Were you at Shea Stadium in 1964 
when you were sixteen 
when you were living right there in Queens 
when the Beatles 
made their historic histrionic U.S.A. debut? 

Yes, you were at Shea in ’64! Yes you were! 
...but it was to see the Mets-Giants Memorial Day doubleheader 
	with your dad 
and the second game lasted twenty-three innings 
—more than seven hours! 
and you & your dad stayed for all of it. Every scratchin’ spittin’ bit of it. 

People said it wasn’t as cool 
as seeing the Beatles. 
They still say it. 
You said it was way cooler than the Beatles. 
You still say it.

Robert Eugene Rubino

Since retiring from daily journalism in 2013, Robert Eugene Rubino has published prose and poetry in several literary journals, including The Esthetic Apostle, Cathexis Northwest, Gravitas, and Haunted Waters Press, and in anthologies Poetic Bond IX (Willowdown Books, 2019) and Earth Hymn (KYSO Flash, 2019). He’s old enough to have voted for George McGovern and smart enough to solve the New York Times crossword puzzle on Mondays (other days not so much).

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Hollow Be Thy Name, a poem in Issue 12 of KYSO Flash (Summer 2019)

⚡ Owl House, a poem at Haunted Waters Press