To Win is to Lose

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

To Win is To Lose

 

It does not matter what happens next

We know what follows down the road

The blood has just begun to flow

The death, the tears, the cries of woe

 

No one will remember why

No one really knows

We will think of it and sigh

As the need for vengeance grows

 

You cannot win this kind of war

Though victories are proclaimed

Each blow will wound you to the core

The aggressor always faces blame

 

A hundred years of misery

That’s what we have in store

A hundred years of payback

For starting this brutal war

Victims of War

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL

 

Victims of War

 

Hamas is not Palestine

Yet the Palestinians will pay the price

For this brutal attack on Israel

Israeli citizens are not Netanyahu

Yet Israelis will pay the price

For Netanyahu’s militancy

The victims of war are often not

The perpetrators of war

 

The citizens of Gaza live in poverty

Subjected to constant abuse

Death and destruction are part of their lives

They did not vote for this war

They do not deserve what follows

 

The citizens of Israel are proud

They have a legacy of suffering

Most Israelis did not vote for brutality

Most are frustrated by their government

Most only want to survive in peace

But all Israelis suffered from this

unconscionable act of war

 

The innocent of both sides

Will continue to suffer and die

Until the leaders of both sides

Finally find a path to peace

Unintended Consequence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Unintended Consequences

 

War is a blunt instrument of change

Even when victorious on the battlefield

It produces unintended consequences

It changes oppressors into the oppressed

Transforms the oppressed into oppressors

It alters the balance of powers

In ways we could not anticipate

It strengthens aggressor nations

It destroys natural alliances

 

Hamas has ended Israeli democracy

No longer will Israelis take to the streets

To protest the strongman of Jerusalem

No longer will the people push for change

Hamas with this ill-advised attack

Has unified the Israeli people

Has strengthened Israeli alliances

Has weakened the resistance

And given Netanyahu all he wanted

 

This war is a colossal blunder

Not only will it end the lives of innocents

It will turn the world against you

Now you stand with the outcasts

Now you stand with death and destruction

Now you stand against order and justice

No longer can we plead your case

You have chosen the way of war

Supernova Massacre

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Supernova Massacre

 

A celebration of culture and music

In the desert on the border of Gaza

Those in attendance were not soldiers

They were not warriors or politicians

They were young people looking for fun

Looking to forget a world of hatred

A world of violence and war

 

Hamas chose to attack the festival

Hamas chose to kill and capture civilians

Hundreds lost their lives

Hundreds will never see tomorrow

Hundreds will long be mourned

A river of endless sorrow

 

You cannot massacre innocent civilians

And still proclaim your righteousness

You can no longer ask the world’s sympathy

For your cause and plight

You have lost your cause

You have betrayed your people

You have unleashed a chain of endless

Retribution, violence on violence

You have become what you despise

What all civilized people despise

A killer of innocence

 

Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Gaza

 

War is the ultimate subversion of democracy

War is the supreme crime against humanity

War is the end of justice and the beginning

Of anarchy

 

War suspends all reason and compassion

When the blood begins to flow

When the body count builds

When the mourning bells chime

And the sorrow begins to sing

We lose all perspective

We feed the war machine

 

We know there are grievances

We understand the cause

But when innocent people die

(and there are many innocent people)

We lose our capacity for empathy

Our minds bend toward revenge

 

We have entered an age

When there is no justification

For acts of bold aggression

The world must find another way

To remedy injustice

To set the balance right

To apply reparations without war

 

Leader of the Free World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Failure to fund the war in Ukraine

A war of bold aggression

A struggle for independence

A war Russia started but we sustained

Threatens to topple the Free World Order

 

Since the end of the second World War

We have led the way

We have made tragic mistakes

The war in Vietnam

The Contras in Nicaragua

Chile’s Augusto Pinochet

The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

We have never turned our backs

We have never lost our purpose

We have lost our way but not our cause

 

Now we are about to abandon our role

As the leader of the Free World

Now we are about to abdicate

By failing to honor our sacred obligation

We are betrayed by a turncoat faction

More loyal to a former president

Than to the principles of democracy

 

The fate of Ukraine is in our hands

We must now call on Europe to lead

We must now yield our leadership

Will Europe rise to the challenge?

Will her support be sufficient?

We cannot know

Will we awaken in time to save Ukraine?

We can only hope

If we fail in this cause

We become a lesser nation

But Ukraine becomes no nation at all

 

The Lost Souls

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The lost souls of Haiti

Drift from decade to decade

The ghosts of oppression haunt them

The lords of chaos and anarchy

Envelop and imprison them

There is no order in Haiti

There is no government in Haiti

There is no sovereign nation

There is no democratic tradition

There is no civil society

There are no institutions of democracy

There is only force

There is only violence and bloodshed

There are only the lost souls

Wandering the ragged streets

Wandering the countryside

Hiding in their makeshift homes

Searching through the wastelands

For anything to consume

 

Shed no tears for Haiti

She is lost to us

She is beyond salvation

And yet we share this burden

And yet we share the blame

For we have long neglected her

We have always turned away

We must turn to her again

We must offer her our hand

We must find her virtue once again

We must help her find a home

GOP to Ukraine: Drop Dead!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

GOP to Ukraine: Drop Dead!

 

In the battle of David and Goliath

Today’s GOP would take the giant

In the contest of virtue versus sin

For sin the party would go all in

 

In the war of Russia against Ukraine

The GOP has made it plain

Vladimir Putin is their true friend

They will stand with him to the end

 

They don’t care about who’s right or wrong

They’ll let the Donald sing their song

They don’t care about who’s wrong or right

The Donald tells them who to fight

 

Putin is salivating with anticipation

The day Ukraine falls as a nation

They couldn’t win on the battlefield

But Vlad and Donald cut a deal

 

The Donald gets his Moscow tower

While Vlad expands his base of power

Ten years forward they’ll tear it down

And burn his legacy to the ground

 

Viva Mexico!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

Viva Mexico!

 

While the world stumbles on

Overcoming the great pandemic

Facing down the great warming

Mexico moves forward

The Supreme Court legalizes abortion

And the next president of Mexico

Will very likely be a woman

 

This is how a democracy should work

Expanding human rights

Embracing the equality of women

Strengthening the institutions of democracy

Mobilizing forces to fight back against

Corruption and organized crime

The cartels have run the show far too long

It is time for a new nation to emerge

From the vast wasteland of the drug trade

 

Viva Mexico!

Union Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LABOR

Union Man

 

There are those who talk

And there are those who do

The ones who walk the walk

Are the ones in union blue

 

If you want fair wages

With a sound retirement plan

If you want good health insurance

You will need a helping hand

The time you knew would come is here

You’ve got to make a stand

Tell everyone you know

You are a union man

 

The bosses will tell you anything

That you want to hear

They will promise you a castle

Over a stout pint of beer

But when it comes to doing

They don’t have a plan

You’ll be better off standing

With the union man

 

Cause there are those who talk

And there are those who do

And those who walk the walk

Are wearing union blue

 

The Founders

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Founders (of the Republic)

 

The founders stood up

When their lives were at stake

These Republicans today

Would proclaim it a fake

They signed the declaration

Knowing well what it meant

A democratic nation

An immortal document

 

I stand with Jefferson

I stand with Tom Paine

Their fight for democracy

Would not be in vain

 

The people stood with them

Against an army in red

The greatest force in the world

Must have filled them with dread

But they fought long and hard

They gave it their all

To ensure that the republic

Would not stumble and fall

 

I stand with Ben Franklin

I stand with Tom Paine

Their fight for the republic

Would not be in vain

 

Now democracy is threatened

The republic could fall

When the alarm is sounded

Who will answer the call?

We don’t need your guns

But we do need your votes

We need the people to know

We’re in the same boat

 

I stand with George Washington

I stand with Tom Paine

Our fight for democracy

Must not be in vain

Heartless (Ode to Putin)

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Heartless

 

The man who does not blink an eye

Inflicting pain upon another

The woman who breaks others’ hearts

She has never found her own

The lonely child without a conscience

Who will never understand

The one who takes pleasure in others’ misfortune

The doctor who experiments upon the helpless

The trigger man for the mob

The singer who strikes every note

But never sheds a tear

The assassin who hits his mark from

A thousand paces

The general who orders his soldiers into

A hopeless battle

The commander who goes to war

To satisfy his ego

 

There are doubtless those who have no heart

The eternal question is:

Were they born heartless or

Did they lose it somewhere along the way?

We must hope it is the latter

For then they might find it again

But you cannot find what has never been

Dust Bowl Emigre

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN HISTORY

Dust Bowl Émigré

 

This rich and fertile valley

Was made on the backs of émigré

Not from somewhere below the border

Nor from Ireland or Eastern Europe

Not from Canada or Germany

Nor Australia or the Far East

The ones who answered the call

To work the orchards and fields

To till the soil and work the land

To pick the peaches, oranges and nuts

To bring the crops to market

Were the poor white folks of Oklahoma

The tenant farmer of the Dust Bowl

As hard a worker who ever lived

They came by hard luck highways

Their belongings packed on old cars

That broke down along the way

 

When they overcame all hardships

And finally arrived in the Golden State

They were called disgraceful names

Okies and Arkies and dirt farmers

Who came to take our good jobs

To steal our women and commit mayhem

To ruin the state the gold diggers built

But they didn’t take our good jobs

They took what others wouldn’t do

They didn’t steal our women

They didn’t crimes or mayhem

Any more than anyone else did

They were good hard-working people

Poor as dirt but grim determined

They had no place else to go

They became the good citizens

Of the great central valley

Along with others of darker skin

Also good hard-working people

Together they built the foundations

Of the great state of Golden Gate

 

Ironic ain’t it? that the very same people

Who were derided and abused yesterday

Deride and abuse others today