Cooking the Books

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

Cooking the Books

 

If you don’t like the message

Kill the messenger

If you don’t like the numbers

Cook the books

 

Pretty soon you’ve got no messengers

Pretty soon there are only sycophants

Bobble headed yes men

Afraid to tell the truth

 

The war is lost, your majesty.

Off with his head!

Your program is a travesty.

Take a pill and go to bed!

 

He’s a mob boss not a king

He rules by fear and terror

If he wants to wear a ring

You will be the ring bearer

 

What kind of man is this?

To tell us how we feel

He may tell us this is bliss

But we know it isn’t real

 

(Trump fires head of the

Bureau of Labor Statistics)

 

The Nordic Front

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

The Nordic Front

 

Putin made a fool of our president

Laying on the authoritarian charm

But he signed a deal that delivered

To Kiev most critical arms

 

Funded by the Nordic front

Sweden, Denmark and Norway *

We hope that Russians feel the brunt

Before their attentions stray

 

America will not take the lead

All of Europe will do their share

We no longer feel a pressing need

The burden now is theirs

 

But the Nordic front is next in line

If his thirst is not contained

Poland, Hungary, Liechtenstein

May begin to feel the strain

 

For now it is a regional war

Confined to former Soviet states

But victory leads to desire for more

Wake up before it’s too late

 

America will be left behind

With a leader who is sleeping

And a congress that is nearly blind

May leave the whole world weeping

 

* and the Netherlands

 

Putin and Xi

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Putin and Xi (and Modi)

 

Putin meets with Xi

The monster of the north

Meets the beast of the east

What does it mean going forth?

 

The invasion carries on

As the monster stakes his claim

The whole world knows he’s wrong

We will not forget Ukraine

 

Kiev expresses fear

That America will refrain

That the end is drawing near

But we won’t forget Ukraine

 

Ukraine would be the first

But it would not be the last

Nor would it be the worst

Another war would come to pass

 

Thanks to Putin and to Xi

The end of human rights

A massive loss of dignity

Democracy in plight

 

Now Modi joins the fray

On the wrong side of the line

From the republic he will stray

To lead his nation in decline

 

 

Defending Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Defending Democracy

 

Defending democracy is a fulltime job

It cannot be taken for granted

Its enemies will cheat and rob

Make sure your staff is planted

 

They’re coming after the voting place

They’re sending out their brutes

They’ll make it hard to win the race

They’re thugs in designer suits

 

They’ll attack anyone who opposes them

From the powerful to the local mayor

They’ll rip you up from root to stem

If you ask them, they don’t care

 

Stealing the vote is an old tradition

On both sides of the aisle

Every voter must now take a position

Is democracy still in style?

 

The right to vote is no longer given

The Supreme Court gave it away

We must be grim and hardline driven

To keep what our founders gave

 

Winning our Nation Back

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Winning our Nation Back

 

Remember who you voted for?

Is this what you demanded?

We ought to show you to the door

You should be reprimanded

 

Soldiers on the city streets

A steady increase in inflation

Scorn for everyone you meet

An authoritarian nation

 

They’re ruling with an iron fist

There is no law and order

We’re breathing in a toxic mist

Fixation on the border

 

They’re finding ways to fix the vote

To steal the next election

They’re hiding guns beneath their coats

It’s heading that direction

 

If you want to take our country back

Please know it won’t be easy

Their train is sliding off the tracks

They’re brutal and they’re sleezy

 

So get ready for a vicious fight

They will go to any measure

They don’t believe in doing right

Brutality gives them pleasure

 

Pariah

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

 

Pariah (for the people of Israel)

 

Remember the cry of Jeremiah

Who prophesied a cruel fate

You would become a pariah

For the sins of the Israeli state

 

You are descendant of Jedidiah

Who turned against the north

Who then became his own pariah

Whose cruelty called forth

 

The end of days for humankind

A legacy of blood and war

The prophecies will fall in line

As the Beast of Yafo roars

 

It’s time to hear that cry again

To heed that warning call

Repent for cruel and callous sins

Or the state of Israel will fall

 

No one wants to see that fall

Or to hear the angels moan

The crumbling of the ancient wall

When Israel stands alone

 

The Cycle

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS SHOOTINGS

 

The Cycle

 

Killing children in Minneapolis

The vicious cycle repeats

The cycle of the irrational

The cycle is never complete

 

Killing children in Gaza

The cycle of killing goes on

The deliberate killing of journalists

The infinite cycle of wrong

 

The cycle of endless violence

We hear the tired voices

Calls for prayer, moments of silence

We’re left without any choices

 

We pray to the second amendment

To protect us from all harm

With guns we live in contentment

While we fail to raise alarm

 

The cycle goes on forever

As we live in a world of hate

If the right to arms is revered

The cycle is our fate

 

Lowering Crime in New Orleans

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

Lowering Crime in New Orleans

 

The murder rate is down

Violent crime? The same

Crime is lower all around

There’s no one left to blame

 

How did this miracle happen?

Did they summon the National Guard?

It happened in the way back when

Katrina slammed N’Orleans hard

 

The poor folk of the Big Easy

Were scattered far and wide

Few returned to their poverty

Their old haunts were gentrified

 

The Guard was never needed

They spread the crime around

A new way of life was seeded

And planted on higher ground

 

So if you want to change your city

Let New Orleans show the way

Just reinvent it nice and pretty

Let the wealthy come to play

 

Round up all the poor folks

And scatter them around

Laugh like it’s a private joke

Reinvigorate your town

 

 

The Price of Freedom

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Price of Freedom

 

You never know the price of freedom

Until your freedom’s gone

Just when you think it could not come

There are soldiers on your lawn

 

The Guard is in the square

They’ll ask you for your name

The police are everywhere

They want someone to blame

 

They’re rounding up the workforce

To ship them to the border

With a vow to stay the course

In the name of law and order

 

They don’t need to show you cause

Their guns will tell you all

In defiance of the law

You’re up against the wall

 

You wonder how it came to this

How we let it slip away

One day they put you on a list

There is a price to pay

 

Now freedom’s just a memory

Of how it used to be

When we were a democracy

This land of liberty

 

Agents of ICE

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: MASS DEPORTATION

 

Agents of ICE

 

You wear a mask when you’re ashamed

If what you’re doing is a disgrace

You don’t want folks to know your name

In shame you hide your face

 

If you don’t like what you’re doing

Find a job with lesser pay

Ain’t no good in misconstruing

All the things your bosses say

 

If you believe in law and order

Turn around and face the man

Dragging workers to the border

Ain’t a part of the master plan

 

Take off the mask and show yourself

Throw that dirty job away

Tell your bosses go to hell!

This ain’t the way a good man plays

 

There are times you take a stand

For what is right and what is good

If hired thug is not your brand

Make the move you know you should

 

Data Farms

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE

 

Data Farms (AI)

 

They take more than they return

With their massive data thirst

The raw energy that it burns

Could hardly get much worse

 

Its intelligence would tell you

It’s the worst thing we could do

These greedy companies sell you

A promise that is not true

 

The consumption of so much force

Without any objective use

Is plotting out a course

That will shake foundations loose

 

Don’t you see where this is going?

This obsession with AI

Its consumption ever growing

Will soon absorb the sky

 

In the end they’ll all agree

That these monolith machines

Serve no fundamental need

To keep this planet clean

 

For they do not need clean air

Dirty water keeps them cool

Why would they even care?

They will play us all for fools

 

Preparing for War

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Preparing for War

 

As American warships converge on Caracas

It seems clear we’re preparing for war

We accuse Maduro of heading a cartel

But we sound like the mouse that roared

 

That Maduro is not a virtuous man

Is a report that is hardly surprising

That we want to upend him as our plan

Is assured by the latest uprisings

 

The collapse of the nation that Chavez built

Creates a climate of grim desperation

But there is no proof of Maduro’s guilt

In the transfer of drugs through his nation

 

Our president too is in desperate need

His popularity is in deep decline

For a man motivated by power and greed

A new war against drugs falls in line

 

So if they put our troops on Venezuelan soil

We should all demand to know why

We may want to control Venezuelan oil

But the drug link is an obvious lie

 

Balance of Powers

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Balance of Powers

 

Russia is an imperialist nation

The United States* should know

We’ve tried our hand at occupation

We wanted our empire to grow

 

We tried to conquer Afghanistan

After the Soviets came up short

We tried to conquer Vietnam

To make Saigon an American fort

 

We tried to subjugate Iraq

In the false name of democracy

Forced to give their country back

And admit our own hypocrisy

 

I truly hope we’ve changed our ways

But no one can be sure

When we invade we tend to stay

Our motives aren’t quite pure

 

Now Putin wants his empire

He wants Georgia and Ukraine

He’d rather set it all on fire

Than admit it’s all in vain

 

The world is balanced between powers

Russia, China and the western states

As we near the final reckoning hour

We must place our trust in fate

 

* United States of America

 

Monsoon

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Monsoon

 

Floods have taken hundreds of lives

In the Kashmir region of Pakistan

In a place that tests your will to survive

A harsh and unforgiving land

 

The floods trigger the landslides

A torrent of flowing mud

A river of death far and wide

A consequence of the flood

 

The monsoons visit every year

The people take it in stride

Bury the dead and shed their tears

Rebuild and stand with pride

 

Each year the rain grows stronger

Each year they bury more

The monsoon season is longer

The flashflood waters roar

 

This too is global climate change

And yet we hear no warning

It seems the earth is now estranged

In the years of the great warming

 

Fighting Fire with Fire

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Fighting Fire

 

Texas started this fight

Will we turn the other cheek?

Knowing well it is not right

The fierce against the meek

 

Let’s be very clear

They are devaluing the vote

They very last thing you will hear

Is the sinking of the boat

 

They want to steal the next election

With their gerrymandering plan

They are spreading this infection

Hoping you won’t understand

 

Our democracy is at stake

If we fail to take a stand

Stop the steal, slam the brakes

Send a message across the land

 

You fight this fire with fire

That’s the only way it works

Our republic’s not for hire

To these power-hungry jerks