Grave of the Cracker Jack Boy

Grave of the Cracker Jack Boy

By Cynthia Gallaher

Robert Muno Rueckheim (aka “Sailor Jack”) 1913-1920
(buried at St. Henry Catholic Cemetery at Devon & Ridge, Chicago)

“Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack,
I don’t care if I never get back.”
                        ~ “Take Me Out to the Ball Game”
 
Sailor boy, sailor boy,
at age three you posed
as Sailor Jack
holding tight to stray dog Bingo
on the box of Cracker Jack.
 
Grandson of the man who
launched his candy-glazed
popcorn and peanut snack
at the 1893 World’s Fair
in Chicago.
 
Which amniotic seas did you travel
to arrive at our inland harbor, getting sea legs
enough to stand astride like a real sailor
to give a high-sign salute,
only to succumb to pneumonia at age seven,
 
A too-early watery ending,
our hope that when you entered death
you found a prize inside,
or at least reunite with the others,
the Morton Salt girl, Campbell Soup kids,
Coppertone child and Gerber baby.
 
Yet one hundred years later,
ever young still,
you self-fulfill many a child’s fantasy
at every baseball game,
to be rooting from the stands.

Cynthia Gallaher, a Chicago-based poet, is author of four poetry collections, including Epicurean Ecstasy: More Poems About Food, Drink, Herbs and Spices, and three chapbooks, including Drenched. Her award-winning nonfiction/memoir/creativity guide is Frugal Poets’ Guide to Life: How to Live a Poetic Life, Even If You Aren’t a Poet. One of her poems will be sent on NASA’s flight to the south pole of the moon later this decade. Gallaher is a lifelong Cubs fan, but attends White Sox games every so often, too.

Follow her on Twitter at @swimmerpoet, Instagram and Threads at @frugalpoet and her Facebook page at @frugalpoets. Visit her Linktree account: https://linktr.ee/cynthiagallaher

Jason David Córdova lives in Puerto Rico as an illustrator and painter. Some of his art can be seen on Instagram at @jasoni72. You can visit his shop on Red Bubble.

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