POETRY CORNER WITH KWESI BISSUE: mediocrity in the city

He danced

He danced a well choreographed dance

And he also danced

He danced a stereotype of a dance

They saw the dance

They saw all the dance through the lens of a judgement

They saw with a sense of judgement

They pounced on that one

They pounced on that one with a jaundice of a judgement

Saying he was a dunce

For he belonged there…out there

But praise they showered on this one

Showered through some coloured lenses 

He is a gem! they proclaimed 

For he belonged here…right here 

Mediocrity sprang from the very interior…of the the city’s inferior 

They chose the other’s dance 

Said his dance was the dance 

Even when his dance fell short of a performance 

Even when the dancer fell flat on his art

Applause uploaded upwards…saying his was a smart act 

Mediocrity reeked from the very interior…of the city’s inferior 

A dance came for a chance to make a mark from zero  

For a mark to mark one as a hero 

The dance traversed the full distance 

Dance they danced…to their ability’s best 

Dance they danced…to their limit’s fullest 

Dance they danced…to choreography 

Alas! when the verdict was pronounced 

It was a travesty of choreography 

They pounced on that one 

And said he was a nuisance…a dunce 

They chose the other’s dance

Mediocrity soared above the interior…of the city’s inferior

The mass of the masses had a chance…to judge the dance

They said that was a chance for the ‘dunce’

It was the dance of the ‘dunce’… that clinched the chance

Still the dance of the ‘dunce’ was bounced

For they nursed animosity without a cause

They raised the dance of that one…to rise above the sky’s sun

Mediocrity sailed through the interior…of the city’s inferior

II

A ‘hero do little’… danced only a little

To prove his little mettle

But he garnered more than a little sprinkle of glittering letters…and titles

This…from a partisan class of the masses

They bowed to the daft dance of this crooked dancer…for dancing flat

They booed the deft dance of that agile dancer…for dancing right

Mediocrity spelled the doom from the very interior…of the city’s inferior