JOE KAYE (1976-2031) - The False Prophet of Fennimore Place
Joe Kaye was an American poet, philosopher, schoolteacher, and author of 11 books. Born in New York City, Joe taught in New York, Hawaii, and Michigan. In Hawaii, he started writing and by the age of 25 he published his first manuscript. He later moved to Michigan and then to Wisconsin, where he developed a tumor which began to give him delusions. His delusions led him to construct a giant labyrinth on a tropical island. He also had an obsession with looking for a message he believed he had left for himself in a past life, in the form of a poem, song, or story. He went insane with paranoia and believed the karma police were coming to take him away. He also became obsessed with cheating death, practicing a religion called Voodoo Botany, believing it would make him a god. On a late night talk show, he made a prophecy about the extinction of the human race. He was sent to rest at Fennimore Place Institute. The maze was never finished. He died broke and penniless.
Joseph DeMarco was born in New York City; he lived most of his life in Buffalo, NY. He now teaches seventh grade on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. He is also the author of the novels The 4 Hundred and 20 Assassins of Emir Abdullah-Harazins and Plague of the Invigilare.
The False Prophet took a piece of paper out of his pocket. It was a poem. He remembered that while writing it he had felt as if he was solving a puzzle. Originally, when Joe Kaye first developed the theory that he had left a message for himself in a past life, he thought he had been a Hawaiian warrior. After realizing Hawaiians had no written language, he looked for other possible candidates. He thought he might have been a poet, so he started with Jim Morrison an obscure poet known more for his music, and then moved on to one of his favorite poets, Robert Frost. He had written this poem, to either prove that he was or wasn’t the reincarnation of Robert Frost. After writing it he still couldn’t decide, and he still didn’t know what the message was that he had supposedly left for himself. He read the paper to himself. This is what was written on it.
The Road Not Taken-The Reincarnation
Two paths emerged in greenish pasture,
And since it was impossible to go down both
I thought which way would get me to my destination faster?
And wondered if speed was important when running the race;
Isn’t it objective that matters and not the pace?
I went down the beaten path with grass so long,
Which was dark and twisting, with no end in sight,
And even though I stood tall and strong,
I wondered if I had wandered wrong
And philosophized if there was such a thing as wrong or right.
Although each path was equally unstable,
The one I strayed down had more twists and turns;
Oh, I kept the second path for another fable;
Yet knowing how stall leads to stable,
I was certain I would never return.
I revisit this with a pondering thought
And years from now reflecting on the past:
Two paths diverged and still I fought
And took the one that’s hardly sought,
And that has made my happiness so much more vast.
In the end he decided he was not the reincarnation of Robert Frost, and went back to the drawing board studying more writers and poets.