Sunday, June 15, 2014

Method to His Manliness

Behind every great man
is a great woman

the saying goes
(and of course women
know how to lead
from the front)

but behind him
should also be the man
who is good

who can call out
the bad behavior
he senses is coming

who can risk
having the general
disown him

because he's
used his own strength
his own status

to defend the concept
of community

in the world
in the nation
in the household.

He knows
he can be a father
he can be a brother
(blood or not)

while supporting
his mothers and sisters

and he knows
that this is what it means
to be a man.

This poem © 2014 Emily Cooper.