The Monster, Josef
written by McConnaughay (May 2015)
We call him the angel of death.
The children gather for him
and he always gives them sweets.
They call him “Uncle Mengele,”
before he injects chloroform in their hearts.
He especially ‘loves’ his twins,
several will attest to that.
He slices off one’s finger
to see if the other will react.
He cuts and scrapes,
and pokes and prods.
He loves to make them suffer.
He amputates our limbs
and rips out our healthy teeth.
There is no change beneath our pillow
and there is no pillow beneath our heads.
Just the coldness of the air,
many friends of mine are dead.
But the sun welcomes the morning
and brings the smell of burning flesh.
The crematory smoke fills our lungs,
second-hand scent offers hint to our demise.
Soon, it goes away,
but there remains scabs and broken people,
bodies line the grounds like cobblestone.
A heinous, devilish creature,
but I’ll remember he is a man.
Saying monster dehumanizes,
to take away and make forget,
but Dr. Mengele was a man,
and he can come back again.
My Friend, Josef
written by McConnaughay (May 2015)
Josef gives me candy
and makes me smile at my saddest.
My world has been feeling shattered
with all that crematory smoke.
All of that’s okay
when Josef is around.
He is never mean to me,
but the adults,
they think the worst.
They think he is a monster,
but they don’t know him like I do.
They tell me he is the devil,
but I don’t think that is true.
His arms outstretched
his white coat on,
I can see an angel in his eyes.
He bought us all a playground
with swings and slides to boot!
I confide my problems to him
and he knows exactly what to say.
The kids,
we all adore him,
and know that he’s our friend.
Uncle’s words are filled with love
and his smile’s full and true.
He said he’d bring me somewhere
and said my friends are coming to.