The Common Good

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Common Good

 

There is something deeply disturbing

About the state of our democracy

When so many of our citizens

Are tempted to autocracy

 

We will never have to vote again

That is exactly what he said

Our democracy has flown away

Say goodnight and go to bed

 

In the morning when we wake up

Our once great country tis of thee

Is no longer of and by the people

And the people are no longer free

 

We had a long and storied run

But the wealthy spoiled the pot

The filthy rich took all the power

And let the republic rot

 

We neglected it for far too long

We let the wealthy have their way

Now that they’ve bought all branches

We will no longer have a say

 

It is for the common good they say

And for the benefit of very few

It is far too late to make a change

There is nothing more we can do

 

The World Awaits

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

The World Awaits

 

With bated breath the world awaits

The end of our republic?

The christening of a new age?

The rendering of fate

 

The raging propaganda wars

Everywhere across the globe

Misinformation in full force

Attacking the frontal lobe

 

We do not know what to believe

Our eyes and ears mislead us

The information we receive

Is what they choose to feed us

 

But people have a seventh sense

We carry it deep inside

It is our last and best defense

A human override

 

There are evil forces everywhere

We will fight them back again

As long as people know and care

The evil will not win

 

Despots United

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Despots United

 

When despots act in unity

The dangers are compounded

Bold aggression with impunity

Diplomacy confounded

 

Kim the Grim and Vlad the Bad

Are suddenly best of friends

Nothing positive can be had

When the peace on them depends

 

Kim supplies the warriors

Vladimir supplies the tech

An evil Huck and Tom Sawyer

What looms is a massive wreck

 

The world must stand at ready

When such despots come together

Hold them back and hold it steady

They are birds of a wicked feather

 

They must suffer for their actions

Their communion cannot hold

For all who join their evil faction

The reaction must be bold

 

(3,000 North Korean troops

amass on the Ukrainian border.)

Contamination of the Press

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Contamination of the Press

 

Look hard and long, it’s plain to see

The press ain’t what it used to be

A shadow of its former self

A dusty volume on the shelf

 

We’ve seen the power of the press

When Richard Nixon did his best

To undermine our free and fair

In the days when papers cared

 

In a story that toppled towers

They did not hide, they did not cower

They exposed his dirt and crooked deeds

And let it run where it would lead

 

Today they let it all go down

The truth is nowhere to be found

Who cares about democracy?

We’ll profit from autocracy

 

So let it all unfold

The truth will not be told

Not today and not tomorrow

When all is gloom and sorrow

 

(Jeff Bezos’ Washington Post

declines to endorse for president.)

 

Sympathy for the Nazis

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

Sympathy for the Nazis

 

He wanted to be a dictator

The generals stood in his way

They knew he was a sympathizer

They still know it to this day

 

He told them plain and clear

He thought Hitler had it right

With an iron fist he ruled by fear

They were strong and bold and white

 

He’s not hiding his proclivities

Or they are hidden in plain sight

He doesn’t bother with civility

He loves a crooked fight

 

He has sympathy for the Nazis

And the man who led them all

He killed six million Jews with ease

Before the Axis took the fall

 

Do not give this man the power

To turn this nation on its head

He would march us to the final hour

Just to see his ambitions fed

 

BRICS

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

BRICS

 

Brazil, Russia, India, China, South Africa

You are judged by the company you keep

Brazil, South Africa, India

I believe you are in too deep

 

Do you really want to be

In the company of brute dictators?

Far better to make friends

With republicans and liberators

 

You’ve been tempted by oppressors

In all their varied forms

Blatant cheats and vote depressors

We hope you have reformed

 

But if you wish to make alliance

With the planet’s worst offenders

We’ll reconsider our reliance

On your human rights defenders

 

A new world is taking shape

We are taking it in stride

Consider every step you take

Do not take the other side

 

The Escalator

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

The Escalator

 

It’s personal now

An explosion next to the coastal home

Of Benjamin Netanyahu

A drone directed by Hezbollah

With the fingerprints of Iran

It marks a new phase of the war: 

 

Calculated and deliberate assassination

The escalator of war is rising

Israel has killed the leader of Hezbollah

Israel has killed the leader of Hamas

Israel has leveled Gaza

Israel has struck inside Lebanon and Iran

The borders no longer apply

The limits no longer operate

We have reached new heights of warfare

And the escalator still rises

 

A year ago peace seemed possible

The Saudis were prepared to recognize

The sovereign Israeli state

Now they move closer to Iran

Now the Israelis are outcast

Iran is the defender of Gaza

Iran is the defender of Lebanon

And still the escalator rises

 

There is no end to war

The escalator rises

And we cannot find the door

 

Weight of the World

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Weight of the World

 

The weight of the world bears down on us

Like a constant pounding storm

A chain of twisters surrounding us

On a planet that’s growing warm

 

Democracy is under siege

Everywhere across the globe

War and hunger, people grieve

We will fear what we don’t know

 

Our media institutions fail

We have chosen not to believe

We have placed our faith in holy grails

While we lose on every lead

 

And still the world grows warmer

The weight is bearing down

We’re in love with a snake charmer

As we run the ship aground

 

We hold out for better days

May the good and right prevail

May we strive to solve the maze

With all at stake we best not fail

 

Kim & Putin

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Kim & Putin

 

North Korea is a failed nation

A factory for weapons

A training ground for soldiers

An experiment in autocracy

A home to the darkest web

A warden and a prison state

 

It is a threat to the civilized world

A threat to order and democracy

A threat to its southern neighbors

A scourge on human rights

A disgrace to common decency

 

Now the emblematic rogue nation

Forms alliance with the great aggressor

The beast of the great northern

The man who would be king

 

Korean boots on Ukrainian ground

How much bolder could they be?

Keep the silence. What’s that sound?

Lost respect and dignity

 

You cannot lose what you never had

North Korea is a pariah state

It’s gone to worse from extremely bad

For dignity it’s far too late

Second Grade Politics

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

Second Grade Politics

 

Remember back in second grade

I know you are but what am I?

The habits that we made

I could never tell a lie!

As you lied through your teeth

I swear on the holy book

As I live and breathe

Don’t look, don’t look!

 

I know you are but what am I?

The only thing is winning

Look your accuser in the eye

Hypocrisy is grinning

Who stole my piece of pie?

We learn to cheat and steal

I know you are but what am I!

How did that make you feel?

Not good. Can we go back?

No but you can make amends

Get your life back on track

And that is how the story ends

I cannot tell a lie

I know you are but what am I?

 

Myth and Message

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Myth and Message

 

Jobs are up, inflation is down

The market is up, crime is down

Wages are up, interest is down

 

Yet the Don says it’s a disaster

And the Don is the people’s master

We believe what we want to believe

Though we know we are being deceived

 

The Dow is at an all-time high

But the poor folks feel they’re suffering

We may not know or understand why

Because all our news is buffering

 

Look around and use your head

America is running strong

You’re deliberately being misled

The naysayers are all wrong

 

And yes they’re handling the hurricanes

And no they’re not stealing money

Look it up before your interest wanes

If it weren’t tragic it would be funny

 

Sinwar is Dead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL / GAZA

Sinwar is Dead

 

The beast who unleashed the Gaza War

Lies dead on the streets of terror

There are those who give cheer

There are those who will mourn

We have seen this like before

We must pray this will bring

And end to our fears

It’s a reason to fight no more

 

The hostages remain in captivity

In the depths of the hidden earth

We must hope there is a proclivity

For whatever it is worth

To release them now from their hold

To give peace a new chance at birth

 

There are people of faith on both sides

Who desire this war to end

There are those who want to fight on

To their rage we should not bend

There has been far too much suffering

There are actions we cannot defend

We appeal to your basic empathy

Bring this war to an end

 

(Yahya Sinwar killed by the IDF.)

 

Gender Gap

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Gender Gap

 

What is it about men?

Do we not believe our eyes?

We see clearly where we’ve been

All reason would belie

We should not go back again

When we know the reasons why

 

And yet here we stand

It is far too close to call

A woman against a man

The woman standing tall

The man without a plan

Except to build his wall

 

It is the Us against the Them

How else can we explain?

A flower against a stem

A mind without a brain

Our nation we’d condemn

To a horror filled refrain

 

Will we stumble into night

Or awaken in the day?

Will we finally make it right

Or watch it all wash away?

Will we keep it in our sight?

Hold on come what may

 

Back to Ashes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

Back to Ashes

 

The Phoenix in mythical lore

Rose from the ashes of destruction

Soon as the warming takes its toll

She will return to the ashes once more

 

One hundred days at one hundred degrees

An average low of eighty-seven

A constant wave of human suffering

Brought to bear by the earth’s disease

 

Go north the old folks tell their young

Where the warming has some mercy

North where the ice and snow will melt

Not here where our song is sung

 

Don’t wait for the matter will get worse

The streets will feel like the sun

When the grid falters and fails to run

It will strike like the final curse

 

Back to the ashes is our sad fate

No gods of redemption can save us

We’ve built our city of sand and dust

Our understanding came too late

 

(The temperature in Phoenix AZ ran over 110

degrees Fahrenheit for 80 days in 2024.)

 

Between Helene & Milton

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Between Helene & Milton

 

Between Milton and Helene

As we await the latest word

The most powerful we have seen

What horrors we have heard

 

Did you heed the latest warning?

Did you board it up and leave?

Will you hunker down ‘til morning?

Will your friends and family grieve?

 

We have heard it all before

The largest storm in history

Like the victims in a war

No longer a great mystery

 

Are you still living in denial?

Make a wish it isn’t so

Take an inch and give a mile

Every day the crisis grows

 

Can we ever make amends

For the decisions that we made

Is this how the story ends

With a bang and slowly fade

 

(My heart goes out to all those in

the path of Helene and Milton.)

 

Allez Macron!

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

Allez Macron!

 

Amidst the paralyzing indifference

As the horrors spread in the Middle East

From Gaza to the West Bank to Lebanon

At the hands of the Israeli beast

 

One man rises in the heart of Europe

To say what must be said

We cannot stand by indifferently

Until ten thousand more are dead

 

He proposes a weapons embargo

To stop the spread of this bloody war

If the Israelis continue on this path

It will soon be at our door

 

Netanyahu is reeling desperately

All he wants is blood and more

It will take a unity of nations

To end this endless war

 

We all must be accountable

For the horrors he has unleashed

What began as just retribution

Has become a bloodletting feast

The Trump Method

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

The Trump Method

 

The Trump method is simple

He doesn’t tell a common lie

He doesn’t engage in fabrication

He lets the simple truth fly by

By death he means salvation

He gives the opposite of truth a try

 

Elon Musk is Donald’s minion

Though he was late to get on board

He never offers an opinion

That doesn’t blend with Trump’s discord

 

What he says about those others

He really means about his own

When he says the crowd is huge

He might be standing all alone

 

When he says he’ll save democracy

You should know he means to end it

What he loves is pure autocracy

The republic? He won’t defend it

 

It is all about the big lie

The bigger it is the better

He likes his ham on rye

Don’t say why, it might upset her

 

Tony Soprano

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

Tony Soprano

 

Tony Soprano was a solid man

For a mob boss

So he smacked a few guys

They was asking for it

So he whacked a few guys

They deserved to be whacked

 

I get it

 

Tony Soprano was an engaging character

He didn’t take crap from nobody

He valued loyalty above all

He liked a rigged game

As long as Tony got his share

They all got along fine

But if somebody steps out of line

All bets are off

You might get smacked

You might get whacked

 

I get it

 

What I don’t get and never will

Is why so many of us

On the bottom of the mob ladder

The suckers and losers

The ones who get whacked

Why so many of us still want

Tony Soprano for president