Ah, the crap which MAACS inspires us to write: poetry

Crime

The dragnet of snitches wants a voiceprint,
But only so the handcuffed highwayman caught
Shoplifting, skyjacking, safecracking,
(The swindler) wouldn't pickpocket them.
They blackmail the bondsman-mobster-gangster,
Slander the prowler,
And return to their robbery.

The troublemakers and bootleggers were staking out the prison,
The smuggler suspended the bounty on the detective,
The murderer did his thing to the arsonist,
But they still got off probation to testify.

The banditry - insanity! - of the eyewitness being,
An infraction, earned a detention from piracy,
And the evidence of the warden was discovered a fraud.

The swindler was caught by entrapment,
His confinement earned by abduction,
The deposition of his custody left to the stockade;
But still his correctional detainer saw him sentenced.

The defendant is now reformatory,
And he assaults his transgressions,
Even though vandalism summons.
His treason to mutiny is a felony,
At least to his fellow culprits.
Still, He brought in the last arrestee,
A hoodlum they're lynching for forgery;
He has no hope for parole.


Sometime this week I plan to rant about MAACS, but I don't know when that will be.

And as to this particular poem, it wasn't written for MAACS competition like the other pieces were. I got the idea to write this when I was studying for the MAACS spelling test - most of these words are the beginner ones from the Paidea spelling book. So not thoroughly MAACS inspired, but with three days left, who cares?

Ah, the crap which MAACS inspires us to write: prose

A Natural Leader

What makes a leader? Every man gives allegiance to someone else, follows the path set by another. what is it in a leader that compels others to trail after them? A study of the famous Harry Potter will show what leaders are, and why people follow them.

The thing that stands out the most about a leader is the people that follow him. No leader can choose his entire following; but he can choose who he surrounds himself with. Harry POtter makes wise decisions about this from the start. Left alone by his guardians, he stays alone until Ron Weasley befriends him on the Hogwarts train. When he arrives, he is confronted by the words of a conceited Draco Malfoy. "You don't want to get caught making friends with the wrong sort Potter. I can help you there."

Harry has a choice to make. Ally himself with the know-it-all picture of arrogance, or stick by the one person whome he knows: Ron, an obviously poor and humble (but authentic) friend. Harry, without taking the time to weigh the multiple long-term futures his choice has, rejects Malfoy's hand and remains with Ron.

This lays the ground for one of the most important traits in a leader's relationship with his followers: loyalty. A good leader gets recognized because of the fierce loyalty of his followers. But it must go both ways; a leader must also be loyal to his followers.

One of the most climactic scenes in Harry's life is his adventure in the Department of Mysteries. He and his followers are confronted by several powerful Death Eaters. As they split up to excape, Harry's personal group falls to three. One of them is attacked by surprise, and falls. the other Death Eaters rush to the scene, and Harry's situation seems hopeless. He can flee and leave his friend, or he can stay and fight for her. HIs loyalty to his followers leaves him no alternative, and he stands by her body until help arrives.

This ties into trust, Harry's last leadership characteristic. He was lured to the Department of Mysteries only because his enemies trusted that he would react in a certain way. He was able to make it to the Department of Mysteries only because he had a trust with his followers to help him. And his followers only went with him because they trusted his ability to lead them through it all.

Leaders can be defined by many more characteristics and traits than these. But if a man surrounds himself with the wrong sort, if he is unloyal, and if he has no trust or if no one trusts him, then he can not be a leader.


As I type this, I notice many many errors and things that could have been much better; but being as how I'm showing crap written for MAACS, you get to read exactly what the judges will read :)

Ah, the crap which MAACS inspires us to write: poetry

I once knew two children who both loved the Lord
Who sought Him with all of their soul-
Two children whose faith did not ever grow bored,
With spirits that ever were bold.

These children put even their parents to shame,
As close as they walked with their God;
Two children whose lives and whose hearts gave them fame,
And earned them a heavenly nod.

The children I knew grew through learning and strife
They always kept seeking their Lord-
At that time I would have thought both of them angels;
But now I fear one of them's bored.

He walks and he talks and he acts like the first,
He goes to his church, and he 'worships' his Lord.
He knows all the answers, he knows all the facts,
He knows what to do to get fame and applause.
But inside he's rotten, his Bible will tell,
It's never been read, not one page;
This teen who in childhood battled with Hell,
Has fallen from God as he's aged.

The first though, is vibrant, and honest, and real,
His passionate deeds are a light to all men.
He's given his life to his Father above,
He's sold out, committed, and true to the end.
Just look at his Bible, the light for his feet,
It's marked up and worn down with care.
His life has become just as Godly, some feat!
As the second burned out like a flare.

I once knew two children who both loved the Lord,
I boasted of them through the land;
Just look at them now, one so vibrant, on bored-
But both with their Bibles in hand.