Poetry Friday: Our Fearful Leader hasn’t changed much
I browsed back through my journal today to find a poem. I spent quite a bit of time back in February 2017 where I wrote (most) days in response to Laura Shovan’s daily poetry challenge. Each day that year, a poet selected a news story and choose ten words from it to use in a poem. I wrote many of the poems that month to process the news at the beginning of the current Presidential administration. What struck me today is how little things have changed. Even though we knew nothing of experiencing a global pandemic first hand back in 2017, this poem could just as easily be written today.
If my notes are correct, this article from The New York Times was shared by Margaret Simon: In Covering Civil Rights, Reporter Enhanced His Words with Film. The ten words she chose were voting, rubble, playing, pen, capture, light, faced, power, frame, register. A few words didn’t make the cut during revisions.
Season of Discontent, or Our Fearful Leader
Mad with power
our fearful leader
registers his daily discontent.
Here a tweet
that frames how unfair
the papers pen their stories.
There a tweet
that twists perception
with alternative facts.
Faced with hard reality,
he plays a dangerous game
where we must
clear the fog
of disinformation
before we vote again.
Now is the time to blow away that fog and clear away obstacles that stand in the way of voting. If you have not registered to vote, or if you aren’t sure when or if you can take part in early voting or absentee voting, check out the information at the Center for Voting Information or VOTE411 or the Secretary of State website for your state. If you are able and not at high risk for COVID-19, consider volunteering to be a poll worker. The need is greater than ever this year since many poll workers in the past are in high risk categories for COVID-19.
Each Friday, I am excited to take part in Poetry Friday, where writers share their love of all things poetry. Kiesha hosts the Poetry Friday Roundup today at Whispers from the Ridge. She offers two of her favorite poems from Paul Laurence Dunbar that speak powerfully too our current times. Hurry over and check out all the poetry morsels offered up today.
The Song of Kiều grew from an old Chinese legend to become a beloved story in Vietnam and tells the story of Kiều, a beautiful woman whose wits and words carry her through twists of fate that she survives and triumphs. Kiều sacrifices her love and happiness to marry to save her family from debt but is tricked into working at a brothel. Her fortunes rise and fall throughout her journeys as she finds love again, falls into slavery, becomes a queen and a nun, outwits jealous wives, and avenges those who helped and hurt her. Through it all, her strength wit and words prevail.