiles fly over Kiev

You wonder which side to take

Or whether to take sides at all

 

Look to the streets of Moscow

Where the people rise in protest

Where they risk their lives for others

For the cause of freedom

For the hope of democracy

 

Look to the people of Ukraine

Who hunker down in resistance

To the foreign invaders

 

This is the face of patriotism

These are the hearts and souls

Of true patriots

 

Courage Under Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Courage under Fire

 

“You will see our faces, not our spines.”

-- Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky

 

The Ukrainian people have pledged

To fight for their freedom

For their homes and their lands

For their independence from tyranny

 

They oppose the mighty army

Of the world’s great oppressor

They oppose the heartless

The monstrous the merciless

Leadership of the Great Dictator

 

They oppose imperialism

The politics of military conquest

The history of colonialism

 

They know they cannot defeat

This enemy on the battlefield

They cannot match the enemy’s

Missiles, tanks, and soldiers

Yet they can win by surviving

They can win by holding on

They can win by fighting back

By folding into the cracks

By exacting a daily cost

To the occupation of their land

 

As a great American* once said:

You can take hold of it

But how long can you hold it?

A decade?

A century?

A millennium?

 

When every day exacts a cost

In blood sweat and treasure

The outcome is most certain

You will lose this war

And you will go down in history

As the bloody evil tyrant

That you are

 

(* Paraphrasing B. Franklin)