Poems by Michael Ceraolo
1. Ernest Lawrence Thayer
Because I signed the work "Phin",
as I did all my newspaper verse,
over the years it allowed others
to claim credit for the poem,
though I believe I finally succeeded
in establishing my authorship
Later generations
might describe me as a one-hit wonder
as a way to denigrate the work,
but the excellence of the poem
can withstand any criticism
2. Jack Norworth
Since most know only the chorus,
they might be surprised to find out
that I wouldn't be surprised by female fans:
in the original version Katie Casey
is who wants to be taken out to the ball game,
and twenty years later, to get a new copyright,
Nelly Kelly is the fan demanding the same
You know, baseball people and show people
traveled in the same social circles
and often attended each other's events,
and I was no exception to this
But it made for a much better story
to say I had never been to a game when I wrote the song,
and the reporters bought my nonsense
"Michael Ceraolo is a 62-year-old retired firefighter/paramedic and active poet who has had two full-length books (Euclid Creek, from Deep Cleveland Press; 500 Cleveland Haiku, from Writing Knights Press) published, and has two more (Euclid Creek Book Two,from unbound content press; Lawyers, Guns, and Money, from Writing Knights Press) in the publication pipeline."