Tribute to Barack Obama
Prometheus
Wars on the front page
forge an ink ballast of words
in paragraphs of iron
to chain the laughing messenger
who still sees the silver lining,
and cradles tiny coals
of undying hope.
He scatters them generously
wherever he goes
starting campfires
against the encroaching dark,
that crouches just outside
the circle of his
contagious flame.
Wounded each day
by the gloom and doom scavengers
ravens coming to devour
the tender flesh of optimism
bound naked on the rocks.
They think he must be punished
for his flint and spark,
the gift of fire perhaps
that he dared to give,
a tiny piece of sun
that broke open the night.
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About Lian
The author is a prize winning poet and graduate of Mills College. She has published two collections of poetry, Celestial Voices in 2001, and City Myths in 2007. Her poetry won the US prize in the 2008 Writers International Poetry competition and has been...
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Causes Lian Frost Supports
Humane Society, ASPCA, Greenpeace
I do love this tribute :-)
Isn't it a strange paradox how light intended to provide a sense of safety and warmth sometimes generates the exact extreme opposite? "Tribute to Barack Obama" not only fittingly salutes the man himself but holds up a very useful mirror to our chaotic and fear-driven times. If we can slow the panic long enough to look and listen, we might then be able to appreciate the light and power of that "flint and spark" rather than dread it to points of public hysteria.
Much gratitude for the great read,
Aberjhani
author of The American Poet Who Went Home Again
and Encyclopedia of the Harlem Renaissance (Facts on File)