By Government Orders. A Poem by Paul McGlynn

Paul McGlynn

The other day a friend of mine shared a poem that his friend Paul McGlynn had written.

"Every day, I read poems by the great poets and the lesser known poets. I believe the world of poetry is my one, if not my only, place where I am halfway at peace and successful at this living thing," McGlynn replied when I asked if I could share his poem here.

I inquired as to whether he was a writer of other kinds of things. He replied that he is chiefly a poet.

"I have written for many years. I write exclusively poetry. I try to write every day and I work hard at the poems I write. Every now and then, I write something more easily and it seems to work. Such is the poem you liked. But that doesn't happen as often as I would want. I believe I write maybe one good poem for every 75 attempted. And that may be too generous."

I suspect that that might be a little too modest.

McGlynn, a career educator, has served as a teacher for 23 years and a director of charter schools for 9 years. Of this experience he stated, "I find education to be a worthy endeavor in life." He is currently Executive Director at Great Oaks Academy in the Twin Cities.


By Government Orders

"Man's Fate" -- Ed Newman

The
Sky will be shut down
Until it is fully secured from falling.

Something terrible is always near
Calling for you to fear it.

We bear the burden
Of trying to save you
From this dangerous world.

Your
Living is the problem.
You should distrust your own breathing.
We understand that
Better than you.

The plan is for us to guide you
So, you may exist
Safely.
You must understand
What we do

Is, of course, for your own good.
You need to be saved from you.
That is what we do.

Always,
The worst is yet to come,
This will always be true.
This is never going to change.

What you cannot see
Intends to hurt us all,
And if that be you,

Well, we can fix that, too.


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