John Kaniecki- Three Poems

 Thirty Years

Remembering the act of terror by the government of the United States upon the MOVE family
thirty years ago on May 13, 1985

Thirty years
Anger, sorrow, tears
The world still turns
The fire still burns
And we dismiss all fears
Thirty years

Hear now throughout this nation
Hear now our proclamation
We defy the institution
We cry for a solution
We embrace revolution

Thirty years
Hard and long
Thirty years
Fighting strong

Ashes to ashes, dust in the wind
Crime upon crime, sin upon sin
Know that in the end
Righteousness shall win

Thirty years
Strong in might
Thirty years
Still we fight
Until our final breath
Until our death
Until all is right
Thirty years
Victory nears


Graystone

I have been in your institutions
For you greatly fear my kind
People with solutions
And a thinking mind

Yet, I thank thee, society as a whole
At least for having a little soul
And that you never gave me
A lobotomy

Where are the prophets?
Or the answers you seek
They are in your institutions
Euphonized as unique
Commonly called crazy

You cocktails of Haldol and Thorzine
Are, good sir, most obscene
The psychiatrists I see
Are more troubled then me

The mental health techs
Are arrogant in most respects
Or if they are some what all right
They sleep through the night

We have a television set and a ping pong table
We rent some movies but don’t have cable
Your food is edible sometimes okay
But the best thing about Graystone
I that you’re never alone
And you don’t have to pay


Legend of Jenny May

This is the legend of Jenny May
If it’s true no one can say
She was the world’s beauty queen
Nothing lovelier was ever seen

All the boys flocked around her
Whom she loved was never sure
Though she was kind the girls said bitch
So they said Jenny May was a witch

Witches burn they said with a twitch
So wood burns and it floats above
So now if she floats then she’s a witch
Those females all forget above love

So took Jenny May to the lake
Threw her in as with fear she quaked
Well she sunk down in the pond
Everyone forget what was going on
Because lightning struck and rains fell
It was like God was unleashing hell

Now some say Jenny got away
All I know is to this very day
That no one swims in that lake
For fear of what they did forsake