The Liberator and The Dictator ~ NaPoWriMo Day 26

NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025

Day 26 … getting there! ❤

In a traffic circle at the Jakarta Airport entrance, this massive statue features Soekarno and Mohammad Hatta, the first president and vice president of the country they’d liberated from the Dutch colonial empire. That’s Soekarno, pointing the way to the future.

That future would include with its newfound democratic freedom a disturbing social and political unrest, which Soekarno eventually put down with autocratic force. So the poem’s liberator and dictator are both found in Soekarno.

What is NaPoWriMo?

National Poetry Writing Month.  AKA GloPoWriMo for Global Poetry Writing Month because, you know, it’s a worldwide event. During the month of April, poets challenge themselves to write at least one poem a day, every day, for the entire month. So, 30 poems in 30 days.

If you’d like to join in, or just want to learn more about this annual poetry writing event, the more-or-less official website is NaPoWriMo.net.

I am also one of the admins for a small, private FB group, NaPoWriMo/GloPoWriMo 2025 if you want to follow other poets on their journey. Just click “Join”.