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This is a stand-alone poem, not included in my book. One of the strangest compositions I've ever penned. Copyright 2004 by Joe Fleckenstein.

I used to be a resident of
Lexington, Kentucky
but lucky I was not,
my body left to maggots and rot --
in a secluded, forested grave.

My family possessed platinum and jewels,
yet that did nothing to save me,
there was no appeasing my kidnappers,
I lie buried beneath a tree.

I was already, “Legless In Lexington,”
that’s how my personal ad ran,
but my abductors were fanatics:
--I didn’t fit into God’s plan.

Why they hated the handicapped
I never knew,
I still had full use of my brain,
I wasn’t a vegetable or a mental
Deficient,
only an old veteran whose limbs had
gone lame.

Leaving my corpse behind I
Ascended into Heaven,
it was actually a Waiting Room of sorts,
populated by Spirits both Human and
Alien,
five thousand races tuned into competitive sports.

Why they gathered around a television
I really couldn’t fathom,
how they all appeared alike;
ghostly blobs lacking flesh or material,
a cosmic fraternity unconcerned with
weight or height –






--or money or power or
political orientation,
their only obligation to their Creator,
Doctor God,
who supplied them with soccer,
football, basketball, and an
infinity of games –

Each would undergo examination,
by the Universe’s Ultimate Physician,
whose judgment was mercifully tame…

---

I had a feeling that all would be okay,
even for those Kidnapping Insane,
as death is the only proven cure,
for our temporal condition of “Pain.”