War Crimes

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WAR

 

War Crimes

 

War crimes are as old as war itself

 

The Revolutionary War

  The Sullivan Expedition

 

The Civil War

  Sherman’s March to the Sea

 

Civil wars are never civil

 

The Indian Wars

  The Trail of Tears

    Wounded Knee

      The Sand Creek Massacre

 

Nits make fleas

 

WWI

  Pillage and Plunder

 

To the victor goes the spoils

 

WWII

  The bombing of Dresden

    Internment of the Japanese

      Nagasaki / Hiroshima

        The Nuremberg Trials

 

War is hell

 

Korean War

  No Gun Ri Massacre

 

Vietnam

  My Lai Massacre

    Carpet bombing

      Free fire zones

 

Asians don’t value life as we do

 

The Gulf War

  Radioactive munitions

    Gulf War Syndrome

 

Iraq War / War on Terror

  Abu Ghraib

 

The Narco Terror War

  Extrajudicial execution

    No survivors

 

Where there is war

There are war crimes

War itself is a crime against humanity

 

 

The Blue Wave

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN POLITICS

 

The Blue Wave

 

When the blue wave washes over the land

The sun will rise, the people stand

The celebration will be grand

 

When the blue wave rolls across the sea

The world will watch on bended knee

We’ll toast to Lady Liberty

 

When the blue wave paints the forest green

All the land will be swept clean

We’ll all know what it means

 

When the blue wave takes the Great Southeast

The dragon slayer will slay the beast

We’ll have a second chance at peace

 

When the blue wave stuns the whole Midwest

Times of sorrow we’ll suffer less

The nation will be blessed

 

When the blue wave rolls below the line

The working folks will feel just fine

The angry will be kind

 

When the blue wave sings a righteous song

All sorts of folks will sing along

The weak become the strong

 

When the blue wave comes to Tennessee

The birds will sing, the country breathe

The flags will fly for you and me

 

When the blue wave takes the sunshine state

America will be made great

Let us hope it’s not too late

 

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Corruption in Ukraine

 

Corruption in Ukraine

Is an affront to humankind

Negotiations become strained

It puts her allies in a bind

 

To betray your country is a sin

To betray your country at war

Is a sin beyond redemption

It is corruption to the core

 

While the battlefield rages

While you plead for more arms

This is a treachery for the ages

That could do irreparable harm

 

The guilty must be punished

Before the cause is lost

The corruption must be banished

The corrupted must be tossed

 

Ukraine remains at war

In a battle for existence

An evil enemy at the door

All their people in resistance

 

Their leaders must be pure

Their president must stand tall

For the people must be assured

Or Ukraine will lose it all

 

 

No More Tears

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LIFE SONGS

 

No More Tears

 

A torrent of rain

So many people dead

From Gaza to Ukraine

No more tears to shed

 

The wars keep raging on

More hatred being bred

The fire in Hong Kong

No more tears to shed

 

The unsheltered army grows

The hungry are not fed

No jackets or warm clothes

No more tears to shed

 

A murder in the capitol

Our strength is being bled

Our promises grow cold

There’s no more tears to shed

 

The retribution tour

The sky is turning red

A smell like a sewer

We’ve no more tears to shed

 

We’re tired and we’re old

The end is drawing near

Our rights are being sold

But we have no more tears

 

 

Hypocritical Oath

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: VENEZUELA

 

Hypocritical Oath

 

There is no Cartel of the Sun

It is only a figure of speech

Until this nasty business is done

Maduro is beyond their reach

 

The real leader of a Narco State

The former president of Honduras

Will help make America great

The convicted Juan Hernandez

 

What did he promise our president

In exchange for a blanket pardon?

Money given or money lent

Or a plush Honduran garden?

 

He doesn’t care about democracy

It’s all about the bottom line

He flaunts his crude hypocrisy

And declares that all is fine

 

Maduro sees what’s going on

He needs to strike a deal

It’s not about what’s right or wrong

His wounded pride will heal

 

Our president needs a victory

Any foreign war will do

He doesn’t need our sympathy

And doesn’t care what’s true

 

Rewarding Aggression

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Rewarding Aggression (Ukraine)

 

A brutal legacy of destruction

The invasion of Ukraine

We demand its reconstruction

Reparations in the main

 

You cannot reward aggression

If you want a world of peace

The time has come for this lesson

The brutality must cease

 

All of Europe is united

They have frozen Russian funds

This wrong cannot be righted

Without depleting Russian guns

 

So many lives have been lost

We all know who’s to blame

The one and only Kremlin boss

Whose lasting mark is shame

 

Take away all his wealth

Strip him of his power

He has claimed it all by stealth

Make him face his final hour

 

Let him roam the barren earth

A man who walks alone

Let his home be built of dirt

Let his comfort be his groans

 

Pity the Poor (On Thanksgiving)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POVERTY

 

Pity the Poor

 

Pity the man who has no bread

Pity the child who is not fed

Pity the stranger against the wall

Have pity for us one and all

 

We live our lives in desperation

Never knowing what it’s for

The poor within a wealthy nation

Pounding at the rich man’s door

 

We are the homeless in the city

We’ve lost our families long ago

We live on kindness and on pity

We’ve suffered every kind of blow

 

We rise up each and every day

We do what we must do

Try to find a place to stay

Before the day is through

 

Pity the poor who have no say

Pity the one who feels the pain

Pity the ones who’ve gone astray

Pity the ones who feel the strain

 

We don’t want your pity

We want a helping hand

We live in every town and city

We’d like you all to understand

 

 

Thank You

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THANKSGIVING

 

Thank You

 

What do you say or do

When the beauty of life overwhelms you

When everyone you see and hear

is a walking, talking miracle

When every force of nature rolls

over you like the waves of seven seas

When the sky seems to open up

and smiles to let you in

When every stranger on the street

seems like a long-lost friend

When every turn and every bend

brings another word of comfort

When all the people you’ve ever known

show up to shake your hand

When every new day is a promise

and every day gone by is a gift

When every playground is filled with laughter

and all the houses are filled with joy

What do you say or do except

to say thank you

from the depths of my soul

 

(On Thanksgiving Day)

 

The History of Me

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: THANKSGIVING

 

History of Me

 

We made our way across the sea

Way back in 1493

At Plymouth Rock we planted seeds

That’s the history of me

 

We were cold and we were hungry

The natives gave us aide

They answered to our desperate plea

We bowed our heads and prayed

 

We founded thirteen colonies

The British tried to tax our tea

Our people said no thank you please

That’s the history of me

 

A hundred years we traveled west

We settled in the rolling hills

We thought to stay and have a rest

The buffalo were killed

 

We did what we were led to do

We were a different breed

We always wanted something new

That’s the history of me

 

A thousand years of slavery

A long and bloody civil war

Tales of death and bravery

The reaper at the door

 

The dust bowl pushed us out again

Until we reached the other sea

Degraded everywhere we’d been

That’s the history of me

 

We’re proud and we’re determined

To leave a better legacy

We tired of the sermon

That’s the history of me

 

(Happy Thanksgiving Eve!)

 

A Hero in Chicago

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: POLICE STATE

 

Marimar Martinez

 

Shot down like a rabid dog

On a rampage in Chicago

When they finally cleared the fog

The facts were clearly known

 

She sounded an alarm

To the folks in her community

They meant to do her harm

To break Chicago’s unity

 

But cameras showed the story

The border agent lied

They stripped him of his glory

He’s lucky no one died

 

He tried to take her life

For standing up to her convictions

You could cut it with a knife

The tension and suspicions

 

You are not wanted here

Go back to where you came from

You are only spreading fear

Like the pounding of a war drum

 

Marimar is a hero

A bold and shining light

A light that ever grows

A force for good and right

Congo Mining Disaster

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Congo Mining Disaster

 

Desperation breeds carelessness

Carelessness yields death

The Congo is a wilderness

Where the people hold their breath

 

A hundred people died today

In a crudely dug gold mine

The Congolese have little say

They’re stuck with what they find

 

A nation torn in civil war

Devoid of law and order

Arms are given to the poor

To defend a crooked border

 

The people live in poverty

They have no honest choice

They lack a true democracy

They have no honest voice

 

Violence is their only means

Of getting what they need

Poverty is what they’ve seen

A land of corporate greed

 

So miners go beneath the ground

To dig for precious gold

The mines are neither strong nor sound

In time they will not hold

 

A hundred people die today

A hundred more tomorrow

Until there is another way

The Congo lives in sorrow

 

 

Takaichi Speaks the Truth

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Takaichi Speaks the Truth

 

To speak the truth is dangerous

To a political career

Sometimes the truth will follow us

And swallow us with fear

 

Sanae Takaichi, leader of Japan

Has spoken true and clear

It was long past time to take a stand

For Taiwan is near and dear

 

Should China violate the truce

In defiance of all laws

Japan would surely have to choose

To yield or show its claws

 

The Chinese seem to get their way

Though often they are wrong

All nations have a price to pay

From the weakest to the strong

 

If China moves against Taiwan

There will be a resistance

With consequences hard and long

Taiwan will get assistance

 

Do not become a hated land

A land of cold aggression

Don’t force the world to take a stand

Taiwan is your obsession

 

 

The Land of Allende

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICA

 

The Land of Allende

 

In the land of Pinochet and Allende

Where Latin American democracy

Rose up against the authoritarian tide

And fell against the same

Where the champions of the North

Changed sides by backing a military coup

 

We’re not about to let the will of the people

Stand in the way of American interests *

 

Chileans are facing a critical choice

A communist who is not a communist

Against a republican who is not a republican

The way of the ballot box

Or the way of the bullet

The gentle hand or the iron fist

Reason against rationalization

Persuasion against force

The path of social justice

Or the path of grim austerity

Jeannette Jara or Jose Antonio Kast

The people must choose

 

Choose wisely

For to make the wrong choice

May outlast a generation

 

* Henry Kissinger