Demagogues Poems | Examples


List of Member Poems

Premium Member Do not go gentle into the totalitarian night

Do not go gentle into that totalitarian night
They lured you in with the promise of a new day
Rage against their deception, and for freedom's light

From a stagnant pool, you jumped into a river of no return
They said the new would rise, the old could burn
Swim against their current, rage against their tide
Face the mistake you made of choosing the wrong side.

Good men, deceived, crying for a mirage bright
Efforts at social justice inverted their deeds to dark
Still time to review how it happened, but no time to win the fight.

Grave men but old who tried to give blind new sight
They blazed like meteors, but fell short and lost the day
From all directions enemies come, too late to defend what's right

And you my father, there in that sad height
You said death was better than seeing what would come
A cursed sunset, a bitter sinking sun.
Don't look outside, draw the shades, as the noose draws tight
We'll shed tears together before the dying of the light.

Premium Member Demagogues and Pedagogues

Proclaimed the trunk to His roots:

A demagogue teaches
and preaches
as my head trunk talks down
to my frontline branches

Lesser beings who had best listen
and learn
my stern
and often punishing expectations

Explained the roots
to Her much-loved trunk:

A pedagogue first listens
at the refining foot
of a sacred grassroot system

To serve compassionate communication,
inclusive problem-solving,
celebrating win/win peak experiences
of resonantly embodied promise,
harmony,
musicality,
integrity,
synergy,
transparency,
vulnerability
to multiculturally omniscient expansion.

Demagogues
require retribution
to survive against win/lose 
zero-sum competitions
threatening capital-headed
bloating at the crown

While pedagogues invite restoration
of fully embodied thrival
and win/win uncompromised revival,

Faith in nonzero sum
polyculturally active,
deeply saturating communication,
rooted in past peak communion
courageously curious experiences.

Premium Member Demagogues Left Right and Center

sharp words 
scratching against the fabric 
of civilized society
slowly tearing apart 
the structure
of reason and tolerance
ignorant assaults  
launched by loud
self-appointed
self-important
self-aggrandizing 
fools


The Statesmen

Listen to the music of centuries
Remembering looking toward peace
"We must disentral ourselves"
The congressmen
Big black tires
Big black men,black suits
Siphoning your GRIT
The corporate war profiteers
Who are they as bats at night
Chameleons in all natures
Camouflaged at appropriate times
Demagogues!the cause of poverty
Be angry at the sun
The public men,publish falsehood
You are no Catullus you know;
To lampoon these crude sketches of ceasar
Struggle for power;and women for fame
I stand alone dazed words giving way
Blood gurgling down into the mud and sand
This nation,A village of thorns and brambles
The old earth is withered and undone
While decades pass
Pleasured in the dead's heritage
Riots and robs,
some busking in the glory of others
Others salvation
Others the lords of charity,
Splashing dirty millions in altars and Holly stages
You are begot and spawned in shame
Little resources huge demands
Oh wanjiku!How long shall the donkey tire for your load to be delivered?

Demagogues and Dictators

They think they're gonna rule forever,
reign in perpetuity
Demagogues and dictators ...
blinded by the seductive power
of their own savagery
They rule with an iron fist
Children beware of the fiery serpents
flying in the mist ... descending from the clouds
Dropping bombs on those
who oppose, and dare to resist
Dictators and demagogues ...
dream of standing naked wearing nuclear sunglasses,
and pretending to be gods
They possess nothing,
though they think they control everything
Here's one lesson they forgot to learn:
Nebuchadnezzar, ancient ruler of Babylon,
who once was called king of kings
God brought him low
when he didn't give Him the glory
Turned him into a dumb animal,
made him to eat the grass and snow
So every future demagogue and dictator would know:
The earth is the LORD's,
and everything therein ... above and below

Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.

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