Crackerjacks

 

At the mutant hospital

we grilled burgers and dogs

and listened to baseball on the radio.

 

What else could ease our rehabbing hearts?

 

Jimmy insisted on using bamboo chopsticks—

don’t ask me how he does it, but he does.

I nodded, but ate mine from the pocket of my glove.

 

Both of us sighed

knowing the Babe would be proud—

a hot dog between each finger

and a cigar after, or during,

as our preference allowed.

 

The nurse came to tell us to,

“put those OUT!”

 

But “OUT” means something different

when you’re on defense,

so, we just grinned victoriously

at her ever-increasing scowls.

 

From there in the yard,

we dreamed of donning our disguises

and escaping to our own field of dreams.

 

Me, in my beret,

trying to avoid people’s eyes

spinning like pinwheels

and glazing over

when I tell them I write poetry

(don’t look at me like that,

people have been writing it

since the dawn of time).

 

And Jimmy, dressed up

like a Spanish conquistador,

or a brightly colored piñata,

to avoid the inevitable comment

that he’s “too smart for his own good,”

which means he’s too smart for theirs.

 

But that’s why we’ve teamed up—

our gifts being misunderstood.

We know “mutant”

is another name for a special kind of

talent, a genius, a crackerjack.

 

And if you get it,

buy me some—

I don’t care if I never get back.

  

© 2024 Jennifer Wagner

  

For Shay’s Word Garden Word List—Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

I used 11 of the given words.