At incredible age of 250 B.C.,
ripped Vinny Darbenzio put on
the last trousers and flannel shirt
made at Woolrich, Inc., Plum Run, PA,
and began to run Steamtown Marathon,
October 11, 2015.
O my god, I can not believe what I saw!
Out of Forest City fog and out of protest,
and instead of going south to Scranton,
Vinny ambled north on Route 171,
toward losing destination, Ithaca New York!
Irked by ever rising corruption, crime, & taxes,
Vinny panted and limped, he’s tired of things,
he’s angry, convinced,
“there’s dirty war waged against
Northeast Pennsylvania Rat Race Runners.”
Along way to Ithaca finishing-line,
no high school bands played for Vinny,
no spectators cheered his huff puff pace…,
But then again, I knew he was in-the-boonies,
and only a doe, hidden in a closure
of fallen pine needles, watched Vinny run.
Upon entering Ithaca,
(29th Sunday in Ordinary Time),
all inhabitants asleep wherever they
may be, in dreams irredeemable.
Suddenly, a storm drain gate opened
and Mayor Pheidippides rose from within,
and bestowed a $25 trespassing ticket on him!
Vinny tripped, fell on face, got up gingerly,
cackled, “Thanks for screwing me, Mr. Mayor,”
and he victoriously went into Moonies Bar.
Yo, I’m like, can all this be unreal, pray tell?
Why after all, I’m a 1960s “loser”
brought up (on TV) to believe only Dudley Do-Right
of the Royal Mounties could run the wrong way
and still be a winner.