Rhino
Rhino
-for Ryne Sandberg
& Grandpa
Eric Allen Yankee
Grandpa was easy
to hide behind.
He was always
in his chair. Either
the recliner or rocking
chair. He always had
that old spice smell
and sometimes
pickled pigs feet,
which I never understood.
Grandpa was easy
to hide behind,
thanks to his wooden leg.
He drank his beer
and threw it at the tv
when the Cubs
were playing. He
rarely missed a game.
That’s where I first heard
the name Ryne Sandberg.
Ryno or as I thought it was
spelled: Rhino.
In those days I was small
and could crawl behind
grandpa’s leg even as he
cussed out the Cubs
for losing a game.
Ryno was the player
I knew best,
the one even I,
with my trouble with faces
could recognize.
I’d hide behind grandpa
and watch Ryno take a swing.
And when I’d hear that crack
I’d know Ryno
had hit another one.
There were so many games
for me where it felt like
Ryno was the only one
who ever hit that damn ball,
and that grandpa was the only man
with a wooden leg
that I could hide behind.
Now tonight, grandpa
and Ryno are finally
in the same place,
and I pray to God
grandpa didn’t throw
a beer at Ryno.
I hope he shook his hand
and said, “If you need
somewhere to hide, Ryno…
you can hide behind
my wooden leg.”
Eric Allen Yankee is a member of the League of Revolutionaries for a New America. His work has appeared in many places online and in print, including anthologies by Vagabond Books, the Revolutionary Poet’s Brigade, and more. He is the author of five poetry chapbooks: Bees Against the War (LocoFo Chaps), RIOT (Finishing Line Press), American Bullet (Atomic Theory Micro Press), The Sun will Become Fireflies (Honeybees for Peace), and This War (Barrio Blues Press). His chapbook Death Around These Parts is forthcoming from Writing Knights Press.
Mark Mosley is a public school 7th grade math teacher. He draws baseball cards when he is not driving his son to baseball or his daughter to gymnastics. His cards can be seen on Twitter @mosley_mark, on Instagram @idrawbaseballcards, and can be purchased at https://idrawbaseballcards.bigcartel.com/
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