Following the Leader

 —Poetry by Lynn White, 

Blaenau Ffestiniog, North Wales
—Illustrations Courtesy of Public Domain

 

 

FOLLOW YOUR LEADER

It’s so easy to be led,
to become part of the audience
to be seduced
by powerful words,
by the performance
on the stage where
leaders make followers.

Followers who will follow,
not herded like sheep
but running,
with the crowd,
trying to keep up,
seduced by the spectacle.

Individuals aren’t allowed
in the crowd
and don’t want to be there.
But, individuality
doesn’t have the warm glow
of follow my leader,
the togetherness,
the comradeship,
the shouted slogans,
the rousing tunes,
the ceremony.
It's for the few,
the one-offs,
the weird,
the misfits.

And where is the crowd
being led to?
It doesn’t matter.
They’ll go!



(First published in Harbinger Asylum, Fall 2017)

 

 

 

 

INTO THE SILENCE

Is the Pope a Catholic.
It is said so,
and a Humanist.
It would seem so.
Or just a human
speaking
out
into the silence
speaking of  “cruelty
not war”  in Gaza
and of “genocide”
there in Gaza,
speaking out
in a small act
of rebellion.
 
Is Joe Biden a Catholic.
It is said so
still.
The unanswerable question is
why
the Pope lets him be.
Why
he didn’t have a word in his ear
direct,
why
he didn’t use his power
to act where he can
direct
action
to excommunicate
the Catholic
arming this cruelty
blind to this genocide.

Such a small act of rebellion
speaking only
out into the silence.


(First published in Double Speak,  March 2024)

 

 

 

 

UNITED NATIONS

It was set up in the aftermath of war
to enable co-operation
to warn of catastrophe
to enable peace to be kept
and genocide to be part only of history.

Now it is condemned by its creators,
has become a pariah to those same states
who wrote its charter and envisaged its role
in leadership
speaking out
against oppressors
speaking out
against atrocities.

Still it speaks out
to its creators
who now feed the flames
of genocide
unitedly deaf and blind.


(First published in Double Speak, March 2024)

 

 

 

 



RIP JOHN DONNE

No man is an island wrote Donne
centuries ago.
He understood the predicament
understood
that man, or woman
is one part
of a whole
which is one part
of something larger
and so on
into mind-blowing infinity.

No man, or woman can stand alone
and reach their potential
in isolation
or when isolated
on some small island
however grandiose
the delusion.

An island alone cannot thrive,
except here in Britain of course,
so it was once said by some.

And now,
what now
when it stands
triangulated
in the centre
of three egos,
Trump, Putin
and Zelensky.
Stuck in the middle
of such super egos,
TPZ Keir Starmer.

(First published in New Verse News, March 3 2025)

 

 

 

 

THE LEGS OF MAN


It used to be Kelly,
Kelly from the Isle of Man,
my mother would sing the song.
But that was a long time ago.
Today I think it’s Keir
standing in salutation
then going round
on his three legs
saluting the flags.

One leg stands by Europe.
One leg stands by Trump.
One leg stands by Zelensky.
Three legs stand by Keir.
But it’s hard to walk
on three legs.

__________________

Today’s LittleNip:

A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his bak on the crowd.

—Max Lucado

__________________

—Medusa, with thanks to Lynn White for her cogent thoughts about leaders today!

 

 

 

I need to know—is it better to lead from the front 

like a duck or from behind like a sheepdog?

 

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