Bright Yellow Egg Yolks

 Bright Yellow Egg Yolks

By Mushroom Montoya

He, the me that really knew,

Pulled my shoulders up and back,

Lifted my chin just enough 

To look proper and prim,

 

With highly polished shoes,

A uniform of lintless Navy dress blues,

To be more than ready 

For the morning inspection.

 

I stood at attention

Remembering Mrs. Johnson,

My favorite teacher of all time,

Lining us, second graders,

Side by side,

Choosing one of us each day

To be the inspector of 

Our bodies, 

And our clothes,

 

Making sure we were clean

From our head to our toes.

And giving us a gold star 

Or a yellow dot 

If we passed muster.

And here I stood, 

Looking so darn handsome,

In my lintless Navy dress blues,

Waiting for the Chief to get to me,

To inspect my face, my eyes, and ears,

To see his reflection 

In my highly polished shoes

That I had spent the night before

Spit shining with Kiwi shoe polish 

And my own real sweat and spit.

While the Navy Chief was still

Three or four or maybe even five

Sailors away from me,

He, the me that really knows,

Told me a joke

About a bright yellow egg yolk,

Who hung around with no folk,

All by himself in his tiny round room 

That no doors and no windows.

He prayed for friends.

He prayed for freedom

To break free 

From his isolation.

His prayers were answered

With a crack to his shell.

He landed next to a friend

In a sizzling frying pan.

And then I started to laugh.

And the closer the chief got to me,

The more obvious it was to see,

My laughing was going to get me

In trouble.

So, when the chief arrived,

Staring into my eyes,

With a big mean frown,

Asking, “What’s so damn funny?”

All I could think about

Was the bright yellow egg yolk

Stuck in his shell

With no way to get out.

Struggle as I might,

I just couldn’t stop,

Except to say, 

“I’m just in a good mood, Sir.”

While thinking in my head,

This is really stupid,

Having a grown man,

Inspecting me,

another grown man,

As if I were a second grader,

To see if I am clean enough

To earn a gold star, 

Or just a yellow dot.

After inspection,

I wondered if I would get

Fresh fried eggs

With bright yellow egg yolks

For breakfast.