A Cuban man held up a sign that read “Abajo Fidel” in the backstop of the World Baseball Classic game of Cuba verses the Netherlands. It was plain as day, for the world to see. Cuban officials tried unsuccessfully to get the sign removed from the spot. Instead, the Puerto Rican police escorted the Cuban officials away from the man. I was pretty moved by this demonstration of free speech. Here’s a poem I jotted down that night in my newly christened “Carry-wherever-I-go-book” (After years of keeping one, I still need a better name for it).

¡ABAJO FIDEL!
He holds the sign well,
hot dog in hand,
with a lot of Hormel.

¡ABAJO FIDEL!
A real infidel,
in Cuba he’d be
thrown in a jail cell.

¡ABAJO FIDEL!
Cuba tried to expel
his ass from the game
but removed themselves.

Cuban personnelle
threatened him as well,
saying that they would
beat him to hell.

Over the crowd’s yells
of “Cuba, farewell!”,
the Cuban commotion
Cops tried to dispel.

¡ABAJO FIDEL!
O, there on the telo’
for the world to see
their leader so yellow.

¡ABAJO FIDEL!
We’re lucky we dwell,
in this country where
free speech works so well.