The Great Voter Purge

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Voter Purge

 

It all started in Tallahassee

The Great American Voter Purge

Now it moves from sea to sea

To counter an expected voter surge

 

There’s more than one way to win

Without a majority of votes

Let the next great purge begin

All historians should take notes

 

They’ll take a list of minority names

Gathered from the crime rolls

They’ll paint them all with fiendish shame

They will sell their eternal souls

 

All those voters will be tossed

Without time to restore them

The Democrats will pay the cost

At our peril do we ignore them

 

There is no border they won’t cross

No lie, no fraud, no cheat

To please their crude and wicked boss

To avoid a huge defeat

 

Exchanging Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHRISTMAS

 

Exchanging Christmas

 

Let’s exchange Christmas

For a day to help the poor

Let’s gather all the kindness

For an end to every war

 

After all our needs are modest

There’s little more we need

Let’s exchange the happy holidays

For an end to corporate greed

 

We know money isn’t everything

But it’s something that we need

Instead of wrapping gifts in string

There are many mouths to feed

 

Let’s celebrate a day of giving

By helping others to survive

Let’s improve the lives we’re living

For we are blessed to be alive

 

Let’s exchange just one Christmas

To make the world a better place

To give the gift of kindness

To help all the human race

 

Peace & Love to All!

 

A Christmas Wish

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: CHRISTMAS

 

A Christmas Wish

 

I wish for peace on Mother Earth

May all have shelter from the storm

Let each receive what she is worth

May all be fed and warm

 

May all of us know love

As forceful as a lion’s roar

As lovely as a white-winged dove

An end to hunger, greed and war

 

May music grace the evening air

May beauty paint the sky

An end to sorrow and despair

May solemn truth replace the lie

 

May each of us respect the other

As if they were ourselves

All women sisters, all men brothers

Put all our bias on the shelf

 

May meaning be revealed to all

Enlightenment to some

May every child grow strong and tall

In all the years to come

 

May Christmas bring a special cheer

To everyone on earth

May we celebrate this time of year

Mother Nature’s great rebirth

 

 

Bondi Beach

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Bondi Beach

 

We mourn the dead of Bondi Beach

As we grieve the dead in Palestine

Mercy moves beyond our reach

There is no justice we can find

 

The Jewish people cannot be blamed

For the mindless vengeance of one man

For though they share a Jewish name

The stand apart on the Zion plan

 

Each man and woman on the earth

Has a right to their own beliefs

Each man and woman has their worth

And is entitled to share relief

 

When we seek vengeance as a cause

You can be sure it will strike back

If we’re a people of civilized laws

We can’t condone such vile attacks

 

So let us mourn all those who die

In the cause of vengeful pride

Let us condemn the reasons why

End the vengeance on both sides

 

 

A Workingman's Christmas

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR:  CHRISTMAS

 

Working Man’s Christmas

 

It’s Christmas for the working man

A time of joy and cheer

A time to listen to the band

Forget your worries and your fears

 

For other folks on Christmas Day

They’ll celebrate the past

The working folks must find a way

To make their Christmas last

 

Some will work into the night

To pay for these few hours

A second job to make it right

To build those Lego towers

 

It’s Christmas time for everyone

For Tom and Bill and Alice

The children must all have their fun

So grab the silver chalice

 

And raise a toast to the giving season

Give the workers what they need

For everyone must have a reason

To overcome their daily greed

 

 

Santiago Falls (The Ghost of Pinochet)

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: LATIN AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Santiago Falls

 

Jose Antonio Kast

Brings back shadows of the past

The ghost of Pinochet

Has come back to haunt Chile

 

A campaign of law and order

A promise to protect the border

Rising crime and deportation

Mounting fear and desperation

 

We cannot predict the future

But we can warn about the past

As the future travels nearer

Our dread grows deep and vast

 

Recall the disappeared

Remember the oppression

The iron fist of fear

Has Chile learned her lesson?

 

Or is she now condemned

To repeat her sordid past?

On this man you’ll depend

To break his fascist cast

 

 

The Great Northwest Flood

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL WARMING

 

The Great Northwest Flood

 

A torrent from the heavens

Tears through the Great Northwest

From Mount Olympus down to Pullman

The dams and rivers crest

 

From the Skagit to the Skokomish

All the rivers overrun

The people have one Christmas wish

That this nightmare is done

 

For now they are in crisis mode

They’re scrambling for their lives

They’ve lived enough to know the code

They know how to survive

 

But this one hit them stronger

Than most every storm before

Each time it takes them longer

To recover and restore

 

We all know it is the warming

That brings this kind of rain

The hurricanes and storming

Our structures under strain

 

We can’t go on pretending

The warming is not here

Deflecting and defending

There is no cause for fear

 

So do whatever you can do

To get ready for the next one

For we know this much is true:

It gets worse before it’s done

 

 

The Ugly American

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: TRUMP

 

The Ugly American

 

The ugly American has come to pass

We know his name and number

We hope his reign will not last

The dream is in a slumber

 

It seems we don’t like anyone

Who isn’t white and wealthy

Until this wave is finally done

Our nation is not healthy

 

We’ve fallen to the right extreme

The ones who do not care

They never liked the fabled dream

To them it seems unfair

 

That whites are not the ruling class

All others get in line

Money is the only pass

To drink the finest wine

 

We are the world’s worst nightmare

Until that distant day

When the light of reason fills the air

And this one goes away

 

 

Budapest Rising

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: WORLD DEMOCRACY

 

Budapest Rising

 

An election is coming to Budapest

As we hear a rising sound

The people march in protest

As scandals shake the ground

 

Corruption and rank abuse

Has shaken Hungary to its core

Orban’s grip is coming loose

Change is knocking at the door

 

Pedophilia and prostitution

An abomination to the masses

When it invades your institutions

It rips apart your ruling classes

 

When you’re a strongman at the helm

You believe there are no rules

You have gone beyond the realm

Of the morbid and the cruel

 

How long as this gone on?

This unspeakable reign of horror

Was it happening all along?

Listen! Hear the people roar!

 

The great reckoning is coming down

Like a hammer to your head

They don’t want your kind around

Try democracy instead

 

 

The Imperial President

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

The Imperial President

 

If I say it’s the law it’s the law

If I say it’s a crime it’s a crime

The imperial president’s flaw

Puts the nation in a bind

 

We are complicit in our silence

As the president does his will

Acts of war and criminal violence

He has claimed the right to kill

 

In this country we don’t have a king

And we do not have a god

The blowback he will surely bring

The outrage and the fraud

 

He is itching for a fight

To distract us from the files

Whether wrong or whether right

Someone’s bound to get riled

 

As we take another step

Toward losing our republic

As the founding spirits wept

As the clock begins to tick

 

May we change the way we’re thinking

Before we lose it all

The ship of state is sinking

In the days before the fall

 

 

Buying our Democracy

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: AMERICAN DEMOCRACY

 

Buying Democracy

 

Our democracy is endangered

By a court that has no pride

It has gone from strange to stranger

As the court finds its stride

 

One man gave a quarter billion

To take hold of the White House

Next time could bring a trillion

The threat is beyond doubt

 

But the court has no concern

They are tarred by the same cash

It’s the people who get burned

There’s no need to even ask

 

Corruption is institutionalized

With the blessings of the court

It is not right, just or wise

The invaders guarding the fort

 

Will we surrender our republic

Without raising a rebel cry?

Has the fog grown so thick

That we won’t even try?

 

A republic, old Ben Franklin said

But only if you can keep it

When our democracy is dead

Will we even seek it?

 

 

Contingencies

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL POLITICS

 

Contingencies

 

What will Zelensky do

When Trump betrays Ukraine?

What will the continent do

When Russia makes it plain

That they will not stop the war

As long as Putin reigns

As long as there is more

To load on Russia’s train?

 

What will America do

When Europe does not fold?

What will China do

When Putin’s act grows old?

When the whole world realigns?

When democracies grow bold?

When India reads the signs?

 

What will the world do

When all are forced to choose?

Old ties or something new?

Who wins and who will lose?

When the people finally rise?

To claim their sovereign prize

And affirm their best allies? 

 

The Darkest Hour

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

The Darkest Hour

 

When given immoral dictums

You have a right to refrain

When the righteous are the victims

As they are in fair Ukraine

 

It seems America has abandoned

The democratic cause

With the Kremlin in tandem

We are down to last straws

 

We ask little of the aggressor

We demand much of Ukraine

A territorial divestiture

The resistance was in vain

 

But Ukraine is not alone

Europe will not turn its back

They will stand up for their own

Until the cause is back on track

 

We are in the darkest hours

It seems the walls are closing in

An alliance of dark powers

Let us pray they do not win

 

If the allies would prevail

In the defense of fair Ukraine

Before the path grows stale

We must endure greater pain

 

 

India and Russia

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: INDIA

 

Russia and India

 

When you’re in bed with a beast

A rank purveyor of war

Do not pretend you love peace

Your reputation is less than poor

 

Modi wants what Putin has

A stranglehold on power

He’ll play the game as long as

It is not the China hour

 

The man from Moscow plays it cool

Both sides against the middle

The American is his fool

But Modi is his fiddle

 

China’s Xi remains a mystery

In this strange triangulation

It will go down in modern history

The day that Modi sold his nation

 

For just a moment in the sun

With the planet’s greatest threat

By the time this deal is done

They will be buried in Russian debt

 

 

Putin's Shadow

RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: UKRAINE

 

Putin’s Shadow

 

In the shadow of aggression

All of Europe is on alert

History has taught a lesson

Pressing though it may hurt

 

Germany has raised the alarm

With incentives to build their forces

Although none would wish to harm

There are few alternative courses

 

The continent must be prepared

For whatever the beast has in mind

If captured in the monster’s lair

The world would be in a bind

 

Conscription is an unthinkable crime

Let us hope we’re not headed there

The road ahead is a difficult climb

Every nation must do its share

 

Denmark is drafting women

France is offering more

Finland expands its conscription

In preparation for a coming war

 

We pray for a world in peace

For an end to wars of all kinds

But the Kremlin is home to a beast

To that fact we cannot be blind