Medicine Man

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Medicine Man *

 

Cod liver oil for measles

Prayers in place of vaccines

The medicine man will cure you

He’s the greatest you’ve ever seen

 

Kids are dying in Texas

They’re dying in Arkansas too

They’ll be dying all over the country

Before this man is through

 

He believes in the methods of science

Unless they aren’t in his book

He’ll insist on absolute silence

While he gives it another look

 

He recommends echinacea

For all ailments without a clear cause

All remedies from parts of Asia

Where they eat wild animals raw

 

He’s the medicine man American style

With a cure for every disease

If it’s not in his miracles file

He will charge you a modest fee

 

* Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

Fight Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RESISTANCE

 

Fight Back

 

Never give up the fight

When the fight is in the making

Keep your enemy in sight

Take what’s for the taking

 

They will try to break your spirit

They’ll push you til you bend

They think you’ll come to fear it

They hope you won’t defend

 

Show them what you stand for

You’re the ones who will not quit

Keep knocking on that grand door

Until the victory light is lit

 

You may not always win

But you will always stand up proud

When you give the wheel a spin

Say it clear and say it loud:

 

We’ll fight against all odds

We’ll fight for all it’s worth

We’ll fight against the gods

And the beasts who rule the earth

 

The Brute Society

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

The Brute Society

 

LBJ gave us the Great Society

(with the exception of Vietnam)

Now we’re filled with great anxiety

(we’ll do the best we can)

 

It’s the heartless Brute Society

They’re the ones who do not care

An endless wave of improprieties

We are captured in their lair

 

They don’t care about our elders

They don’t care about our poor

They’ll defund the homeless shelters

They’re all heartless to the core

 

They will cut and slash for others

While they all enrich themselves

No more aide for single mothers

Tell them all to go to hell

 

It’s the age of cold brutality

They’re all laughing to the bank

If you don’t like this reality

You will have to thank yourselves

 

Tariffs & Fair Trade

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  FAIR TRADE

 

Fair Trade (and Tariffs)

 

Tariffs are a means to an end

A way to level the field

Not a bludgeon to punish our friends

Or a weapon for power to wield

 

If the goal is to reach fair trade

Our tariffs would balance cheap labor

We would honor the deals that we’ve made

But we’d punish the modern-day slavers

 

For the nations whose standards are higher

For working conditions and wages

Beware all sellers and buyers

Understand why they fly into rages

 

We’re betraying our closest friends

While the Russians are being spared

We’ll all pay for it in the end

A punishment we’ll all share

 

I strongly support fair trade

But this has the mark of the beast

Our hopes for prosperity fade

While the rich are preparing a feast

 

Hamas Must End

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

 

Hamas Must End

 

Our hearts go out to Gaza

But Hamas is not your friend

Our tears flow like lava

This day Hamas must end

 

That they have let you down

Is clear beyond all doubt

Your voices have been drowned

Hamas must be pushed out

 

The destruction of your cities

The annihilation of your land

It fills our hearts with pity

The state of Israel be damned

 

And yet it must be known

That Hamas is much to blame

The animosity has grown

As your leaders have no shame

 

Hamas and Netanyahu

This message we must send

We’ve known since we first saw you

Both of you must end

 

Streets of Protest

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Streets of Protest

 

The streets of protest are alive

We march to show we care

For democracy we strive

Our cause is everywhere

 

On the streets of Palestine

For those who disagree

Who refuse to toe the line

Who will not bend the knee

 

For the people of Ukraine

Whose freedom is at stake

For those who are restrained

For the laws they did not break

 

For those who lost their jobs

And those who are in need

For the large, angry mobs

Who are tired of greed

 

For the ones who live in fear

Of the troubled times ahead

For the moms who shed a tear

At the cost of gas and bread

 

We’re on the streets again

For those who have no voice

This time we will win

We demand a better choice

Dear Mexico (The Master to His Hound)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Dear Mexico

 

Dear citizens of Mexico

We owe you an apology

Please take it in and let it go

A cold and cruel psychology

 

He doesn’t want your land

He only wants your oil

There’s too much rock and sand

To take a profit from you soil

 

He wants you to bow down

To his majesty supreme

All promises unwound

He saw it in a dream

 

If you want to win his favor

Just play a little ball

He’ll be the great enslaver

You’ll help him build his wall

 

When Mexico is good again

He’ll tear the great wall down

Then we will be the best of friends

The master to his hound

 

Surrounded by Sycophants

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP DAZE

 

Surrounded by Sycophants

 

You surround yourself with sycophants

And wonder how it went wrong

No one who dares to say you can’t

They all sing the same old song

 

Don’t you wish you had your father

To tell you what to do?

No sycophants will bother

To set it straight but it’s true

 

Every day you tell yourself

You are doing what is right

And every day they bathe you

In the glory of false light

 

But deep within the truth reveals

A frightened little man

Who thinks his very word can heal

But he fails to understand

 

When you’re surrounded by sycophants

You will never hear the truth

You may think you’re Honest Abe

But you’re really John Wilkes Booth

 

Dear Citizens (of the World)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Dear Citizens (An Apology)

 

Dear citizens of Ukraine

We’re sorry about our president

All out efforts were in vain

To change the message that he sent

He doesn’t care about your nation

We tell you this in confidence

He only wants your resources

What he said is what he meant

 

Dear citizens of Canada

We’re so sorry about our leader

He’s a man who has no principles

He’s a winter without a heater

When he threatens to annex you

He does not speak for us

We’ll do our best to stop him

In him we do not trust

 

Dear citizens of Greenland

We’re sorry about his threats

We should have known beforehand

We’re forever in your debt

We know that land is your land

There is no tete-a-tete

If you like the Danish brand

The map has long been set

 

Dear citizens of the free world

All around this twirling sphere

He has no love for freedom

It is power he holds dear

We are sorry for his ignorance

He would like to reign in fear

We’ll stand with the resistance

When the tipping point draws near

The Secret State

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

The Secret State

 

You put him in power

To get rid of the fat

The useless abusers

Not the harmless bureaucrats

They said they would rid you

Of the secret, deep state

The unelected elites

That control the nation’s fate

 

Now look who’s in charge

Every minute and hour

They’ve taken up residence

In the executive tower

They make the decisions

They pull all the strings

They sound the alarms

Just to see if they ring

We had no deep state

But now that we do

They’ll tear down democracy

The joke is on you

 

Social Security?

Medicare and Medicaid?

Just wait til you see

The plans that they’ve laid

Environmental protection?

Who cares about that?

Get rid of it all

They’ll just call it fat

Educating the poor?

The ones who can’t pay

Throw it out with the trash

And call it a day

Freedom of speech?

The right to exist?

They’ll answer to that

With a hammer and fist

 

Is this what you wanted?

Nobody cares

In the politics of war

Everything’s fair

 

Stand your Ground

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

Stand your Ground

 

There are times to compromise

There are times to stand your ground

When all you hear are lies

To honor you are bound

 

Your principles should never bend

Or bow to greater force

While broken fences we should mend

Remember: stay the course

 

A compromise will never do

When it wounds your very soul

To yourself you must be true

You’ll find no other role

 

So suffer through the consequence

If that is what’s required

For that is what the wise one meant

Do not put out the fire

 

For we are what we stand for

Be it bad or be it good

We’ll open up or bar the door

According to what we should

 

Killing Children in Gaza

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

 

Killing Children in Gaza

 

Omar will never grow old

Omar will never go to school

He will never find a girl

He will never be married

He will never have a job

He will never have a child

He will never cross a border

Not even his own

 

Omar was a child in Gaza

That was his only crime

To live as a child in Gaza

Is to die without warning

A missile drops from the sky

Falls where Omar lay sleeping

 

Omar was not a soldier

He was not a foreign terrorist

He was not a criminal

He was not a threat to Israel

He was not a hateful being

He was a child

 

He was a child who is no more.

 

Democracy in Turkey

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL DEMOCRACY

 

Erdogan’s Betrayal

 

As if to prove his power

As if to prove his infallibility

As if to test the limits of his lawlessness

Erdogan ordered the detention

Of his rival before the next election

The mayor of Istanbul

An enemy of state

 

The mayor of Istanbul is not

An enemy of state

He is an enemy of Erdogan

He is an enemy of the dictator

He is a friend to democracy

He is a victim of oppression

He is a candidate for change

 

His name is Ekram Imamoglu

He is the reason for massive protest

In open defiance of Erdogan’s law

You can take away their rights

You can take away their freedom

But you cannot take their voices

You can beat them down

You can push them back

But they will rise again

No Peace in Gaza

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GAZA

 

No Peace in Gaza

 

The war in Gaza continues

There’s no peace in the Middle East

Not as long as he reigns in Israel

The genocidal beast

 

He will not cease destruction

He will level it to the earth

He will do all that he can and more

To prevent a nation’s birth

 

The hostages are no longer

He has tossed their lives away

Animosity is growing stronger

All of Palestine is in flames

 

Hope is a rare and dying species

In the land of the Middle East

The warlords rule with missiles now

The peacemakers are deceased

 

There is no peace in Gaza

For as long as the goal remains

Annihilation of land and people

Their intentions are very plain

Hammer and Fist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Hammer and Fist

 

Fire and hail seems very odd

The hammer and the fist

If there’s such a thing as the curse of God

It would look a lot like this

 

A trail of mass destruction

From the west to the open plains

Here’s an obvious deduction:

The gods have gone insane

 

The planet earth is striking back

At those who would destroy her

The wind and rain are on attack

Your laughter just annoys her

 

We warned you we would pay the price

For a failure to transition

You would not take our sage advice

Now you’ll face an inquisition

 

It’s far too late to make amends

But we could mitigate the harm

The cost of playing let’s pretend

The earth’s not growing warm

 

The Silence

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PROTEST

 

The Silence

 

They have silenced the voice of America

The voice of freedom and human rights

They have silenced the voice of Americans

As if we’ve given up the fight

 

The fight for progress and democracy

Against oppression and autocracy

The right to decency and civility

Without regard to one’s ability

 

They have silence dissenting voices

With a threat of retribution

They would eliminate our choices

Intimidation is their solution

 

They have silenced former presidents

The free media and the press

Mass oppression is in residence

The right to march the streets in protest

 

We will not give up the fight

We will retain our defiance

We’ll demand our civil rights

We will never yield to silence

 

Venezuelan Refugees

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS DEPORTATION

 

Venezuelan Refugees

 

Sending refugees to prison in El Salvador

A level of depravity rarely seen

Even in the lowest dream

Like jailing people for being poor

What else would we do?

Are there any limitations?

Have we become a heartless nation?

 

We have lost our moral grounding

It is pitiful and yet it’s true

Our cruelty is astounding

Some would say it’s nothing new

 

They are fleeing from oppression

As we encouraged them to do

We would teach them all a lesson

But we failed to see it through

Now we tell them you’re not welcome here

You’re not welcome anywhere

We condemn you to a life of fear

Though we know it is not fair

 

This is not the old America

The one you knew and loved

This is the hateful nation

The hawk without the dove

 

(Trump administration ships Venezuelan

refugees to prison in El Salvador.)

 

Revenge and Retribution

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Revenge and Retribution

 

Have you no shame?

Your pledge of retribution

Beyond a simple blame

Shames the institution

That upholds the rule of law

A solemn vow of fairness

A crude and ugly flaw

An absence of awareness

So heartless and so raw

You take the final straw

 

You, sir, are a disgrace

Beyond all comprehension

An actor out of place

Far too dark to mention

A man without a heart

A fool without a soul

You’re tearing us apart

Destroyer is your role

You are a piece of art

Destruction is your goal

 

We don’t know what you think

Are you really such a tool?

We fear a missing link

Or are you simply cruel?

Do you want to be remembered

As the worst who ever ruled?

The one and only member

The one who bears the name

The last of burning embers

The man who has no shame