Friday, August 21, 2009

WHAT WOULD SQUEAKY FROMME DO?

by Steve Hellyard Swartz


Standing in the rain protesting the protesters
Up at the Sears corner of the Colonie Mall
When a woman in a Hummer stops and eyeballs me
And screams -
"Hey You! Ask yourself - What Would Jesus Do"?
The rain picks up
People honk, people wave
Some extend a hearty five
Some a sullen, middle one
On the western horizon
Here comes the sun
Jesus, it's been one hell of a summer
And now I'm pissed off at that nut in her Hummer
Jesus, my brother from another mother
Fellow Jew, and likeable too
From what I've read, you sound pretty great
Just damned if I know
Where you fit in - in this debate
So in lieu of giving props to you
Instead I consider
What would Squeaky Fromme do?
Oh, Squeaky, visionary follower of Charles Manson
     (self-proclaimed back-up QB to God's only son)
Squeaky, who was miles ahead of the curve
Bringing loaded weapons to a Presidential event in
     the time of Ford and Rockefeller
Will we see Squeaky at a town hall event
No longer young, now an Old Yeller
What, I wonder, would Squeaky do?
As the rain continues to pelt us
And the woman in the Hummer
Uses her GPS to find Jesus


Earlier this month, Steve Hellyard Swartz was selected as Poet Laureate of Schenectady County in upstate NY. A regular contributor to New Verse News, Swartz has also been featured in Best Poem, switched-on gutenberg, and The Kennesaw Review. A two-time Honorable Mention in the Allen Ginsberg Poetry Awards, Swartz is also a filmmaker. Never Leave Nevada, which he wrote and directed and in which he co-starred, opened at The US Sundance Film Festival in 1990.
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