By Thomas Page
If I were in charge
We all say to ourselves
Things would be different.
Different, yes, but better?
I’d like to think that I would make a positive impact in I were in charge
But that impact would probably funnel into a selfish whirlpool.
Where did you think the idea of golden gardens and placid pools come from?
From faith, hope, and charity?
Nah
They come from the cardinal traits of power:
Esteem, control, and ruthlessness.
There’s a certain kind of person who gets to the top
Using their fellow person as rungs.
What if,
Instead of power,
We all say to ourselves
If we all had a voice
Things would be better.
Power saps the life from the community
And sprinkles it like caviar on the buffets
Taken from the hands of those who wrought it.
There’s nothing wrong with leadership but
A leader is not in power
Per se
But taps the common voice
The bullhorn of the people
Giving credence to those metonyms within it
To speak truths that we all share
And cast out blistering sores
That tarnish hearts concealed in private prejudices
Informed by a shattered looking glass pointed at fires
With its arsonists dressed as firefighters
Escaping into the night.
These truths are self-evident in us,
Not power.
