Harmful Carrier
They told me I was harmful
I had to wear a mask
Keeping others healthy was
My new appointed task
I knew they all were liars
They always told me lies
Why would I expect much else
From people I despise
Don’t go near each other
Stay six feet apart
They call it social distancing
It's fucked up off the chart
This whole thing is bogus
Some may have died it’s true
But many died for freedom
Freedom shouldn’t die for you
Joseph John Racano
They told me I was harmful
I had to wear a mask
Keeping others healthy was
My new appointed task
I knew they all were liars
They always told me lies
Why would I expect much else
From people I despise
Don’t go near each other
Stay six feet apart
They call it social distancing
It's fucked up off the chart
This whole thing is bogus
Some may have died it’s true
But many died for freedom
Freedom shouldn’t die for you
Joseph John Racano
Pandemic Moon
Now savor sweet Pandemic Moon
The hardships will be over soon
Floating flower of the night
Guardian of love and light
Oh had I but been born sooner
Cradled in the arms of Luna
Knowing all the Earth’s delight
See her creatures sans the fright
To the land before Leukemia
Turn the wall clock back Pandemia
Let the traffic noise come settle
Hear the whistle of the kettle
Illuminate the path back home
Grass expanse where Bison roam
When you abscond with my soul
Leave behind an Earth that’s whole
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/19/2020
Off the Beaten Pathogen
The climate movement was on its feet
Kids were marching in the street
The oil barons made a plan
Misdirect them if you can
It only took a single phrase
To start a paranoia craze
Just say ‘covid’ don’t say ‘climate’
Spread a virus, and perfectly time it
Say it started up in China
From a Pangolin’s vagina
Hijack some genetic test
Let the TV do the rest
Population tops 8 billion
We could stand to lose a million
Wrap that mask around your brain
Watch out for that hurricane
Authors note-Greta on cover of Time: December 11th, 2019. CDC declares Covid 19 a pandemic: March 11th, 2020
Joseph John Racano
The Great Salad Pandemic of 2199
Grandpa put me on his knee
Told this scary tale to me
Things that now are well and fine
Not so back in ’99
It started when a sickly thief
Absconded with a salad leaf
When he did not wash his hands
Virus spread right out in bands
Caught in a concentric circle
People started turning purple
Low pitch coughing high pitch wheezing
Purple people started sneezing
Where it spread and how depressing
Factored on your choice of dressing
I used French and took a chance
Then the virus spread to France
Using Russian guaranteed
Kremlin would be quarantined
Stroke of luck when someone spilled it
All infected salad wilted
Thank you Grandpa what a story
Back from in your days of glory
Now if you’ll excuse me please
I have to shuck those purple peas!
Joseph John Racano
Sign of the Ring
In the year of the fire
And the decade of heat
Shall a message transpire
And be thrown at our feet
As a wheel in a wheel
With a peregrine eye
It will look down from heaven
And blot out the sky
A message of justice
This harbinger brings
A sharp retribution
For acting like kings
Soon after alignment
A plague on the cannibals
Shall undo confinement
And set loose the animals
Dark clouds will part
Unleashing such rain
As not before seen
Nor will be again
The waters will rise
To mountainous summit
Exposing an Ark
As evil one’s plummet
When waters recede
The creatures stampede
Finding before them
The fresh start they need
So farewell the anvil
The hammer, the chain
Factories all
Washed away by the rain
Flowers return
Birds again sing
As all was foretold
By the Sign of the Ring
Joseph John Racano
The War for Planet Earth
Congratulations U.S.A.
Leading us the old wrong way
Who needs comfort who needs air
The bottom line is all they care
Greta don’t apologize
Skull and crossbones in their eyes
All they want is to enslave us
Telling us their god will save us
Soon enough the skies will darken
Back to the crusades we harken
Holy war for Planet Earth
Sacred garden of our birth
Last best hope for humankind
Build resistance in your mind
Oil dictators be gone
The war for Planet Earth is on
Joseph John Racano
*author's note: Climate change is included on the pandemic page because the two are connected*
Congratulations U.S.A.
Leading us the old wrong way
Who needs comfort who needs air
The bottom line is all they care
Greta don’t apologize
Skull and crossbones in their eyes
All they want is to enslave us
Telling us their god will save us
Soon enough the skies will darken
Back to the crusades we harken
Holy war for Planet Earth
Sacred garden of our birth
Last best hope for humankind
Build resistance in your mind
Oil dictators be gone
The war for Planet Earth is on
Joseph John Racano
*author's note: Climate change is included on the pandemic page because the two are connected*
Planet Stone
Landed here on Planet Rock
Forests all cashed in as stock
The waters bitter, disease in the air
The children sick but the parents don’t care
Individuality
Wearing masks of subjugation
Sterilizing globally
with massive fumigation
The richest half of one percent
Facilitating man’s decent
Human spiders suck us dry
Pumping carbon in the sky
Planet Rock your flame burns dim
Your deities ignore your hymn
If you see a virus kill it
Cook your locusts on the skillet
Wherefore art thou Planet Life
Gone away to seek a wife
Gone and left us all alone
Here on burned out Planet Stone
Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/3/4/2021
Landed here on Planet Rock
Forests all cashed in as stock
The waters bitter, disease in the air
The children sick but the parents don’t care
Individuality
Wearing masks of subjugation
Sterilizing globally
with massive fumigation
The richest half of one percent
Facilitating man’s decent
Human spiders suck us dry
Pumping carbon in the sky
Planet Rock your flame burns dim
Your deities ignore your hymn
If you see a virus kill it
Cook your locusts on the skillet
Wherefore art thou Planet Life
Gone away to seek a wife
Gone and left us all alone
Here on burned out Planet Stone
Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/3/4/2021
The Shot I got
I got a shot I got a shot
But what was in the shot I got
I'm off my feet position fetal
What was in the goddam needle
Call the doctor call the nurse
Bad prognosis getting worse
Someone notify my mom
Tell her I just got embalmed
Help me up I got the poops
Why'd the guy keep saying 'oops'
Sent me screaming down the halls
Catheter still in my balls
Glass of water may I have
Wash it down with drawing salve
Got a shot I got a shot
But what was in the shot I got
Joseph John Racano
Summer of Imperfection
Pastel fire scattered in the surf zone
Bright rainbow salt water Earth foam
Tan surfers with boards at the portage
Like a fairy tale with goldilocks and porridge
Dog-days in late summer August
Three fathoms down swaying kelp forest
Water lapping at the shore in glass sheets
Hot sand people running to cool feets
This is the summer of imperfection
People reaching for a natural connection
Offshore three miles to the platforms
One paradise lost to the terraforms
Smart photograph captured collection
Two lifestyles different direction
Divergent views of the Ocean
One takes while the other shows devotion
Pretty sunset out on the horizon
Who imagined such a thing to set your eyes on
How the Universe knew that we would need it
Make one every day and then repeat it
So fly your monoculture, run it up a flag pole
Like a frog who forgot he was a tadpole
All part of the industrial infection
Welcome to the summer of imperfection
Joseph John Racano
photo by: Greg Furlong
The Wizards Warning
(Revenge of the Pangolin)
I
I came upon a wizard
Who baby-sat a lizard
A babe in arms had come to harms
A sore impacted gizzard
It may have been Silurian
We’ve yet to bring the jury in
It’s look was thus primordial
Its wrinkled scales accordial
Upon the tip of a witches hat
The wizard wore a brooch
A Pangolin with a mandolin
The hat of pure shawtoosh
“What is that lizard, wizard?
Gadzook!', said I of the animal
‘Shush!’ he said, supporting the head
‘Not lizard, but a mammal!’
‘Pangolin means he who rolls
And wise you'd be to heed the scrolls
For to mistreat Pangolin
Would mayhap bring his grand-dad in’
‘And woe would be to land and sea
If grand-dad came for you or me
Now off ye’ go no time to dottle
Another fill for the baby’s bottle!’
II
Years went by and though I tried
To see a Pangolin
Not a one did I ever find
Such peril were they in
Until there rose from top of mountain
A vengeful tyrant giving face to fear
Popped like a blister from a lava fountain
And into the atmosphere
‘Alas’ screamed the wizard from his age-old perch
'It's Grand-dad Pangolin- the mountain gives birth!’
And true enow, wizard wiped his brow; came the aberrant sow
From the bowels of the Earth
Ten and a mile did the dragon arise
No more half truths no more lies
Maw struck destruction into charcoal skies
For years of tears in Pangolin eyes
It smote upon the cities that ravaged so the land
Changed the course of history with one claw knuckled hand
Buried golden cities 'neath kilometers of sand
And the jungle rose again in the impressions of his hand
epilogue…
Mesasoic skin stretched like rocks in shrunken leather
Pangolin and Grand dad bound by DNA together
Crocodilian kin within a timeless turtle tether
Hibernating back to sleep awaiting next bad weather
If walking through a danken wood
You come upon a wizard in a rhune-brooched hood
Smile a knowing grin ye’ should
‘And swear to do by Pangolin good!’
Joseph John Racano
(Revenge of the Pangolin)
I
I came upon a wizard
Who baby-sat a lizard
A babe in arms had come to harms
A sore impacted gizzard
It may have been Silurian
We’ve yet to bring the jury in
It’s look was thus primordial
Its wrinkled scales accordial
Upon the tip of a witches hat
The wizard wore a brooch
A Pangolin with a mandolin
The hat of pure shawtoosh
“What is that lizard, wizard?
Gadzook!', said I of the animal
‘Shush!’ he said, supporting the head
‘Not lizard, but a mammal!’
‘Pangolin means he who rolls
And wise you'd be to heed the scrolls
For to mistreat Pangolin
Would mayhap bring his grand-dad in’
‘And woe would be to land and sea
If grand-dad came for you or me
Now off ye’ go no time to dottle
Another fill for the baby’s bottle!’
II
Years went by and though I tried
To see a Pangolin
Not a one did I ever find
Such peril were they in
Until there rose from top of mountain
A vengeful tyrant giving face to fear
Popped like a blister from a lava fountain
And into the atmosphere
‘Alas’ screamed the wizard from his age-old perch
'It's Grand-dad Pangolin- the mountain gives birth!’
And true enow, wizard wiped his brow; came the aberrant sow
From the bowels of the Earth
Ten and a mile did the dragon arise
No more half truths no more lies
Maw struck destruction into charcoal skies
For years of tears in Pangolin eyes
It smote upon the cities that ravaged so the land
Changed the course of history with one claw knuckled hand
Buried golden cities 'neath kilometers of sand
And the jungle rose again in the impressions of his hand
epilogue…
Mesasoic skin stretched like rocks in shrunken leather
Pangolin and Grand dad bound by DNA together
Crocodilian kin within a timeless turtle tether
Hibernating back to sleep awaiting next bad weather
If walking through a danken wood
You come upon a wizard in a rhune-brooched hood
Smile a knowing grin ye’ should
‘And swear to do by Pangolin good!’
Joseph John Racano
A Narrow Escape
(from the Secret Desk of Poetry)
I sat down at my favorite desk
A writing dancer at burlesque
When something flashed me beeped and said
They're in your laptop, all codes red
I must admit to being thrown
Why can't they leave my words alone
Of all the trolls and troggs and gnomes
The military wants my poems!
At first I thought, ok let's play
But soon ran out of things to say
This whole idea had me so surprised
But no poem of mine should be militarized
So I stashed away my vociferous verbs
'neath the cobbled streets and curbs
Ran through alleys narrow and bleak
Past lost souls on H and tweak
Finally coming to an old wood door
Familiar marking on the floor
Signaling a poem-safe haven
Full moon, book and skull of Raven
I three times scratched at that door
Kicked the bottom, two-three-four
Underneath slid floppy disc
Poems hidden at great risk
On the porch a wooden box
Lid held down by painted rocks
In it was a cloak to wear
I disappeared, no longer there
Soon there came the men with guns
The carbon black-cheek helmeted ones
They smelled me, aye they stood so near
I closed my eyes, and shook with fear
Fear that they might gain my words
Words meant not for war but birds
Birds of paradise feathers like rainbows
Rainbow spectrum waterfall; prism-painted peacock toes
At that very moment, frogs called in the rain
Foot battalions shuffled by, at guidons course refrain
Soon all fell to silence, my poetry was saved
Such power in the wrong hands and the world might be enslaved
Joseph John Racano
In Defense of Rock and Roll
Your honor may I petition the court
On a pox called rock and roll
It seems to me that a sound so free
Must blacken up the soul
Guitars and drugs and tattooed thugs
Youth careening like a car sans lugs
Pregnant teens and pipes with screens
and yabba dabba do if ya know what that means
If I may indulge the court
Rock makes them drink and it makes them snort
After concerts just for sport
Breaking windows, I report
It's all because of the lyrics and the beat
Rock music gives them happy feet
The devils music as it were
These kids no longer wear real fur
*But just as sister Mary elephant spoke
something high above awoke
The clouds they parted, the devil farted
The bailiff bailed quite broken hearted
A finger pointed from above
'you nasty nun, where is the love?
And she hit the floor with a ghastly yell
And kept on falling- straight to hell
Joseph John Racano
Mechanical Man
Introducing the man with the mechanical hand
If pollution were music he'd be a brass band
He likes to save money by dumping at sea
He worships at the altar of big industry
His favorite energy is fossil fuel
Despite his intelligence he is a fool
Unfortunately they still teach the same crap in school
Hell may freeze over, but the arctic ain't cool
Another mechanical handjob was had
When cutting the forest made firemen glad
The fisheries gone but for 6 shiny shad
And natural gas isn't good, it is bad
Mechanical man with mechanical hand
Screw up the Earth with your logo and brand
Mesopotamia once fertile now sand
I prefer fresh while you prefer canned
And so in conclusion amid the confusion
I humbly submit this is all an illusion
Mechanical people Maniacal hate
Find your way home before it's too late
Joseph John Racano
1/4/18
Don't Look Now
Don't look now
Will it ever end
If you like oil in the Gulf
Obama was your friend
Democrats of any worth
The party will be hidin'
Progressives didn't learn a thing
Now they'll give us Biden
Oil money what a shame
Here's another hurricane
Kucinich they just gerrymandered
Dem corruption is the standard
Hillary as Sec of State
Traveled selling fracking
Bernie wanted solar but he
Couldn't get the backing
Fondly how we all look back
On leaders who were scum
Obama won the nobel prize
With Afghans on the run
And now that same old tactic fear
Will keep you voting dem
You will vote for Biden or
We might wind up with 'them'
Joseph John Racano
Don't look now
Will it ever end
If you like oil in the Gulf
Obama was your friend
Democrats of any worth
The party will be hidin'
Progressives didn't learn a thing
Now they'll give us Biden
Oil money what a shame
Here's another hurricane
Kucinich they just gerrymandered
Dem corruption is the standard
Hillary as Sec of State
Traveled selling fracking
Bernie wanted solar but he
Couldn't get the backing
Fondly how we all look back
On leaders who were scum
Obama won the nobel prize
With Afghans on the run
And now that same old tactic fear
Will keep you voting dem
You will vote for Biden or
We might wind up with 'them'
Joseph John Racano
Home Sweet Home
Home Sweet Home deep beneath Rome
Rome, New York, where the Buffalo roam
They're long-haired and attractive, if slightly radioactive
Eighty-six years later and those bombs are still impactive
Boeing sure could build 'em, heavy water filled 'em
They dropped them over Urbia, the residents they killed 'em
Lockheed-Martin didn't want to be outdone by Boeing
They dropped a chemical so no one could see where they were going
Some fell into ditches and more fell on the others
Some like me who could not see walked into man-hole covers
Down I fell to the pits of hell into a sea of tar
That is how I came upon the world's last railroad car
Deep inside the subway that at one time served New York
Collected all the empty wine and made a bed of cork
On the surface it gets hot, 140 in the shade
Surface winds at 90 plus, but me, I've got it made
Every week on Saturday I hear HAM radio
Instructions are so garbled I can't hear which way to go
Water dripping from the rock above is all I hear
Except for Saturdays and it's been like this for a year
I used to eat O'possum stew but couldn't stand the loss
That's when I switched to vegan and since then have lived on moss
No one knows why things went south so no one learned a thing
I just hope the dark will someday soon give way to Spring
Meanwhile I'll be half-mile down as thin as skin and bone
The Chancellor Czar of a railroad car that I call Home Sweet Home
Joseph John Racano
Irma
Wow that 'Cane she sure is Mobil
She's got heat to match Chernobyl
She may earn the medal of Exxon
On her shoulder wear a Chevron
There she's flying right past Burma
Name is HELL but call her Irma
Who'll be dead and who alive
That bitch is now a cat-gore 5
Sorry that you have to meet her
Harvey was her warm-up greeter
No surprises this go 'round
We're fracking oil from the ground
Yes, and after this ball grinder
There's one coming up behind 'er
Not to worry, just a hoax
Time for flood insurance, folks
JR
Wow that 'Cane she sure is Mobil
She's got heat to match Chernobyl
She may earn the medal of Exxon
On her shoulder wear a Chevron
There she's flying right past Burma
Name is HELL but call her Irma
Who'll be dead and who alive
That bitch is now a cat-gore 5
Sorry that you have to meet her
Harvey was her warm-up greeter
No surprises this go 'round
We're fracking oil from the ground
Yes, and after this ball grinder
There's one coming up behind 'er
Not to worry, just a hoax
Time for flood insurance, folks
JR
Clouded Silver Lining
Every cloud has a silver lining, this one down in Houston
Rednecks in the rescue cars they usually get juiced in
Here they come out of the hills, families born of cretins
Finally giving mom a chance for her once a year change sheet-ins
Then there were the fascists in the choppers up above
Out of gas came down and crashed; push had come to shove
Also cleansed: mercedes benz and the oil rich who owned them
Chemical Plants and fire ants and toxic fumes that stoned them
Then a whirlpool opened up and sucked down all the lawyers
Who tried to make a killing off a thousand drowned Tom Sawyers
Lunatics with confederate flags got sucked into the drains
Seeing them go under made observers pray for rains
Nazi marchers caught in quicksand brightened up the day
No one stopped to yank them out so there they had to stay
Soon a broadcast said that water had to be released
Behind the dam the churning sand had turned into a beast
The spillways spilled, the fish were thrilled and rivers clapped their hands
Harvey made the infrastructure seem like rubber bands
And all those poor poor gas stations they couldn't fill us up
But thinking back, they never could- we couldn't get enough!
And so we lost some real estate, some oil refineries too
But who will cry- certainly not I, that crap can all go screw
The loss of cookie cutter tracts is not in line with all the facts
Man destroyed the wetlands and so Harvey took the wetlands back
Stew there in your toxic soup, hell of your own creation
Notice Texas isn't calling to succeed from our nation
Watch your step- there's a gator!
Poisonous snakes make landfall later
Houston,Harvey, big oil nexus
Trump was right- it's good for Texas!
And so you see the silver lining
Great to watch while rail car dining
Rednecks long for terra firma
Stay tuned next week- Hurricane Irma
JR
Blood Sacrifice
Blood human sacrifice
Take your place of honor
If you are willing, blood is spilling
Sure to be a goner
Myriad of reasons
Lopping off your head
Tribute to the seasons
or the Gods who want you dead
Thank you for your sacrifice
We know you loved your kids
We're glad to have you raising them
So we can grease the skids
Once a year we thank their ghosts
No time for introspection
Parasitic nation hosts
A general's erection
Are we safe and are we just
The good guys or the bad
We've betrayed the people's trust
And made the widows sad
How much further will it go
That we accept such carnage
In place of son, a folded flag
A 'thank-you' plaque with varnish
The Mayans understood it well
Taught us to create a hell
Where no abortions are allowed
At 18 they can wear the shroud
God directs and we obey
Soldiers dying every day
Deserts, Jungles, fields of rice
Thank you for your sacrifice
Joseph John Racano
Memorial Day, 2017
White Truck
He's got a dirty white truck
Stuck in the muck
He ain't about to clean it
'cause he don't give a fuck
Raised on a cul de sac
County tattooed on his back
Likes to bend and show his crack
Pay him first, he won't come back
People call him Mr. Spackle
Hunts for doves and doe and grackle
Among the wolves the man's a jackal
Three days and his boxers crackle
Mr. Spackle knows his trade
On his rack a trusty spade
Not the type to roller blade
Still lusts after Arnold's maid
Loves that power, four wheel drive
Pays the bills to stay alive
One more wetland left to fill
Got to make that dollar bill
Now you know him USA
Outward tuff guy, closet gay
Time to give the truck a spray
Maybe this time primer gray
White truck odd job handy man
Seen at rest stop dick in hand
Ignorance without a plan
This election Trump's his man
Joseph John Racano
Mi' Amore 'till 2064
Darling won't you come with me
and stand beneath the breathing tree
We'll dream of all that's still to be
And worship the economy
Lovely lady take my hand
W'ell make it to the promised land
Protecting our pituitary glands
Food lasts about 5 years in cans
Pretty baby hold me close and give a kiss
No one can see us through the mist
Amazing it could be like this
The smell of piss entwined with bliss
From now to 2064
Please say it's me that you adore
Feet crunch the glass strewn on the floor
Shush my darling, Mi' Amore'
Joseph John Racano
Zika Zone
No more money, no more phone
No more living in the Zika Zone
All my friends started getting sores
I moved way out to the Azores
The Zika Zone The Zika Zone
The Nightly news won't leave it alone
Please be scared Please be scared
I mean it's not as though they really cared
No more job no more shoes
I'm drinking meade instead of booze
Atlantic wind green grass and chores
I high-tailed it out to the Azores
The Zika Zone The Zika Zone
All my friends were skin and bone
Had to get away from the media violence
Brain dead reporting I prefer silence
No more papers, no more drones
No more living in the Zika Zone
I'm 800 miles from a wifi connection
Check myself daily for any sign of infection
The Zika Zone The Zika Zone
Had to leave the rest at home
No more cars and no more stores
Just bright blue days in the lovely Azores
Joseph John Racano
Dying Earth Celebrity Roast
Massive industrial solar farm
Does the open valley harm
Solar rooftops make more sense
Apple corp is on the fence
Massive pipeline gushing crude
Hillside leaking that's just rude
Exxon reached its black tar quota
Save the prairie brave Lakota
Massive turbines churn offshore
Wonder what we need them for
Seabird change your whole migration
Never reach your destination
What the hell is wrong with us
Why can't we just take the bus
Rooftop solar much more wise
Free clean and decentralized
epilogue...
now i must blow dry my hair
90 watts to make me faire
christmas lights and crispy toast
let's watch California roast
Joseph John Racano
The Witch and the Wolf Hunter
Hillary Clinton is a wasted vote
Unless you kill things from your boat
She doesn't mind when whalers gloat
We don't know how many 'cause they just don't float
Hillary chooses Salazar to lead transition
An excellent choice, if killing wolves is the mission
He's killed a lot of bears, likes to drill in the arctic
To vote for Hillary, you must be retarded
Hillary caused a war in which Gaddafi fried
Steak knife up the ass is how the poor man died
She never got permission but the war's expanding
How she stole the primary I'm still understanding
Hillary chose Salazar, a creep, of course
His friends bought up the mustangs just to kill that horse
The guy and his friends are anti-everything ranchers
Likes to pose with bears whose heads are hung on branches
Hillary for President, we can't risk Trump
They said the same with Romney, called the 'Romney bump'
Before it was McCAin, we surely don't want him
Instead we got Obama texting wars from the gym
So here's to all the cowards who will vote for the witch
As far as I'm concerned she's a low-life bitch
Every time I see a pack of wolves shot dead
I'll know I spoke the truth, every word I said
Joseph John Racano
8/21/16
(Former State Central Committee Delegate
California Democratic Party 2003)
Hillary Clinton is a wasted vote
Unless you kill things from your boat
She doesn't mind when whalers gloat
We don't know how many 'cause they just don't float
Hillary chooses Salazar to lead transition
An excellent choice, if killing wolves is the mission
He's killed a lot of bears, likes to drill in the arctic
To vote for Hillary, you must be retarded
Hillary caused a war in which Gaddafi fried
Steak knife up the ass is how the poor man died
She never got permission but the war's expanding
How she stole the primary I'm still understanding
Hillary chose Salazar, a creep, of course
His friends bought up the mustangs just to kill that horse
The guy and his friends are anti-everything ranchers
Likes to pose with bears whose heads are hung on branches
Hillary for President, we can't risk Trump
They said the same with Romney, called the 'Romney bump'
Before it was McCAin, we surely don't want him
Instead we got Obama texting wars from the gym
So here's to all the cowards who will vote for the witch
As far as I'm concerned she's a low-life bitch
Every time I see a pack of wolves shot dead
I'll know I spoke the truth, every word I said
Joseph John Racano
8/21/16
(Former State Central Committee Delegate
California Democratic Party 2003)
Viva La Revolucionne
Hillary Clinton she's the spoiler
weapons merchant, big buck oiler
Hillary Clinton's got the solution
Just ignore the constitution
Note to cowards cowering in fear
Don't believe everything that you hear
Please don't spoil the revolution
Voting war, oil and pollution
TV news all happy shiny
CNN can kiss my hiny
Great big flags got all the attention
No reporting on a stolen convention
Staffer killed at the DNC
But what a first lady Bill will be!
Pay no attention to the Libya bombing
Focus on Trump who is anti-islaming
WikiLeaks showed what the DNC thinks
Torpedo the election till the Bernie ship sinks
They said that our attention spans are short as a snails
But they're the ones in question with the wikileak e mails
Evidence is piling up, election was a fraud
Voters still for Hillary, I can only say 'gawd!'
That's today's lesson; how democracy was lost
Ask the corporations what they paid, how much it cost
When uniforms* are mandatory, you'll know who to blame:
The cowards who ignored the truth and voted fear and shame
*masks?
Joseph John Racano
First came the Flood
First came the flood, then came the fire
How many guys did the oil sands hire
Thousands of great parents, never on vacation
working hard to give their children smoke and inhalation
Once there was a forest, it had to be removed
We knew that beneath it lots of tar sand oil grooved
Glaciers melting, hail stones pelting
Kook deniers bible-belting
Poor Alberta, world of hurt-a
Sexy man in oily shirt-a
Nascar races kids in braces
Blackened lungs and ashen faces
Candidate Trump gave coal a bump
Hillary cried at her west virginia stump
Oil nation conflagration
doomsday train has left the station
Tar sands paycheck, buy her lace
You can see the scars from space
Oil independence boast
Time to leave, the place is toast
Kids asthmatic coast to coast
Native lands begun to roast
Pity on the oil workers
Land destructive tree berzerkers
Wait 100 years from now
The children telling stories how
Everything got out of hand
Daddy had to rape the land
Joseph John Racano
First came the flood, then came the fire
How many guys did the oil sands hire
Thousands of great parents, never on vacation
working hard to give their children smoke and inhalation
Once there was a forest, it had to be removed
We knew that beneath it lots of tar sand oil grooved
Glaciers melting, hail stones pelting
Kook deniers bible-belting
Poor Alberta, world of hurt-a
Sexy man in oily shirt-a
Nascar races kids in braces
Blackened lungs and ashen faces
Candidate Trump gave coal a bump
Hillary cried at her west virginia stump
Oil nation conflagration
doomsday train has left the station
Tar sands paycheck, buy her lace
You can see the scars from space
Oil independence boast
Time to leave, the place is toast
Kids asthmatic coast to coast
Native lands begun to roast
Pity on the oil workers
Land destructive tree berzerkers
Wait 100 years from now
The children telling stories how
Everything got out of hand
Daddy had to rape the land
Joseph John Racano
Tyrannosaurus Rex
Everything's normal, everything's fine
And now we must ask you to get back in line
The gun isn't loaded, it's for your protection
We have to put down the next hippie insurrection
Go about your business, shop just as you would
without tommy-gunned soldiers in your neighborhood
Every one heroes- see all those medals?
You there- hands up, no spreading rose pedals!
Back at the meeting, sincerity fleeting
But intel grows better with every beating
Brussels police cannot raid after nine
But here in New York we can do it just fine
How you may wonder did it all get this far
In the land of the free, red stripes and white star?
Under the radar is how it was done
'Till families are proud to sacrifice a son
Who blew up Brussels and who shot up Paris?
The same wholesome folks who gave us Roger Maris
September 11th, two thousand and one
We forfeited rights and you can't buy a gun
Those in Afghanistan kicking in doors
Will soon be brought home to be kicking in yours
Beware of the Military Industrial Complex
They've chosen a candidate: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Joseph John Racano
Everything's normal, everything's fine
And now we must ask you to get back in line
The gun isn't loaded, it's for your protection
We have to put down the next hippie insurrection
Go about your business, shop just as you would
without tommy-gunned soldiers in your neighborhood
Every one heroes- see all those medals?
You there- hands up, no spreading rose pedals!
Back at the meeting, sincerity fleeting
But intel grows better with every beating
Brussels police cannot raid after nine
But here in New York we can do it just fine
How you may wonder did it all get this far
In the land of the free, red stripes and white star?
Under the radar is how it was done
'Till families are proud to sacrifice a son
Who blew up Brussels and who shot up Paris?
The same wholesome folks who gave us Roger Maris
September 11th, two thousand and one
We forfeited rights and you can't buy a gun
Those in Afghanistan kicking in doors
Will soon be brought home to be kicking in yours
Beware of the Military Industrial Complex
They've chosen a candidate: Tyrannosaurus Rex
Joseph John Racano
Smart Phone Zombies
The first sign of trouble before all the rubble
was a crimson red sky in the morning
Then it rained embers on religious group members
who stood holding signs of a warning
It started with checkpoints to get all the drunks
Then the armed guards went through everyone’s trunks
“The end draws neigh” said a man with a cry
(as a long line of camouflaged vehicles drove by)
That’s when we saw them, learned to abhor them
Raggedy people spreading panic before them
Climbing on fences, out of their senses
Couldn’t take photos they broke all our lenses
Smart-phone zombies who wore Abercrombie’s
Always looked down when they texted their mommies
Buried like Communards, hobos in train yards
Blood clotted legs like all video game retards
Sooner, not later, a storm on the horizon
Feel the surveillance, drone cameras with eyes on
5 PM weeknights, corporate sound bites
Meaningless news read by partisan troglodytes
Happy and shiny, saying it’s better
Never once mentioning H.A.R.P. changed the weather
“A far away city just sent us a Panda-
Now all please rise to sing patriotic propaganda”
Joseph John Racano
11/23/15
Hijacked Headlines
This is the tale of a billion sheep
The governments got them all fast asleep
They're walking and talking but asleep all the same
Now they have french flags in front of their names
This is the tale of another attack
People have died and we’re taken aback
But somehow it has a recurring theme
Pearl Harbor, nine eleven, another bad dream
This is the saga of a planet gone wild
Flowers in winter, the weathers too mild
And powerful forces at work and at play
Control information, it’s worse every day
It’s hard to believe this is cause and effect
But here comes big oil you’re about to elect
This is the tale of a fork in the road
A terrorist bombing about to explode
I just read the paper, the headlines of fear
We’re shooting and bombing for Christmas this year
But someone worked hard to successfully time it
The headlines were hijacked away from the climate
Joseph John Racano
11/16/15
This is the tale of a billion sheep
The governments got them all fast asleep
They're walking and talking but asleep all the same
Now they have french flags in front of their names
This is the tale of another attack
People have died and we’re taken aback
But somehow it has a recurring theme
Pearl Harbor, nine eleven, another bad dream
This is the saga of a planet gone wild
Flowers in winter, the weathers too mild
And powerful forces at work and at play
Control information, it’s worse every day
It’s hard to believe this is cause and effect
But here comes big oil you’re about to elect
This is the tale of a fork in the road
A terrorist bombing about to explode
I just read the paper, the headlines of fear
We’re shooting and bombing for Christmas this year
But someone worked hard to successfully time it
The headlines were hijacked away from the climate
Joseph John Racano
11/16/15
Hands Across the Sand
It didn't take a crystal ball
It didn't take much thought at all
With big oil off the shore line mappin'
An ugly spill just had to happen
On the beach we spread our hands
Before it came ashore in bands
I swear we had no way of knowing
An ill and oily wind was blowing
Now we wish we had been wrong
Woke to a surf music song
With surf girls in the surf zone dancing
But all we got was oil advancing
It's time to ban oil from the beach
And change like that is within reach
All we need is to demand it
Maybe that's how Neptune planned it
Joseph John Racano
5/22/15
It didn't take a crystal ball
It didn't take much thought at all
With big oil off the shore line mappin'
An ugly spill just had to happen
On the beach we spread our hands
Before it came ashore in bands
I swear we had no way of knowing
An ill and oily wind was blowing
Now we wish we had been wrong
Woke to a surf music song
With surf girls in the surf zone dancing
But all we got was oil advancing
It's time to ban oil from the beach
And change like that is within reach
All we need is to demand it
Maybe that's how Neptune planned it
Joseph John Racano
5/22/15
Paradise is Oil Free
Welcome ye to Paradise
Where lovers come to play
Her skin's a little oily
No makeup on today
She's always sentimental
In a sweet old fashioned way
But something's on her mind right now
A ton her heart does weigh
Her name is beach, sweet as a peach
But she's broken out in blotches
Someone let Pandora's box
Out on the beach in splotches
Please believe me, Paradise
I didn't mean to hurt you
I'm having trouble growing up
But I swear I won't desert you
I will get down on my knees
So great is my love for thee
And I will not stop scrubbing rocks
Until you're oil free
Oil Free Oil Free
That is what we need to be
Oil Free Oil Free
The only way to save the sea
Paradise I hear you crying
Blowholes filled with oil
In the Gulf your dolphins dying
How much can we spoil?
From Santa Barbara sugar sand
A fool will soon be parted
Four new whales washed up this week
Shell headed to the arctic
LA Times reporting on
a spill from '69
Please, no more transference
Start reporting on our time
Oil Free Oil Free
That is where we long to be
Oil Free Oil Free
No more on the shore to see
Oily bird in Paradise
I beg your understanding
When the meek inherit Earth
You'll be the last one standing
Mighty Orca please stand down
I ask just this one time
Let the baby Gray Whales pass
And migrate through the slime
Oil Free Oil Free
That is where we need to be
Oil Free Oil Free
No more asphalt on the sea
Oil Free Oil Free
Time to live the fantasy
Oil Free Oil Free
Take my heart, but spare the sea
Joseph John Racano
5/21/15
We Are the Spirits
Man has created the perfect storm
The ocean is acid, the Earth is too warm
There are no excuses there is no more time
The Garden of Eden is the scene of a crime
The wild must die for business to live
The planet is tired with no more to give
A tower of babble is making its chatter
To folks over forty it just doesn’t matter
Mankind has squandered the perfect world
More certain destruction no comet has hurled
If we had a time machine Earth would not mend
We’d only go back and destroy it again
In the latest political contest of lies
Lip service is paid as a living world dies
She will do one thing, her rival another
Neither with any respect for the Mother
Leaders pretend to care on all fronts
As everything starts to unravel at once
Painting us visions of lower emissions
Won’t stop a death from a thousand incisions
Justice will come in the form of great silence
No one will be there to judge us for violence
We are the spirits being destroyed
Born in a garden to die in a void
Joseph John Racano
5/18/15
Age of Oil
Flex Fuel
Pustule
Gull doors
So cool
Black death
Oil breath
Super soldiers
high on meth
Hybrid is the
way of fools
Oil still makes
all the rules
E-Z Pour
spreading asthma
Waging war
Controlling plasma
Changing slowly
Growing pains
Remembered only
as oil stains
Pass that bucket
Oh man, fuck it
Once it spills
That place can suck it
Don’t you cry
We spilled the milk
Black as night
but smooth as silk
Fifty jocks
Scrubbing rocks
Diesel engines
Up on blocks
Black carnations
Poisoned soil
Rock of ages
Age of oil
Joseph John Racano
The Waste Burns On
Kingdoms fall and kingdoms rise
Winds sandblast a Sphynx’s eyes
Seedlings sprout and touch the skies
and the waste burns on
and the waste burns on
A river flows and then relents
Species hop-scotch continents
But through the course of these events
the waste burns on
and the waste burns on
photo: Racano
Nuke Waste
Kingdoms fall and kingdoms rise
Winds sandblast a Sphynx’s eyes
Seedlings sprout and touch the skies
and the waste burns on
and the waste burns on
A river flows and then relents
Species hop-scotch continents
But through the course of these events
the waste burns on
and the waste burns on
photo: Racano
Nuke Waste
The Rising
I was born in 2105
The last land animals were barely alive
Mountain top castaways searching for food
as the last of the humans prayed to Saint Jude
The Apocalypse never had to fire a shot
With everybody scrambling to the highest spot
Birds tried nesting on the floating debris
but eventually it all turned into open sea
Survivors of the Rising floated here and there
Water beading up in their oily hair
Everything was dark, only lit from below
by luminescent Jellies we would come to know
Living on flotsam used to build a raft
(lashing it together was a handy craft)
Twenty days later, the first whale came
up very close, and he really was tame
More broke the surface, mouths full of fish
and dumped them on the rafts, like a genies wish!
Others guided coolers they had found out floating
and commandeered our rafts (what a lesson in boating!)
There were Humpbacks, Grays and the mighty Blue,
pushing us across a vast expanse of goo
There were Beaked Whales, Right Whales, all around
Sperm whales singing with a clicking sound
A thousand miles later we heard the gulls
(I remember thinking, ‘this is how a planet culls’)
We made a solemn pact as we washed ashore-
We would hurt our brother the whale, no more
Joseph John Racano
8/30/13
Star of Joseph
Just me and my mask
Staying on task
Mark of the beast?
Depends who you ask
Some take my picture
Some say I'm rude
But I must wear my mask
If I wanna buy food
Fear propaganda
Don't watch TV
They want us to argue
How free can we be?
Do not go gently
To the good night
I'm wearing a statement
I've just begun to fight!
Joseph John Racano
Poet Standing Fast
I a poet standing fast
‘gainst a raging tide of fools
No surprise we got so dumb
Look at our public schools
Today we find it necessary
To address the new pandemic
Affecting 0.2%
Will soon become endemic
99.8%
Forced to change your lives
Lose your freedom lose your job
Then maybe lose your wives
Zombies at the supermarket
Push their carts in fear
Wearing mask in car to park it
Shopping for the year
Masks are great for scaring you
But they can’t stop a virus
Last time we saw lines this long
They danced to Billy Ray Cyrus
Breathing through a mask just makes you
Re-breathe CO2
That screws up your blood’s PH
It ain’t no good for you
Viruses are way too small
No use for a mask at all
Breathe your own bacteria
Hope it’s not diphtheria
Move on folks nothing to see here
Run along and live in fear
CDC is in high gear
Tell me don’t you find it queer
CDC works for big pharma
That should cause a big alarma
Not your friend they mean you harma
Here comes your pollution karma
Global crisis way too easy
Whitehouse spokesman way too sleazy
According to the latest say poll
Democrats are on the payroll
Poet told you where to go
I won’t say I told you so
My advice is like Ann Landers:
Time to write in Bernie Sanders
Trump has us against a wall
Biden is no help at all
Voting fixed and no solution
Time to rock a revolution
Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/05/17/2020
Well Trained
Look! Here comes the train from Istanbul to Barcelona
The world has gone insane in our response to the Corona
Mortality rate is zero that’s point zero three percent (0.03%)
Say again to whom why where six trillion bucks was sent
Please explain exactly why we must remain inside
Grandpa’s in the bathtub it’s been two weeks since he died
We’re keeping him on ice to keep decomposition down
Eagle flies on Friday mailman brings those checks around
(Zero point- two percent mortality!)
So hop aboard with our friendly hord
Like runnin’ with the bulls but you don’t get gored
Take a seat on top of the train
Amazing view if we don’t get rain
Once we pull into a station
Get a good look at the population
Corona’s still in incubation
Virus gonna save the nation
(Zero point- two percent mortality!)
Stood in line at the supermarket
Guy in front just started barking
‘Where’s your mask?’ He looked at me
‘Home is where you ought to be’
I told him that I felt just fine
He wants freedom at the expense of mine
Temporary virus, new laws permanence
Wearing a mask is a sign of subservience
I don’t wanna play your virus game
There’s too many peoples aboard this train
So take this mask and use your glove
And make it disappear with one good shove
(Zero point- two percent mortality!)
*Another installment from the Pandemic Poetry Collection by Joseph John Racano
©@JosephJohnRacano/05/12/2020
Pandemic Hawk
In flies the hawk through a violent wind
Swooping on the righteous and those who’ve sinned
An age-old talent brings talons to bare
Prey goes down in a mass of torn hair
Cold dark eyes with a shark’s cold stare
The mouse may shriek but the hawk won’t care
Culling the old and slow and the weak
A flock grows better in the hawk’s cruel beak
Too many hominids badly behaving
Enter the hawk for population shaving
Man hasn’t answered so nature’s solution
Fells those closest to the centers of pollution
Eight billion hominids swimming in tears
Population doubling every fifty-four years
Stooping down upon us comes the pandemic hawk
Bodies of the fallen lay surrounded by chalk
Joseph John Racano
Zom-20-Rom-7
Zom-20-Rom 7 knew much was at stake
Maneuvered the flying disc over a lake
Far and remote from the prying of eyes
Dropped in the virus, and took to the skies
Tadpoles and pollywogs made close advances
Snapped up the enzyme, went back to their dances
Mother mosquito out laying her larvae
Soaked in the virus, went back to their father
Stopped on her way and had bat blood for lunch
Not sure how much but she sucked up a bunch
High up above about six miles from heaven
All was observed by Zom-20-Rom 7
Long was the carbon befouling the air
Alas ‘twas a carbon life putting it there
What kind of Grayling would aliens be
Upon such destruction allow it to be
Out of the thousands of cures he had seen
Seeding the lake with a Covid-19
Seemed the least harmful intrusive and cruel
Zom-20-Rom 7 said ‘It’s time for school’
In only two weeks as the humans keep time
Corvid-19 had rose up from the slime
The world halted industry three weeks again
Changing forever the fortunes of men
Joseph John Racano
4/1/2020
Grave New World
Listen to the sirens make their declaration
Totalitarian authority has come to our nation
A designer pandemic was always the plan
For seizing control of a once-great land
200 years of freedom drawing near to its end
The very ones entrusted are no longer your friend
Standing on the corner machine gun in hand
Giving every citizen an iris scan
Permission is required for each outdoor task
Bean bags will be fired if you have no mask
Flags will fly at every home there will be no exceptions
Science books are not allowed and there will be inspections
We’re quarantining poor on the island of Australia
Sending in the drugs and the vaping paraphernalia
It started when they got away with lies of mass destruction
Please stay in your homes avoiding any real discussion
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
Youth Gone Viral
It started out quite innocently
A bat and a camel got bit by a flea
A bulldozer shook them out of the papyrus
Bush meat to market the bat held a virus
Man without wisdom increasing his number
Waking the beasts of the field from their slumber
Men with machine guns at hunt in the jungle
Dragging home carcasses viral and fungal
Far away men ten floors under their complex
Saw opportunity past herpes simplex
Globally pressures had young people rising
Soon they would overwhelm oil enterprising
What if they covered the world with pandemic
Something contagious be let go systemic
Soon every nation would ban social gathering
Much more efficient than pepper spray slathering
Drought flood and panic would keep the youth fighting
Who do these kids think provides all their lighting
Our families get fed they get oil for their cars
Small price to pay if smog blots out the stars
Us or it’s them so let’s make a solution
We love our money they hate our pollution
Outside the chanting gets louder and louder
Facing down soldiers grown prouder and prouder
Testing proved positive nations shut down
Main street grew quiet with nary a sound
People hid frightened with anticipation
Then came the trojan horse mass vaccination
Temperature checkpoint and test every mile
People at gunpoint could no longer smile
Something was wrong and yet where was the press
Public free speech had been long since suppressed
Then came the news- vaccinations were free
Inoculations accepted with glee
Suddenly young people all started dying
Questions were squashed when the flags started flying
Secret at night worked one brilliant young man
Soon he uncovered the devious plan
One generation held sacred their jobs
Why should they give it all up for young slobs
They had the power and they had the tech
Their way of life two vaccines would protect
One anti-virus protecting the old
The other for youth who were growing so bold
The brilliant young team sent the word all around
Couldn’t use internet that was shut down
Floating balloons was the best they could muster
Up through the chimney and out to the cluster
Everywhere notes told the folks what was true
Nothing the corporate people could do
Vaccine destroyed and the youth flag unfurled
Virus unleashed now out saving the world
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/14/2020
Pandemerica
I see a pandemic
It’s crawling on your back
If you drop it on the sidewalk
It might slip down a crack
Amazing a pandemic
Could cause such pandemonium
It hasn’t gone systemic
Like nukes have with plutonium
The world is in a panic
The folks all wait in line
You’ll sink like the Titanic
If you’re over ninety-nine
I used to fear the common cold
I used to fear the flu
But now I’m fearing anybody
I hear say, ‘Ah-choo!'
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/05/2020
The Burning Tree
Welcome ye to the burning tree
Crucifixion for all to see
Result of commerce loosed and free
without accountability
Corporate catastrophe
Unleashed without humility
Flaming sword for all to see
Welcome to the burning tree
Behold the spectacle of trees on fire
Chipmunks roasting on a funeral pyre
Scorched Earth policy of avarice and desire
Pyrotechnic end to the garden shire
Zombies glued to cellular screens
Watch the computer, obey what it streams
Gather ‘round and follow your teams
Wait for the order to evacuate your dreams
Joseph John Racano
Behold the Purple Sky
Typhoon Purple hit Japan
Wreaking havoc sea and land
Violet violence near at hand
Whipped up radioactive sand
Spinning colors in the skies
Oh but how they hypnotize
Gale force wind drowns plaintive cries
Fukushima storm surge rise
Heavy Purple Typhoon morning
Like a Coral Snake gives warning
As goes roof now so goes awning
Climate escalation spawning
Board the windows clear the floors
Hide beneath the old trap doors
Calm is fleeting in the cores
Dare not peek both you and yours
Purple sky brings purple rain
Sings the weather man’s refrain
Icy bullets bring the pain
West Pacific Hurricane
Fearsome beauty Purple Haze
Blue foretelling end of days
Kneeling man to Iris prays
But when will mankind change his ways
Joseph John Racano
Halo for Mrs Henderson
*Hello Mrs Henderson how are you this morning?
Just sit back relax your mind accept the thoughts now forming
You were put here on this Earth for only just one reason:
to shoot up schools of commie fools who might engage in treason
Do not attempt resistance do not bite the hand that feeds you
We know you love the USA and now your country needs you!
In your basement you will find a suitcase with instruction
On how to reassemble this your weapon of destruction
Afterwards mission complete jump off the Brooklyn Bridge
Having left a rambling note to family on the fridge"
Halo, epilogue:
"Mrs Henderson? Mrs Henderson? Time to wake up, your hair looks great!
"Oh, sorry; I must have dozed off for a moment!"
*Hello Mrs Henderson how are you this morning?
Just sit back relax your mind accept the thoughts now forming
You were put here on this Earth for only just one reason:
to shoot up schools of commie fools who might engage in treason
Do not attempt resistance do not bite the hand that feeds you
We know you love the USA and now your country needs you!
In your basement you will find a suitcase with instruction
On how to reassemble this your weapon of destruction
Afterwards mission complete jump off the Brooklyn Bridge
Having left a rambling note to family on the fridge"
Halo, epilogue:
"Mrs Henderson? Mrs Henderson? Time to wake up, your hair looks great!
"Oh, sorry; I must have dozed off for a moment!"
Enter the SCOTUS
Lay ye' down to the dreams of the black lotus
The dye is cast, enter yon scotus
From the shadows of yesteryear, nineteen and thirty-nine
Icy sensation snakes down your spine
Here comes the master, his voice is supreme
Deciding your freedom or chocolate ice cream
It seems so benign, so please remain calm
Then comes the tattoo on everyone's palm
Those who want children can have them one way
Adopt from abortions denied every day
No revolution, you can't own a gun
Clean coal has blotted the sky from the sun
Fresh food and water are purchased with chits
Presented while kneeling, cupped hands filled with bits
A six o'clock curfew has caught unawares
Step over their bodies on tenement stairs
Morning is pill time, mandatory meth
The sweat of your brow brings you corporate death
Gone are the beaches, the view lost to walls
There's the alarm, now get back to your stalls
Today is a holiday, hail the great leader
Hide all the books, or risk death to the reader
Line up for water, choose washing or thirst
All those in uniform will get theirs first
Thanks to the SCOTUS, our lips to thy boot
Now tell on your neighbors, stop crime at the root
Thank-you stool pigeon, now here's your reward
You may yet live though your neighbor's been gored
And so on and into the future it goes
Bow before power, touch tongue to their toes
At today's execution we kill a young hero
SCOTUS has voted eleven to zero
Joseph John Racano
Shine on us Gently (Rookery Station)
From the Seven Sisters
to the asteroid belt
Rarely has such
unambiguity been felt
Terrestrial denizens
All give thumbs down
to those who took blue skies
and turned them to brown
Who covered Tierra
with cities of slum
Made acid the oceans
and rancid the plumb
The dregs of infinity
will cry no remorse
when chaparral sees
the return of the horse
And two lonely birds
on a ragtag migration
arrive as four million
at rookery station
No sadness from Mars
No tears on Pandora
With now-dormant cars
overtaken by flora
Given our chance
were too small for the moment
Next species in line
It’s your turn for enrollment
If no one survived
And the rock is left empty
May sunlight show mercy
and shine on it gently
Joseph John Racano
This Dystopia
You can love your ferns and foam
Adore the wild and call it home
Use salt sea to wash your face
Know human beings as just one race
Recognize great falls as fountains
Revere the deserts, admire mountains
Sing your songs into the wind
And let it blow them back again
But fate would have it otherwise
We live among these 'other guys'
Who live to kill, not kill to live
They only take and never give
Supplanting our Utopia
With their grotesque dystopia
And as we wait each minute longer
The stranglehold grows ever stronger
Joseph John Racano
Rust to Rust
Gather ye ‘round both sinner and saint
‘Tis I, Lord God and please don’t faint
Think thee came from the womb of mother?
Ye came from me, Lord God and no other
I’ve been away for some long time
Addressing the devil of a far away crime
Now returned and first I see
What on Earth is wrong with thee
Wither compassion? Where hath love?
Why thine hammer doth strikest the dove?
Long hast thou known my protection
But thine abuse has brought infection
Tree of knowledge apple bitten
Now with plague ye shall be smitten
Hear the quiet, learn ye must
Man’s salvation starts with rust
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/22/2020
Daisy Algorithm
Hello there and thanks for calling
Welcome to Tekmobil
Our rates are low our network sprawling
Powered like Chernobyl
I am an algorithm
I’ve been designed to help you
Access our directory or to
Get info on health food
I understand your deep concern
The world outside is crazy
I’m Doomsday system 206
But please just call me Daisy
Place your index finger
On the icon I provided
First we’ll take your temperature
Then more can be decided
If you called about a virus
Please press number one
Otherwise call 911
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Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/18/2020
Squeezed for Charmin
Losing my mind at a breakneck pace
They told me not to touch my face
Someone tell me how shall I
Swat this most annoying fly
Told me stay six feet apart
That was easy- cut a fart
Ate some tacos tasted fine
Increased space to eight or nine
Folks are dying they tell you
Sounds like they caught Bullsh1t Flu
Send the children home from school
Now they might drown in the pool
Little danger lots of fright
Let’s see if I got this right
If you’re old and sick and weak
This might end your lucky streak
They say we all need protection
From good ol’ natural selection
Chances are one in a million
Planet shouldn’t hold eight billion
Virus floats on sneezing vapor
Markets out of toilet paper
Wilt thou foul pandemic pass
That I may finally wipe my ass
Joseph John Racano
*Another installment from the 2020 'Pandemic Poetry' Series by J.J.Racano
All rights reserved
©@JosephJohnRacano/03/16/2020
Petroglodytes
Watch out for Petroglodytes
They worship flares at methane pipes
Belching gas fumes days and nights
Hate when kids demand their rights
Petroglodytes like warming seas
Big mosquitoes in the breeze
Asking questions such as these:
‘May I have more fungi please?’
Petroglodytes do not like trees
They work at oil refineries
Their mamas found them hard to please
Rarely bathe and most have fleas
Petroglodyte you’ve had your day
Earn your keep some other way
Must you pollute - I say thee nay
Take your oil and go away
Joseph John Racano
A Mobil Service
Another Sunday morning and it’s off to church
Barefoot on the pedal feel the pickup lurch
Spent part of the weekend putting in a coil
Greasy monkey-billy and I worship oil
Oil on my clothing grease under my nails
Store it like a fence around the house in pails
Chevron in the morning Exxon in the night
"Billy Henry, check if all the bolts are tight!"
Jam it into gear and let your bare foot off the clutch
Donuts in the parking lot of church and such
Meeting Betty Grimble she’s a pert fine gal
Before the operation used to call her Sal
Took her to the races, took her to the room
Love to hear the engine goin’ vroom! vroom! vroom!
Never bothered much about her checkered past
Love the checkered flag when smokey trucks go fast
Oil on my clothing grease under my nails
Store it like a fence around the house in pails
Chevron in the morning Exxon in the night
"Billy Henry, check if all the bolts are tight!"
Then I got pulled over by the OPD
Asked them “why you wanna pick on poor ol’ me?”
They pointed to the pipes and I thought they was -a-jokin’
“Try to find a way you can increase that smokin!”
Pulled into the station got down on both knees
‘Lordy won’t you bless me with more oil please!’
‘Higher-up suspension and maybe bigger tires
Lots of gasoline to help my truck start fires’
Drove up to the church and power-braked the truck
Chickens in the flatbed goin’ cluck cluck cluck
Betty Grimble hopped onto the running board
Screaming ‘ya-hoo!’ when the truck got floored
Once around the parking lot and hit me a preacher
“Sorry Mr. so and so, I though yew was a teacher!”
Betty said ‘Get outta here’ and do it on the double-
Today is my allowance; I don’t wanna git in trouble!’
Oil on my clothing grease under my nails
Store it like a fence around the house in pails
Chevron in the morning Exxon in the night
"Billy Henry, check if all the bolts are tight!"
And that there is the story of a perfect pair
Grease fingers tranny fluid hot singed hair
‘Hurry top it off we got a higher purpose’
Happy ever-after and a ‘Mobil Service’
Joseph John Racano
The Fog of War
The fog drifted in on a midsummer morn
Snipers came crawling through vast rows of corn
Called into battle by Gabriel’s horn
Most were dead before I was born
Drafted from high school with no recourse
To abscond another land’s oil resource
Imagining themselves on a tall white horse
While enriching a man who cares only for his golf course
Young handsome soldiers answering the call
Reduced to a hard-to-read name on a wall
The lucky ones make it, the unlucky fall
Never to realize their dream to play ball
High in the sky boxes senators betting
Their kids won’t be called to be in the blood letting
Millions in cities ‘neath camouflage netting
Lied to by leaders ‘bout what they were getting
Widows deck graves with white roses and yarrow
Unjust wars funded with money we borrow
Never forgetting means living in sorrow
Dooming us all to a tragic tomorrow
Joseph John Racano
Memorial Day 2019
Vietnam Era Veteran
U.S. Navy
U.S.S. Hector (AR-7)
The Beast is Loose
We stood at the crossroads of Heaven and Hell
Hurtling toward 2100 pel-mell
And there stood the SCOTUS our fate in their hands
Seemingly blind to the parched scorching lands
Calling sweet Jesus on bended knee prayer
It’s now in god’s hands said they all without care
The windshear was howling like wolves at the door
Torrential rains falling where none had before
Out west came the miserable whimpering cry
Of poor dying horses ‘round a drink hole gone dry
Felled by the Scotus so righteous and proud
Black robes and tassels ‘neath hurricane cloud
Planet Earth’s climate now lay at the feet
Of dogmatic psychopath chamber retreat
Woe to the future that devil may feast
Trump and his Scotus have turned loose the beast
Joseph John Racano
We stood at the crossroads of Heaven and Hell
Hurtling toward 2100 pel-mell
And there stood the SCOTUS our fate in their hands
Seemingly blind to the parched scorching lands
Calling sweet Jesus on bended knee prayer
It’s now in god’s hands said they all without care
The windshear was howling like wolves at the door
Torrential rains falling where none had before
Out west came the miserable whimpering cry
Of poor dying horses ‘round a drink hole gone dry
Felled by the Scotus so righteous and proud
Black robes and tassels ‘neath hurricane cloud
Planet Earth’s climate now lay at the feet
Of dogmatic psychopath chamber retreat
Woe to the future that devil may feast
Trump and his Scotus have turned loose the beast
Joseph John Racano
The Coming Danger
Merry happy X mas from deep inside the bunker
I celebrated new year on a cruise ship when they sunk her
The sea was flaming oil the water set to boil
I climbed into a life boat with sir Arthur conan doyle
Soon the ocean boiled away the lifeboat sat in sand
The only fish we had to eat were long since killed and canned
The humans so malignant the earth became indignant
The people now were monocolored losing all their pigment
On the vast horizon a sunset shone in saphire
Everywhere rose musky smoke debris stuck in the quagmire
High above were circling birds as large as vultures and again two thirds
They stooped upon the dead and dying mud-bound lifeboats infants crying
A merry happy x mas now from deep inside the bunker
Perhaps to find good shelter ‘neath a rusted auto clunker
Celebrate the new year with the next surviving stranger
Scrawling notes for future boats to warn them of the danger
Joseph John Racano
Merry happy X mas from deep inside the bunker
I celebrated new year on a cruise ship when they sunk her
The sea was flaming oil the water set to boil
I climbed into a life boat with sir Arthur conan doyle
Soon the ocean boiled away the lifeboat sat in sand
The only fish we had to eat were long since killed and canned
The humans so malignant the earth became indignant
The people now were monocolored losing all their pigment
On the vast horizon a sunset shone in saphire
Everywhere rose musky smoke debris stuck in the quagmire
High above were circling birds as large as vultures and again two thirds
They stooped upon the dead and dying mud-bound lifeboats infants crying
A merry happy x mas now from deep inside the bunker
Perhaps to find good shelter ‘neath a rusted auto clunker
Celebrate the new year with the next surviving stranger
Scrawling notes for future boats to warn them of the danger
Joseph John Racano