CAPTAIN AMERICA / PAUL MCDONALD

Captain America showed up
To Dave and Tiffany’s wedding.
An ‘A’ on his forehead,
Star on his shield, red boots and gloves.
At first I thought it must be fancy dress
But his smile betrayed the truth:
His patriotic teeth.
He settled on the groom’s side,
Two pews from the back,
His shield upon his knees.
He knew the words to hymns
And sang like Smokey Robinson.
As rings were swapped he shed a tear.
Outside he charmed the ladies,
Threw stars and stripes confetti,
And posed for photographs.
He looked cool on the snaps:
In one he wore his shield
Like an Asian peasant’s hat.

Paul McDonald runs the Creative Writing programme at the University of Wolverhampton. He is the author of a dozen books of fiction poetry and criticism. His scholarly work focuses on literary humour, and he takes a perverse pleasure in the fact that Googling ‘the oldest joke in the world’ throws up several hundred pages with his name,  Paul McDonald.