Iconic [Free Verse]

Bruce Lee statue by Cao Chong-En located on the Avenue of Stars, Tsim Sha Tsui East, Kowloon, Hong Kong.
Everyone gets to be a person,
Few become icons:

What is it to have a lasting
image more well-known
than one's work?

Che Guevara, Bruce Lee,
Heath Ledger's Joker --

Images you can find on
back-alley walls from Lagos
to Prague to Kochi
to Seoul to Santiago
and back again.

Seen day-after-day by people
who never saw Enter the Dragon
or read of the Cuban Revolution,
or saw Nolan's Batman Trilogy,
but they know the faces.

They have thoughts about them
-- and, sometimes, strong feelings --
just like so many people have
thoughts about Alexander the Great
based solely on his name
and a rough impression of history.

What must this be...
blessing or curse ...
if icons had some way to care?

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