The Yelow Jacket Dance Poem by Jim Yerman

The bad news is we have yellow jackets in our yard.
A colony of which I whole-heartedly disapprove.
The good news is these yellow jackets showed me…I can still bust a move.

A quick fact about yellow jackets…if into their nest you drop…
Yellow jackets start stinging…and yellow jackets do not stop.

I felt a sting on my finger…and at this point foolishly thought their attack was complete…
forgetting it takes a little longer to feel pain from my legs and my feet.

It was when the pains met in my brain…one unlucky happenstance…
that I being to panic…and I began to dance.

It was as if M. C. Hammer's ‘You Can't Touch This'
was emanating from speakers in the ground…
My arms were flailing…my feet were kicking…I was jumping all around.

Another quick fact about yellow jackets…I imagine it's part of their upbringing…
They are relentless…even after they chased me off their nest…
they kept coming…they kept stinging.

Once inside the safety of my house with Benadryl in my system
and ointment on my sores…Deborah smiled at me saying,
"In all they years I've known you…I never saw you dance like that before."

"You were a blend of dances." She chuckled. "Ballet, Tango, Cha Cha…
and you made the dances overlap…a little Samba…some Salsa moves…
why I think I even saw some tap.

"Do you think the neighbors saw me? " I asked.
Deborah smiled, "Oh, without a doubt…not only were they watching…
but they had their cameras out."

Seeing a smile on my face that evening Deborah asked what I was thinking about
"Oh, " I said, "not much."
I was just thinking how some yellow jackets showed the whole neighborhood…
I still had dance moves…You Can't Touch.