the Rat Pack

to be one of the rats

        of their pack,

        hang out with Sinatra, Dean Martin,

Sammy Davis Jr., Peter Lawford,

        be on that stage at the Sands Hotel & Casino

        in the Las Vegas

Strip,

        a glass of bourbon in one hand, a cigarette

burning from my lower lip,

        sing some mellow song and tap

        dance

        and joke around,

        wink life

        away,

        have as pets Marilyn, Angie, Shirley (Maclaine, not

        Temple),

        all

        that

        jazz,

        and

yet

who am I

kiddin’,

        I’m but a (godless) church

mouse