In the old
Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons
Bullwinkle the Moose
portraying a magician
continually tries to impress
Rocky the Squirrel
by pulling a rabbit out of a hat

But the rabbit is never a rabbit

Ever proclaiming “Wrong hat!”
at the results
Bullwinkle reaches into his
table-bound, inverted top hat
pulling out
snarling lion
growling bear
snapping alligator or
roaring tiger
before calmly stuffing not-rabbit
back down into the hat

“Duhhh…wrong hat!”

is my tranquil rallying cry
in response to situations profound
and absurd
when my self-professed, usually
accurate charms fail me

Adopting the eminently cool
ever-confident, I-got-this! persona
of a cartoon moose has always
served me well

though I am at a stage now in life
where fewer people know who
Rocky and Bullwinkle are
but fewer still question why it is
I always bring
but never wear
a weathered top hat.

– Mark L. Lucker
© 2019
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