A Delicate Balance

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

A Delicate Balance (Hard Choices)

 

It’s a question of relative evil

The world’s need for Saudi oil

The invasion of Ukraine

The crimes on Yemeni soil

 

The Saudis are brutal oppressors

The Russians are equally bad

We yearn for simpler times

The relationships we once had

 

But the world has never been simple

We have had to make hard choices

When we silence one bad player

We enhance another’s voices

 

In the place we find ourselves today

We require the Saudis on board

To ease the global tensions

To end the Ukrainian war

 

The time must someday come

When we deal with the devil no more

I confess it seems unreachable

Like a ship on a distant shore

 

Yosemite Burning

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

 

Yosemite Burning

 

We are the caretakers of the land

And we have failed our charge

Yosemite Valley is on fire

Wawona is burning

The towering Sequoias

Trees that have survived millennia

The passing of wars

The ravages of logging

The age of industrialization

Now face the threat of warming

 

There is something quite obscene

About destroying ancient beings

Far older and infinitely more majestic

Than modern civilization

It is a failure of our culture

And a failure of our nation

That our most prized possessions

Our land our parks our forests

Our natural wonders

Now face an existential threat

And we can do little

To prevent it

 

Covid Rides Again

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

 

Covid Rides Again

 

The fifth subvariant of the seventh wave

Comes crashing upon our shore

Works its way across the land

Comes a knocking at our door

 

Will we never rid ourselves

Of this deadly viral scourge?

Or will we let it grow and spread

To enact a natural purge?

 

We know we cannot live this way

Forever and a night

This is not a human enemy

That we can curse and fight

 

So it will run its natural course

Stealing more and many lives

As we pretend it is not so

The virus grows and thrives

 

The Faces of America

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

The Faces of America

 

Barack Obama said

There weren’t two Americas

There was only one

Barack Obama was partly right

And partly wrong

There aren’t two Americas

But there isn’t only one

There are more like twenty-two

Under the American sun

 

One America loves to read

Another watches sports on TV

One America plants a seed

Another has no need

One America reveres the flag

Another uses recyclable bags

One America loves barbecue

Another thrives on potato stew

One America loves its guns

Another wishes that was done

One America has no fear

Another cries a river of tears

One awakens to an ocean view

For another a simple park will do

One resides below the border

Another pleads for law and order

 

America has so many faces

So many cultures and so many races

Like the land we have all variations

But together we form a nation

United in our conviction

That together we are strong

We will rise above all wrong

Divided we are weak

That ship will spring a leak

 

Obama was partly right

Obama was partly wrong

He had a dream within his sight

But we are not that far along

Open Letter to the GRU

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Open Letter to the GRU

 

Putin holds the strings of power

But you are the strings

You can sever his connections

He is the bird but you are the wings

He owns the day but you own the hour

He has the drum but you are the beat

He has potatoes but you have the heat

To warm the pot of stew

He is nothing without you

The force of the GRU

 

He is the brain but you are the heart

You are the wheels that carry the cart

He is the madman behind the curtain

With him in charge nothing is certain

It is time to end his reign

For all as well as Ukraine

This man has gone insane

He threatens to destroy the world

For his psyche has come unfurled

There is nothing left to do

It all comes down to you

The force of the GRU

 

Evil Lives Here

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

 

Evil Lives Here

 

I sanction modern day slavery

I am the last bastion of aristocracy

I subject women to servitude

I exploit stars of the western world

With the treasure of black blood

I nip democracy in the bud

I am the Emirates

Evil lives here

 

I kill journalists for fun

I execute people on religious grounds

I suppress civil liberties

I suppress women’s rights

I think nothing of committing

Genocide on Yemeni soil

I hold the west hostage for oil

I am Saudi Arabia

Evil lives here

 

I steal western technology

I subject a religious minority to retraining

I have outlawed a free press

I have severed ties to the outside world

I think nothing of crimes against humanity

I am the champion of cheap labor

I play the west for fools

While exploiting western tools

I am China

Beast of the east

Evil lives here

 

I kill more dissidents than you can count

I invade neighbors to feed my ego

I hold Europe hostage for energy

I interfere in foreign elections

I made a fool into a king

I give pretense to democratic rule

I am Mother Russia

Evil lives here

 

The Long Journey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

The Journey

 

The journey begins knowing

That barriers will be encountered

Plans will be made only

To be modified, scrapped

And made again

 

Begin with a positive frame of mind

Confident in your ability to alter the course

To adjust to changing circumstance

You march forward determined to

Take no steps backwards

 

You know the journey is a marathon

You will not rush to its end

You take each step deliberately

And with a purpose

You welcome adversity

You accept every challenge

As it presents itself

You rejoice at every victory

Every moment of achievement

Every turn of good fortune

 

You do not dwell in the past

You accept your mistakes and move on

You know that every journey

Will challenge your determination

Your endurance and fortitude

 

When you reach your journey’s end

You pause and give thanks

For every journey is a blessing

Even those that end in hardship

Even those that steal your strength

And leave you wanting

For every journey guides you

To your destiny

 

Young Punks

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  POEMICS (Mass Shootings)

 

Young Punks

 

Another mass shooting

This time north of Chicago

An Independence Day parade

Another young punk

With a weapon of mass destruction

And a clip of ammunition

Another killing of random individuals

Another ineffectual protest

Another indefensible act of violence

Another young man tangled in frustration

Tortured by his own psyche

 

We speculate and wonder

Who will be next?

We speculate and wonder

Why so many young men

Want to kill at random

We speculate and wonder

Why our culture produces

So much frustration and despair

 

It is not enough to take away the guns

(though it would surely help)

We must solve the equation of

Helplessness in a world of plenty

We must offer a sense of purpose

Not just to the chosen few

But to the forgotten many

We must offer new ways of living

In peace and mutual respect

 

There is too much anger

There is too much rage

To be so lost and hopeless

At such a young age

 

We must do better

We must do more

We must offer alternatives

We must open the door

 

Another Fourth of July

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Another Fourth of July

 

The birth of a nation is a remarkable event

A convergence of historical circumstance

Gives rise to a new nation state

 

An act of injustice in a sea of oppression

(Taxation without representation)

An extraordinary circle of free thinkers

(Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Paine)

A declaration of independence

(We hold these truths to be self-evident)

The rise of a citizen’s army

(A well-regulated militia)

A long grueling campaign

(Starvation at Valley Forge)

The luck of the Irish

(The French alliance)

A nation conceived in liberty

(Made fertile by native blood)

The birth of modern democracy

(A republic if we can keep it)

This day we remember

(Four score and seven years ago)

And we renew the promise

 

Dark Days Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Dark Days Democracy

 

America has known many dark days

And many long dark nights

We have grown to understand

That if we stand still too long

We will sacrifice our rights

We will lose democracy itself

If we have lost the will to fight

 

For too long we have assumed

That self-government secures itself

A people will not pluck out its own heart

We would not send ourselves to hell

Or throw ourselves under the cart

The root of our being is to deny all kings

We would never allow democracy to part

Independence and liberty of thee I sing

Free and fair elections is where we start

 

But now we have learned nothing is sure

The rights and liberties at our very core

If it’s not nailed down it is not secure

From our purple mountains to majestic shores

If we will not fight or can’t endure

The land of the free may be no more

Killer Court

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN JUSTICE 

 

Killer Court 

Guns abortion climate change 

There is blood on the court's hands 

The same court that could find no 

 constitutional right to privacy 

The same court that invented an 

individual right to carry arms in public 

The same court that finds no grounds 

for the right to vote in fair elections 

Rules now that the constitution blocks 

the Environmental Protection Agency 

from doing its most basic job 

 

In the immortal words of Richard Nixon 

Make no mistake: There is blood on this court's hands 

By the end of the decade, this court 

The Kavanaugh and Thomas court 

The Alito, Gorsuch and Coney Barrett Court 

 Indeed, the Catholic Court will henceforth 

be known as the Killer Court 

But the constitution says nothing 

about blood 

 

The Rise of Europe

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The Rise of Europe

 

The stage is set

The beast has shown its teeth

The unifying threat

He strikes when we’re weak

Or so he thinks

Or so he thinks

 

A new empire he seeks

To sanctify his past

A union of dictatorships

That cannot last

It cannot last

 

Democracy will rise again

And Europe leads the way

Putin played his hand too soon

It will not pay

He cannot stay

 

He played his hand in Germany

He counted on the Reich

But the neo-Nazis could not hold

The people have grown wise

It is you they despise

You they defy

 

He played his hand in Paris

But the numbers came up short

Le Pen lost in the election

They lost in the courts

He will lose again

He cannot win

Cannot will not win

 

He has lost in the Nordic states

They wish to rise in freedom

In the morning when they wake

They know what’s at stake

They know what to make

Of false prophets

Who only take

And take and take

 

When Europe stays united

With the democratic west

Ukraine wins its freedom

The world shows its best

We’ll pass this test

And reinvest

In freedom and democracy

 

Everyman

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Everyman

 

As I look in the mirror

Who and what do I see?

I know well the man

Looking back at me

 

An old man with a thousand tales

A young man who never fails

A sinner and a saint

The one you think is but ain’t

A man who sold his soul

A soldier who will not grow old

A woman who sees tomorrow

A man who bathes in sorrow

A portrait of a lonely being

The one who hears the angels sing

 

I am everyone it seems

Everyone who lives and dreams

I am everyone who journeys on

And everyone who sings this song

I am everyone who waits the night

And everyone who sees the light

Goodnight, my dear, goodnight

 

They're Coming

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

They’re Coming

 

They’re coming for us now

Like they always said they would

We’ve got your number boy

We know where you live

They want us to be scared

To run away and hide

They don’t think we’ll fight back

We are on the peaceful side

But they don’t know our rage

They only know our fear

They don’t know our passion

For the values we hold dear

 

They’re right about the guns

And our reluctance to use force

But we will take to the streets

And we will hold to the course

We owe it to our forebearers

To all those who marched before

So beat us down if you will

Roll us over if you must

We will rise like the Phoenix

Until we leave you in the dust

 

(Supreme Court overturns

Roe V. Wade; Thomas warns

gay marriage is next)

 

The Hearings

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Hearings

 

They’re having hearings in Washington

About the uprising of January Six

Haven’t we had that already? we said

I recall how it made us sick

So no one is tuning in today

We all think it’s a partisan trick

 

Maybe it sounds a bit absurd

Like the song of a silent bird

Like the weight of a nebulous word

It’s the hearings that nobody heard

 

A witness recalls the horror

She survived by the tip of her tongue

It’s a shame that no is listening

To a song that’s already been sung

We refuse to go back to that day

Regardless of what is at stake

We’ll go on with our mundane lives

Politics?  Give us a break

 

For though it might sound absurd

Like the song of a silent bird

Or the weight of a nebulous word

It’s the hearings that nobody heard

 

Apocalypse Nine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

Apocalypse Nine

 

The scorched earth

The barren earth

The ravaged land

The cracked earth

The land that became a roaring river

The poisoned earth

The land swallowed by the sea

The exploding earth

The land of endless storms

 

The horsemen are joined by five more

The wait and watch for seven signs

 

The signs are in the air

The signs are in the cosmos

The signs are everywhere

The gods of mercy have fled

The gods of destruction rise

 

The polar icecaps melt

The towers turn to babble

Fire brings the night to day

The enlightened lose their way

The church becomes the law

The streets are filled with blood

The flame of freedom extinguishes

The days of light are done

 

Apocalypse nine is counting

A wave of executions

Apocalypse eight is falling

The rage of humans rising

Apocalypse seven is waiting

The people gather arms

Apocalypse six is looming

The threat of nuclear war

Apocalypse five declaring

Freedom falls across the land

Apocalypse four is seething

Democracy be damned

Apocalypse three is pushing

Starvation in a land of plenty

Apocalypse two approaches

Surrounded we surrender

Apocalypse one

Done. 

 

Death Songs

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Death Songs

 

The Lakota, Cheyenne and Navajo

All sing their songs of death

At the hour of the reckoning

To welcome eternal rest

 

Big Foot sang at Wounded Knee

Frozen on the barren land

Black Kettle sang at Sand Creek

Where he made his final stand

 

As the sun sets on our varied lives

We seek a vision that will please

As basic as the call to prayer

That bends us to our knees

 

Dickinson sang her song of death

Praising nature and painting dreams

Freud sang his song of death

Its final notes neither heard nor seen

Mozart sang his requiem

Until it placed him in his grave

All the earthly saints sang prayers

One last soul to save

Whitman at the appointed hour

Sang of self and lovely flowers

Yeats sang of lovers lost

A lament of such a woeful cost

 

We sing our songs of soulful sorrow

Uncertain what will be tomorrow

But on the hour of our last day

We yield to bow our heads and pray

We sing of things we might have done

Battles lost and battles won

We dive into the deep unknown

Not knowing whether we have grown

Enough to make it right

We sing so long, farewell, goodnight

 

Eighteen Dead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CORONAVIRUS SERIES

Eighteen Dead

 

If eighteen died at the hands of

Middle East zealots

They would mark the day

Build a monument and

Hold a three-day vigil

 

If eighteen died at the hands of

A MAGA militia

They would summon

The FBI and put the National

Guard on alert

 

If eighteen died at the hands of

A serial killer

We’d be greeted by national

Media coverage 24-7

Survivor interviews and

Expert speculation

 

If eighteen died by a natural

Disaster the nation would be

In perpetual mourning

 

Eighteen died of covid this month

(in our little corner of the world)

And nobody cared because

Covid does not exist

It ceased to be when the

Cameras turned away