The Rise of Gen Z

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

The Rise of Gen Z

 

It rises from the internet

From the darkness of the web

The mold is cast and set

To the cry of Johnny Reb

 

From Madagascar to Sri Lanka

From the Philippines to Nepal

It comes down against corruption

Warning up against the wall!

 

It has no leaders or philosophy

At least that’s what we’re told

It moves ahead with lightning speed

And stuns when it unfolds

 

It turned the tide in Kathmandu

It caught fire in Paraguay

With the flames of angry youth

Demanding fundamental rights

 

You didn’t listen to them before

You might want to listen now

They don’t want your stupid wars

And their voice is growing loud

 

They stand as Generation Z

Their time has now arrived

Their cry is spreading like a weed

Their word is carried far and wide

 

Palestine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: PALESTINE

 

Palestine

 

Recognizing Palestine

Does not make it so

Changing water into wine

Doesn’t mean our crops will grow

 

The people will not go away

Disappear into the sand

Just because the Israelis say

This is our promised land

 

There must be a give and take

If we are to live in peace

All accords will surely break

Without exchange at the least

 

Palestine must have a state

Israel must be secure

Eternal war will be our fate

Without a path that ensures

 

Palestine must compromise

Israel must find a way

When both sides choose the wise

The world will greet a brighter day

 

 

Xi Takes the Lead

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

Xi Takes the Lead

 

While America proclaims a hoax

China moves ahead

Making Xi a little more woke

And lessening the dread

Of a climate change denier

Living in the White House

A dirty coal supplier

A deal with Doctor Faust

 

Reducing carbon emissions

In the interest of humankind

Reduces our suspicions

Of what China has in mind

For all our best decisions

Depend on what we find

In the hope of nuclear fission

And the global warming bind

 

As America steps back

The Chinese take the lead

Where science is under attack

All of Europe feels the need

There’s something that we lack

When the whole world plants a seed

While we run off the tracks

In record numbing speed

 

 

Police State Portland

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Police State Portland

 

What’s going down in Portland?

Is the city hall on fire?

Are the citizens under siege?

Or is the president a liar?

 

Portland is a city of love

The people do not want war

They believe in peaceful protest

They desire to help the poor

 

There are no riots on the streets

There is no wave of crime

They’re simply marching to the beat

In opposition to brutal times

 

They do not like the president

But they’re not planning a coup d’etat

A lot of their people live in tents

But they’ll uphold the people’s law

 

They don’t need your law’n order

They don’t need your armored cars

Why don’t you send them to the border

Better yet, send them to Mars

 

What about Epstein?

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: EPSTEIN FILES

 

What about Epstein?

 

You got Ghislaine out of her cell

And into a prisoner’s dream

What was a sentence in hell

Is more like a gentle scream

You discounted the words of prosecutors

And women when they were teens

You’ll talk about most anything

But not about Jefferey Epstein

 

So you fired Kimmel and Colbert

It can’t be so, feels like a dream

The president doesn’t control the air

How could it be? What does it mean?

The sky is gray and the sea is green

And oh yeah, what about Epstein?

 

So much to learn, so little time

It feels like a slow-moving stream

I’ve a longing for the world sublime

But the river is getting mean

You’d like us all to fall in line

To wipe all that history clean

You’ll go your way, I’ll go mine

But what about Jeffery Epstein?

 

Netanyahu Stands Alone

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: ISRAEL AT WAR

 

Netanyahu Stands Alone

 

Woe be unto Israel

Leave this man at home

You need not be his keeper

Netanyahu stands alone

 

The harm that he has done

The people must atone

Woe be unto Israel

Netanyahu stands alone

 

Vengeance is his mission

A bomb for every stone

Sewing hard divisions

Netanyahu stands alone

 

The death toll rises every day

Mournful mothers moan

Searching for another way

Netanyahu stands alone

 

So many dead and buried

Piles of flesh and bones

The burden you must carry

Netanyahu stands alone

 

(Netanyahu comes to the UN.)

 

Last Best Stand

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Last Best Stand

 

We don’t know what the future holds

We’ll do the best we can

Be strong, my friend, be true, be bold

For this may be the last best stand

 

The warning bells have sounded now

We’re sound in our positions

We’re dreamers yet we’re grounded now

We’re poets and magicians

 

We’re called upon to hold our ground

It’s a battle set in stone

We’re sworn to never let you down

Though we may stand alone

 

This is the path we’re given

Though we want to cause no harm

We’re desperate and we’re driven

But they are better armed

 

They have their money and their guns

We have what we can carry

Until the battle’s lost or won

On this ground we’ll be buried

 

The Great Extortionist

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE SPEECH

 

The Great Extortionist

 

The corporate world has taken its stand

To oblige the wannabe dictator

Now it’s up to every woman and man

To put them through the grater

 

CBS fired their late-night host

At the urging of our president

A shot heard loud from coast to coast

We knew exactly what it meant

 

ABC was quick to can their man

On the shallow side of pretense

They’re sure that we will understand

The bottom line is their defense

 

Now B & J is going down

Yielding to the rightwing pressure

Soon there will be none around

For our entertainment pleasure

 

This is how our grand republic ends

With a constant push and shove

On the next election we’ll depend

With some help from the stars above

 

(Jimmy Kimmel fired and reinstated.)

 

Provocation

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RUSSIA

 

Provocation

 

He is the neighborhood bully

Poking your friend in the chest

If we could understand it fully

It is a provocation to the west

 

Drones over Europe

Fighter jets in NATO airspace

A strategy of drip drip drip

Putting NATO in its place

 

It is a reckless game

That only Putin would engage

But it is more of the same

From the man on center stage

 

Will he stimulate defiance?

Another war, an arms race?

Will he weaken the alliance?

Will he back down with grace?

 

In the days and years ahead

He will put us to the test

It could be a world of dread

Unless we unify the west

 

Remember the Fallen

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VIOLENCE

 

Remember the Fallen

 

We lament the killing of Charlie Kirk *

As we mourn Melissa Hortman **

Both were killed for political work

By a crazed individual assassin

 

One is no greater than the other

No lesser by any means

One was a sister, the other a brother

And both were human beings

 

Both were martyred to their cause

Remember them for who they were

Despite whatever human flaws

This fate they did not deserve

 

There is far too much hatred and rage

In this world of growing extremes

We are entering a desperate violent age

We should grasp just what that means

 

High powered weapons in dangerous hands

Are a problem we all must address

Take a vow to do whatever you can

To make these dangers less

 

And lower the volume of discontent

Accept that we can disagree

Interpret kindly what others meant

Try not to plant the seed

 

*   assassinated in Utah

** assassinated in Minnesota

 

Pravda

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY 

 

Pravda

 

We have become what we despise

The media is bought and sold

We embrace the golden leader’s lies

Our sense of decency grows cold

 

We are the shining silver tower

Money is the voice that speaks

We are the ones who worship power

The ship of state has sprung a leak

 

We do not miss our freedom here

We sent it on a ship to sea

We hold our leader very dear

And that alone’s enough for me

 

There is one truth for everyone

They hand it to us every day

We have the right to own a gun

The other rights we gave away

 

From this time forward we are one

One voice, one vote, one truth

We praise the glory of the sun

Who needs a voting booth?

 

McCarthy Lives

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: FREE SPEECH

 

McCarthy Lives

 

Because we have forgotten

We are condemned to live the past

A time when government turned rotten

All citizens should be aghast

 

It was known as the Great Red Scare

The Bill of Rights was suspended

Speak out boldly if you dare

The right to speak has been amended

 

Are you now or have you ever

Been a member of the party not in power?

Then your rights are hereby severed

As of this day this very hour

 

When we’re afraid to speak our minds

For fear of dire consequences

Then our democracy is blind

Building walls and erecting fences

 

They’re building prisons for us now

In the name of law and order

Don’t know when, don’t know how

But they will drag us to the border

 

The Ebro

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: RIVER SERIES

 

The Ebro (River Series)

 

It flows east by southeast

From Cantabria to the Mediterranean Sea

It feeds the north of Spain

It borrows from the Pyrenees

On the northern border with France

It courses through highlands

To the broad open plains

Then narrows in the rocky gorge

Where the river is constrained

 

In ancient times it formed the line

Between Carthage and imperial Rome

Battles were fought and many died

For the right to call the Ebro home

 

In modern days it marked the beginning

Of the end of Spain’s democracy

La Batalla del Ebro left thousands dead

And helped found an enduring autocracy

 

The flow of the Ebro is running down

Due to dams, irrigation and warming

From time-to-time floods take dry ground

As the river absorbs extreme storming

 

The River Ebro will endure

Despite the inventions of man

Its future will remain unsure

Though Spain will do what she can

 

 

Drones over Poland

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Drones over Poland

 

Russia is testing the west

Sending drones over Polish skies

Putin is pounding his chest

To see how the allies fly

 

The threat is abundantly clear

They’re pushing as far as they can

An agenda designed to spread fear

Throughout all western lands

 

NATO must stand united

Against the allies of Russian aggression

These wrongs can only be righted

With a strong, united expression

 

Ukraine will not be the lamb

Sacrificed to appease the beast

Together the alliance must stand

To demand the aggressor cease

 

Only then will the world find peace

Only then will aggression end

The path of resistance least

Is that NATO will not bend

 

Kathmandu

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Kathmandu

 

Kumari did not come to Durbar Square

The city was in lockdown

The living goddess wasn’t there

Abandoning the hallowed ground

 

Nepal is a land in disarray

Its democracy lies in tatters

The people lie in wait and pray

There peaceful lives are shattered

 

They left their monarchy behind

Not so many years ago

Since then the blind have led the blind

And the discontent has grown

 

A democracy requires more

Than a paper constitution

A balance of power at its core

And strong civil institutions

 

What comes next in Kathmandu

No one really knows

The one thing we know is true

The desperation grows