Historical Figure Poetry  June 1, 2008 - July 2, 2008

I want to see a poem about a historical figure- it can be anyone dead and famous. Yes, there are a couple of rules:

1) The person you write your poem about must be either recognizable by most, or in need of being recognized.

2) If you write about a musician, it must be one who "changed the face of music".

3)I don't care if they were good or evil.

4) Must be over 20 lines in length.

5) Huge extra kudos if your POV on this person's character goes against the grain and sparks a bit of controversy- though it doesn't have to.

Feel free to enter any poems you have already written which follow the rules.

Here is my example- a poem I wrote this week:

Revolutionary?


Hallowed is his name

His image printed

Everywhere, blazoned

From teenagers' t-shirted

Apathetic young chests

To flags on walls of

Campaign Headquarters

For potential Presidents

So that one would think

He was an honorable man



If I call him an honorable man

I am sarcastic like Marc Antony

In his Shakespearian oration

For I will not worship the image

Of a killer of innocent souls



A physician he studied to be

"First of all, do no harm"...



Ah, but Che you thought harm

Had a purpose in your desires

For the future of mankind

Your Hippocratic oath?

A mere hypocrisy



The poor, he saw them, the infirm

His answer to their plight

Was to infirm a nation

Under guise of revolution

But who was "revoluted"

If the people lay broken

Dead, starving, or unemployed?



You did not want equality

Guevara, you wanted power

And Castro took it by the reigns



Oh, Cuba, your revolution

Has created refugees

And now the world

Holds up as example

A man who helped to destroy

Your people in the name of love



Our emo kids and punks

Think him oh so cool

WIthout even knowing

Who it is they idolize

Without reading the story

About the face on their shirts



Ah, and some, some who know

Who you are Che Guevara

Still want you to be hallowed

And I cannot imagine why.

Since when have murderers

Deserved the worship reserved for saints?

Constance

A Small Town in, KS

5 Contestants
6 Submissions
701 Views
Created May 30, 2008