Don't Give Up!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Don’t Give Up (for Navalny)

 

They gathered in the heart of winter

In the belly of the beast

Knowing they could lose their lives

Knowing they could lose their freedom

Knowing they could lose their jobs …

They gathered to say goodbye

 

The martyr would have approved

In the event of his death he said:

It’s simple. Don’t give up!

It’s simple. Don’t give in.

The monster is afraid of them

Why else would he murder him?

Why else grant his martyrdom?

 

If everything is fine behind the curtain

If everything is under control

If the people are truly satisfied

If the people are content

If the people understand the war

If the people want oppression

If the people do not want their rights

If the people love their leader

Why is he afraid?

 

He is afraid the people love Navalny

He is afraid their love for him is false

He is afraid they see through his lies

He’s afraid they are not happy

He’s afraid of the martyr’s widow

He’s afraid of Navalny’s followers

He’s afraid they will rise

He’s afraid they will not give up

He’s afraid they won’t give in

Worse than Buchanan

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Worse than Buchanan

 

Worse than Buchanan

Worse than Franklin Pierce

His defenders were none

His opposition remained fierce

 

Buchanan, Pierce and Fillmore

Paved the road to Civil War

As colossal failures to the union

You could hardly ask for more

 

Historians know the value

Of a president’s true worth

They chose our number 45

As the nation’s very worst

 

He betrayed our democracy

He failed to build his wall

He divided all Americans

As he fulfilled treason’s call

 

His followers stand by him

Despite his fatal flaws

His ego and his ignorance

His defiance of the law

 

No one could be worse than him

He’s as bad as it gets

Will the nation have him back again?

Who knows? Place your bets

 

Dissatisfied and Angry

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Dissatisfied and Angry

 

If you ask them how they are

And how they expect to be

They’ll tell you that they’re fine

But they’re dissatisfied and angry

 

It doesn’t matter how they feel

It doesn’t matter what they think

The last election was a steal

They don’t like the color pink

 

Joe Biden is just too old

Their man is older too

But their old man is angrier

And angrier will do

 

Don’t tell them they are wrong

Don’t tell them they are fools

They’ll just sing a country song

And they never liked the schools

 

They’re dissatisfied and angry

Like almost all their friends

This time if there’s enough of them

Our democracy may end

 

Teaching True History

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUE HISTORY

Teaching True History

 

In Carolina the Underground Railroad

Was a smuggling operation

In Florida slavery was job training

In Alabama the Civil War was fought

Over economic differences

In Mississippi (goddamn) Strange Fruit

Were Kiwis and Kumquats

In Tennessee the Trail has no Tears

In Oklahoma Tulsa has no ghosts

In Texas the Rangers never killed Mexicans

In North Dakota Wounded Knee was a battle

In California we teach the truth

We didn’t always but we do now

 

If a child does not know where he came

From she will not know where to go

If a child does not know true history

He will not be prepared for the world

If a child is raised on mythology as if

It were the truth that child is condemned

To a future of disappointment

 

You cannot hide the truth forever

You can ban books but you cannot banish reading

You can bend facts but you cannot revise the truth

When you lie to your children over and

Over you guarantee disenchantment

And you will never win their trust

 

Teach your children the truth or

They will grow to resent you

And they will be right

 

Neo Nazis in Nashville

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Neo Nazis in Nashville

 

Nashville is a city of music

A city of diversity

A city that embraces art and artists

A city that opens her arms to

To troubadours and vagabonds

Who want a better life

A city that welcomes the dreamers

And the dream

 

The city of music must hang

Her head in shame

As neo-Nazi white supremacists

Boldly march her streets

With chants of blatant bigotry

With chants of racial prejudice

Jews will not replace us!

Make America white again!

 

Will the city leaders find the courage

To denounce them one and all

Will the public office holders condemn

Them in bold and certain terms

Or will the nation’s patriots be

Forced to take reciprocal action

Boycott Nashville!

Boycott the city of music

Until she recognizes the truth and

Value of her diversity

Yulia Navalnaya

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Yulia Navalnaya

 

She is the widow of a hero

She is the widow of a martyr

She has sacrificed enough

We can ask of her no more

Yet she steps forward

 

She was his heart and soul

She gave to him her strength

She gave her love unselfishly

Asking little in return

His death should be an end

She is entitled to begin again

Yet she rises

 

She knows the danger

She knows as well as anyone

They killed her husband for speaking out

They’ve killed others for less

They kill journalists and dissidents

They imprison the oppressed

Yet she speaks out

 

We should all possess her courage

But we do not

We should all stand up for justice

But we do not

We should all feel her agony

Her passion and her rage

But we do not

 

If she must stand alone she would

But she will not

Boots on the Ground

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

Boots on the Ground

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

They did not ask us to lend a hand

We fought our wars on their land

We hoped they’d understand

 

Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan

We put our boots on their ground

We asked them not to let us down

When we unleashed the hounds

 

Iraq is not Ukraine

The differences are plain

Like sunshine and forever rain

They do not want our soldiers

We do not want their grain

 

Ukraine is not Afghanistan

Though they share a common thread

The Russians once invaded them

An act they came to dread

An act the world condemned

 

Ukraine is not Vietnam

They do not want our troops

They don’t want our boots on loan

They only want their country

They want to defend their own

 

Share My Rage

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Share My Rage (for Yulia)

 

We listen to her passion

Her sorrow and her rage

Her husband has been murdered

Upon the global stage

She brings a simple message

From the fullness of her heart

Do not forget his sacrifice

Do not forget his cause

He would not want our sympathy

He would not want applause

He would want us to remember him

And why he gave his life

To give his country freedom

To give his people basic rights

The Border

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: IMMIGRATION

The Border

 

They had a chance to defend the border

They chose a spectacle instead

They impeached a civil servant

Turning justice on its head

 

They take their people for fools

Who believe anything they’re told

They think obstinance will rule

But their act is getting old

 

They did nothing for the border

Just to give their boss a chance

They push for chaos and disorder

Every time they take a stance

 

This is the way they’ll govern

They will not do anything

When an election rolls around

They’ll do a dance and sing

 

We hate them just like you do

Nothing else really matters

The rich are getting richer

Fat cats are getting fatter

 

The Wrath of Woman

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Forced Pregnancy (The Wrath)

 

Forced pregnancy and forbidden travel

A woman will have no choice

Rape, incest, the life of the mother

Women will have no voice

 

Is this the vision that you’re offering?

A subversion of women’s rights

Hunker down and hold on tight

You’re in for the fight of your life

 

Have you seen the damage you have done?

Have you felt the human suffering?

This is a battle that will be won

The crowd will roar and singers sing

 

You’ve challenged women as never before

They will rise to take you down

You have wandered to a distant shore

You are standing on shaky ground

 

If you knew the scope of what you’re doing

You would take another path

For none of you has ever known

The power of a woman’s wrath

Trump to NATO: Drop Dead!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Trump to NATO: Drop Dead!

 

He doesn’t know our history

And frankly does not care

The future is no mystery

We’re caught in Putin’s lair

If Donald wins the White House

We’d better say our prayers

Before we lay down to our beds

For Trump will say to NATO:

Drop dead!

 

He loves the world’s dictators

From Erdogan to Xi *

He finds them most appealing

As he considers what will be

An American dictator

Would lead a new alliance

Democracies not welcome

A new Europe in defiance

The world will long remember

The day the Donald said:

Dear NATO: Drop Dead!

 

* pronounced She

Navalny!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

Navalny!

 

Alexei Navalny is dead

At the age of forty-seven

In the prime of life

Dead in an arctic gulag

Dead of unknown causes

Dead of voicing dissent

Dead of rising to prominence

Dead of speaking eloquently

Dead of exposing corruption

Dead of opposing oppression

Dead of defying Vladimir Putin

 

We know what killed Navalny

We know who was behind it

On the eve of a mock election

We know who killed Navalny

And the tears of Mother Russia

Rain down across the land

And the tears of Russian mothers

Join the tears of Russian soldiers

And the rivers rise in sorrow

 

Here was a man who knew

Here was a man who towered

Here was a man who spoke out

When so many others fell silent

Here was a man who gave his life

So that others might live free

 

Navalny!

 

Let his name outlive his tormentors

Let his dream live on forever

Rafah (Never-ending War)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

Rafah

 

So begins the siege of Rafah

As millions of innocents flee

But no one knows where they will go

A sea of refugees

 

The slaughter is unspeakable

The destruction is complete

Will anyone be spared

The stench of this defeat?

 

This war has cost too many lives

Or cast them into hell

Never will it be forgot

Palestinians remember well

 

The siege of Rafah will go on

This war defies an end

The bloodshed and the misery

This hatred will not mend

 

Until the darkness lifts

Until their hearts will bend

The horrors born of Rafah

Will plead for more revenge

 

Both sides will take a vow

To fight forever more

All of Palestine and Israel

The never-ending war