I Am Danny Herrera

We all remember the class clown. The excitement as the period begins, because we can't wait to see what he'll do today. We are all putty in his hands, and a simple raise of his eyebrows will have us squirming in our seats and soar sides from the heartiest laughter we've had all day. "I can't believe he just said that" is escaping our lips so often it should have frequent flyer miles. Sometimes the class clown seems like the sole reason that we stay sane. My class clown is Danny Herrera, but really, this is for all of them:

I am Danny Herrera.
I am the one who says "no" to detention.
I am the kid your friends are talking about.
Yes, I am that kid with the hipster glasses.
I am the butt of the jokes, but I'm also the one dishing them out.
I am the curator of laughter.
I am the king's finest court jester.
I am the onion ring that slipped into your carton of fries.
I am the one who walks away from almost certain demise
Without looking back.
I am the flamingo in a flock of pigeons, and the tuna slip-streaming against the current.
I am as cool as my loafers, cuffed jeans, collared shirt and bobbing head suggests.

You all know me.
You all know what I let you see.

But outside of this classroom
Where everything goes
And Danny Herrera knows just how to pinch all of our rosy round cheeks into smiles
He's really just a mystery.

No one knows where The Wild Thing goes.
And no one bothers to ask
Because we know he would tell us if we did
And we can't risk knocking our two-in-one class clown and class fool
Off of the pedestal where we placed him
With a strong hit of reality.

So we contain him in our own little Neverland
Where he will always be our Peter Pan
To supply us with all the shenanigans and make-believes we desperately need
Because it's the last period of the day
And after all our honors and APs
Nothing's better than a little taste of joy
No one's going to look behind the curtain with the chance to discover
That our Peter Pan is really just a Lost Boy.

No, he is Danny Herrera.
He is the guy with the head-back, booming, ridiculous laugh
He is the wind in our sail, the pep in our step, the cat-nip behind the crazy
He is the guy everyone is looking for, but will never find
He is the last masterpiece left uncovered by da Vinci

He has charm so contagious, they had to create a vaccine for it
He has been asked by alien abductors to probe them
His legend precedes him the way lightening precedes thunder
If he forgets to put postage on a letter, it will still get there
If it is raining, it's because he is thinking of something sad
His blood smells like cologne
His hands feel like rich brown suede

He is the most interesting man in the world.
And we will stay thirsty.

~Kat