Political Prisoners (Alaa Abdel Fattah)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL JUSTICE

Political Prisoners (Egypt)

 

Alaa does not eat

Alaa does not drink

He is an activist for democracy

He is protesting his imprisonment

For speaking out against tyranny

Alaa is one of thousands

People jailed for their dissent

Victims of Abdel Fattah El-Sisi

 

Alaa’s family pleads with the west

To support their righteous cause

The cause of human rights

The cause of justice

The cause of democracy

El-Sisi’s Egypt is a totalitarian state

An enemy of enlightenment

 

The cause of human rights

Does not end in Ukraine

That which applies to Russia

Must also apply to others

 

The dissidents of Egypt do not want war

They do not ask for military aid

They ask only for words

They ask only for justice

They ask only for respect

 

Free Alaa Abdel Fattah!

Free Leonard Peltier!

Free Brittney Griner!

Free political prisoners everywhere!

 

The Povertization of Russia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

The Povertization of Russia

 

The brightest minds of a generation

Are leaving Mother Russia behind

Education, philosophy, art, literature

No longer there will you find

 

The migration of intellect has begun

The povertization of the inquiring mind

The age of Russian excellence is done

The seers have all gone blind

 

A nation cannot thrive

When its people are oppressed

A proud heritage is forgotten

When the greater becomes the less

 

Turn around oh Mother Russia

Before the time is much too late

Lay your weapons to the ground

Recollect what made you great

 

Indian School

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIAN HISTORY

Indian School

 

They kidnapped kids by force of law

Sent them to indoctrination camps

Cut out their native tongues

Severed them from tribe and family

Fed them with spiritual lies

Forbid them from being Indians

Forbid them from being themselves

Taught them that their ways were wrong

That the red road was a path to hell

 

They should have called it genocide

For that is what it was

Genocide of language and culture

Genocide of religion and history

 

When they refused to learn their lessons

They beat and abused them

They called them ungrateful animals

They learned a different lesson

That white people were cruel

That they fear the Indian ways

That if they were to survive

As individuals and as a people

They would have to escape

They would have to remember

Their language and traditions

They would have to return home

To live their lives as Indians

Proud stubborn and free

 

Election Day: Depressing the Vote

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Depressing the Vote

 

There are many ways to depress the vote

A false sense of confidence

Victory is in the bag

The message has been sent

Or turn it upside down

All sense of hope is spent

Either way don’t waste your time

Either way the vote declines

 

Fake soldiers at the polls

With vests and loaded arms

Watching from a distance

Promise to do no harm

 

Misinformation wars

Rumors born of nothing

Rotten to the core

Hear the sirens sing

 

Voting is our duty

Don’t listen to their song

Your voice is all that matters

Not to vote is wrong

 

Propaganda War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Propaganda War

 

As the left begins to turn away

From the besieged people of Ukraine

Moving toward the invaders

Joining forces with the fascist right

The secret Putin sympathizers

(not so secret anymore)

Out of a yearning for peace?

Fear of nuclear annihilation?

Mistrust of the powers that be?

I wonder if we are losing the war

And what the cost will be

If we allow the beast to take Ukraine

What stops him from taking Poland?

The Czech Republic, Sweden, Norway?

If Putin knows he need only threaten

The use of nuclear force

To rebuild the Soviet Empire

Where does it end?

 

When the pacifist left unites

With the fascist right

Nothing good can follow

 

Political Violence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POEMICS

Political Violence

 

When you have no principles

When winning is the only thing

When honor is a character flaw

When fairness is for losers

Violence is a step away

Riots on the street

Fire on the skyline

Assassins on a dare

When people die will you care?

 

When leaders call for action

From an armed and angry mob

When the other side is demonized

Charged with treachery and fraud

When guns are peddled freely

When your cause belongs to God

When your enemy lies bleeding

And people stop to stare

When the blood flows will you care?

 

Hide your head in shame

Hate baiters one and all

When there’s no one else to blame

Line em up against the wall

When the bloodshed comes to you

When your loved ones start to fall

Will you have a thought to share?

When people die will you care?

 

A Victory of Light

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

A Victory of Light (Diwali)

 

The war between light and darkness

Is a never-ending toil

A victory of light in India

Springs forth on British soil

 

Yet victory may be short-lived

If he makes copper out of gold

As the darkness lies in waiting

The cry Austerity! grows old

 

The son of India is proud

Though his time may not be long

He’s secured his place in history

For that alone he may stand strong

 

Let there be light! the leader cries

Hold the darkness in its place

Though the people may not profit

His ascension we embrace

 

(Rishi Sunak is named British PM)

Viva Lula!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Viva Lula!

 

Bolsonaro goes down to defeat

With but a whimper in protest

The Brazilian buffoon is done

The great destroyer of the Amazon

Enemy of the earth

Adversary of democracy

Gone the way of Donald and Boris

A horrible footnote in history

The errors that humans make

In anger and in desperation

 

Hope rises from the ashes

The wrongful conviction of a leader

A man of the people

A protector of the Amazon

Defender of democracy

Lula returns to his rightful place

President of a proud nation

 

Viva Lula!

Viva Brazil!

 

The Dream

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

The Dream

 

Everyone has a job

A job that suits their interest and ability

A job that fulfills a social need

while enhancing personal worth

 

No one is without food, shelter and

drinkable water

 

No one earns less than a living wage

One that provides for self and family

 

Everyone is able to pursue their dream

Whether art or journalism, social work,

architecture or athletic endeavor

though they may stumble and fall

though they may fail in the eyes of others

Let them succeed in trying

 

Everyone receives the help they need

Be it counseling or medical care

Be it mentoring or sympathy

Be it financial or physical assistance

 

Everyone has a choice to be in the

company of like-minded others

or alone in comfort without judgement

 

Everyone is free to become who they

want to be so long as it does not infringe

on the wants and needs of others

 

Everyone has a right to free and fair

adjudication of differences

 

Everyone has a right to live and die

as they please within the limits of possibility

 

They tell me it is impossible

That humans will always want more

than their fellows

That humans demand power and money

beyond all want and need

That we will never abandon greed

But I say there is nothing we can dream

that we cannot bring to being

 

(for John Lennon: Imagine)

 

A Human Stampede (Seoul)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

A Human Stampede

 

A stampede of cattle or bison

We can almost understand

Such animals act in concert

One following another

In panic and horror

 

A stampede of humans

Should never happen

 

A mindless mass moving as one

Spurred by a moment of terror

The terror creeps inside the mind

Replacing faculties of critical thought

Supplanting common sense

Generating a wave of motion

Without direction or guidance

Only an instinct to escape

By any means at all costs

 

In Seoul the human stampede

Cost over a hundred fifty lives

Leaving behind a trail of tears

An absence in so many families

A void in so many communities

For generations to come

 

The tragedy reminds us what happens

When the mind becomes the masses

When fear and terror rules the mob

When the one surrenders to the many

 

We are many on a small fragile planet

We must learn to live together

Without sacrificing ourselves

Without losing our individual souls

 

We mourn for the people of Seoul

Their sorrow is our sorrow

Our tears are joined to theirs

Today we are all Koreans

One planet, one destiny

Many parts, one whole

 

Enemies of the Earth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CLIMATE CHANGE

Enemies of the Earth

 

Destroyers of the rain forest

From the Amazon to the Artic

Vampires of life on earth

Pirates of exploitation

 

It begins with logging

Clear cutting vast swaths of forest

Trees older than any nation

Wiped from the planet

To make way for corporate agriculture

Which in turn gives way to drilling for oil

Mining for precious metals

Injecting the earth with chemicals

Until the once fertile soil

Becomes a toxic wasteland

Unfit for human or animal habitation

Now comes urban development

Concrete towns and cities

That choke the good earth

Where the forest used to be

 

A crime against nature

A crime against the planet

And all life forms it sustains

 

Bolsonaro, British Petroleum

ExxonMobil, Dow Chemical…

Enemies of the earth

A legacy of destruction

 

Epic Killers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD HISTORY

The Epic Killers (The Killing Spirit)

 

The epic killers of history

Enjoy a modest reputation

By comparison to what they did

It merits investigation

 

Mao was an epic killer

Known for his little red book

Many thousands lost their lives

Though Chinese history will not look

 

Stalin was an epic killer

Who purged political enemies

Execution was his trademark

He killed men as if they were fleas

 

Custer and Crook were epic killers

Sand Creek and Washita River

They massacred women and children

With a coldness that makes you shiver

 

But the most epic killers in history

Are those yet to come

For the killing spirit is alive and well

And the scale will leave us numb

 

(see Wasichu: The Killing Spirit

By Jack Random)

 

The Flood in Nigeria

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

The Flood

 

Nigeria faces an epic flood

Ethiopia confronts biblical starvation

While the world discusses climate change

Much of Africa pleads for salvation

 

The flood in Nigeria reminds us

That those who pay the greatest price

Of global warming are often those

Who gained the thinnest slice

 

The famine in Ethiopia informs us

That the effects of industrialization

Do not spare the relatively innocent

But impact equally all nations

 

Islands sink in the deep blue sea

Crops fail and rivers run dry

We pray to our gods but cannot wonder

The clear and obvious reasons why

 

A Fragile Republic

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

A Fragile Republic

 

The experiment that began centuries ago

With a declaration of independence

That survived a multitude of assaults

That survived the Alien and Sedition Acts

That endured the institution of slavery

That triumphed in a bloody civil war

That outlasted Jim Crow reconstruction

That overcame a Great Depression

That suffered through attempted genocide

That pushed through women’s suffrage

That demanded essential reforms

A constant moving forward toward

The better angels of our being

Now totters on the razor’s edge

of popular autocracy

 

The question now to every one of us

is whether we will be the generation

That allowed our democracy to slip away

on the promise of a charlatan?