Davy Cricket

by David Hayward

I did what I did for Lubbock and the Crickets
and me. The headline they gave this,
Minor League Mascot Ejected in Brawl,
is funny, I know-over-ardent loyalty,
ha ha, the furious blue insect impervious
in his padded suit and by the same cushion
disabled. Still, it hurts. They boo joy
when they boo me, and the players who held me back
might think harder about whose adamant image
they wear on their caps. For as long as I'm in him,
Davy Cricket won't be among the buccaneers
or bears or Indians who have at their center
something alien, some actor. I am what I look like
and want the things I shout for. Foam lips
are lips. The costume makes me nakeder.