Ringo’s Cap

I visited the small Beatles museum the way
a Buddhist monk reaches the Jokhang Temple, 
elated to be in the presence of his beloved fathers, 

but it was a disappointment for an Argentinian boy 
who received Sgt. Pepper like you receive holy communion,
so I bought the cap that Ringo wore in their first movie, 

a shy young man haunted by fame and young girls
chasing him down Liverpool’s back streets.
Now among the clothes I chose to bid farewell, 

Ringo’s cap is in the bag I’ll give to the good man 
who herds shopping carts at our local supermarket,
although I will regret forsaking Ringo. I wonder 

why an older man surrenders his past loves,
or decides to write a poem about a drummer’s cap, 
but after all, I come from a country used to

hard times, its citizens staring at the bleakness 
of their future, too damn often, too damn much, 
where drummers rarely caught a lucky break.

JUAN PABLO MOBILI

Juan Pablo Mobili was born in Buenos Aires and adopted by New York. He has published extensively in the United States, as well as internationally. He’s a recipient of several Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net nominations. His chapbook Contraband was published in 2022. In 2025, he was appointed Poet Laureate of Rockland County, New York.