Who should lead us?
The cretinous, the crazy, the know-nothings of this earth,
the talentless and shrunken-hearted among us
(and they are legion),
or the brainy, the talented, the sharp, knowing, and wise and
great-hearted of this earth
(and they are few)?
"No brainer," you say. Then how did we get here?
Because we chose a leader who never made anyone else feel even
stupider than he was!
So, let's ask again:
"Who should lead us?"
An elite of the mind or the flower of the mass
that covers the land like burnt grass,
suppurating in malls and gagging in bars,
spreading like kudzu in a foul wallow,
staining our cities and uglying our towns,
scarring the fields with concrete and foulness,
infecting our capitals with stupidity and vulgarity,
cupidity and duplicity,
and nearest proximity to asininity,
American Idol to a vicious god,
and turning the globe into a slow-cooking oven
that will turn the blue planet into a white waste;
a dull and crushing horror
that bombs and bleeds and jails
forever whoever it dares:
a C-student out of Yale
who never broke a book
that didn’t look like the Bible,
and now leads us on,
like a sexual player at a senior prom?
Who should lead us – a body with the makings of a mind,
a conscience, a fear of catastrophes to come,
and a tender, an almost timid love for all of Earth’s green kingdom,
or a charming dunce and dry drunk with a fixation
and a firm delusion squatting in his skull,
all the confidence of a blissful fool,
and a brain that scares no one, tagged with terrifying convictions?
Mass or mind? Like the rest of us – or better?
Choose – if you dare!

© 2006 Christopher Bernard