Like Minded by Alarie Tennille

Standing Figures, by Magdalena Abakanowicz, 1994-1998.

Like Minded
 
Beware the one who raises a headless
army, shapes sinew and bone from mud
like some golem brigade. Danger,
armed only with obedient parts, feet
 
all pointing in the same direction.
They wait for The One with Lips to yell,
“Forward!” Without the yellow warning
light of conscience, they process only
 
black and white, on or off.  Motionless,
they pose little threat. But crowd
mentality quickly kindles in the thrill
of crashing glass and cheering stadiums.
 
Risk escalates when the ranks explode
with others longing too much to belong.

Alarie Tennille

Alarie Tennille was born and raised in Portsmouth, Virginia, and graduated from the University of Virginia in the first class admitting women. She became fascinated by fine art at an early age, even though she had to go to the World Book Encyclopedia to find it. Today she visits museums everywhere she travels and spends time at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, where her husband is a volunteer guide. Alarie’s poetry book, Running Counterclockwise, contains many ekphrastic poems. Please visit her at alariepoet.com.