Mr. Superstitious

by Christina Kelly

Your opponent seems so cagey,
His actions are suspicious,
But then you hear his nickname:
It's "Mr. Superstitious".

His rivals are befuddled,
They think he has a nerve,
To bounce the ball ten times,
Before his every serve.

Whenever he changes sides,
He cannot touch a line,
And gawd forbid he sees a cat,
He takes it as a sign.

He touches the screen before a deuce
And whenever he breaks a sweat,
Then twice again on even games
And at the start of every set.

He likes to cross his fingers,
He always knocks on wood,
He tends to talk to his racquet,
If his drives are good.

If he wins his matches,
He will not wash his shirts,
He wears them 'til they're tattered,
Their smell so strong it hurts.

He always reties his shoes
At the start of a tiebreaker,
And if it's really close,
He'll bring out the salt shaker.

Opponents may assume
It's just a quirky habit,
Until they see his paddle bag
And the foot of a furry rabbit.

But his rituals seem to work,
At least they can do no harm,
So for every breakfast
He'll stick to his Lucky Charms.