Reddy for This?

At the edge of night I’m a sailor’s delight,

At the crack of morning, a sailor’s warning,

I’m ketchup on a burger, sauce on spaghetti,

A souped-up vehicle for Andretti.

Bell pepper on a salad as a break from green,

I’m the nails and lips of a beauty queen.

I’m a fox’s coat, though hounds can’t see me,

Valentines and roses that make her feel dreamy.

I’m what men see when their anger boils

And with sweat and tears in all their toils.

I’m a phone a CEO or “prez” kept handy,

Or an apple, especially dipped in candy.

Cherry lifesavers or cinnamon “hots,”

I’m in slasher films by buckets and pots.

In old brick walls and Mississippi clay,

I’m striped all over Independence Day

On sunburnt bodies at your nearest beach

And blushing faces when preachers preach,

In a jell-o mold, on MacDonald’s barn,

Rubber galoshes and mittens of yarn,

I’m the ruby slippers Dorothy clicked

And the velvet cake whose frosting you licked.

On the Coke can you ought to have recycled

And the comb atop every hen that’s cackled,

I’m the shirt of a doomed security guard

And the phone booth outside Scotland Yard.

I’m Elmo’s fur, Thing One and Thing Two,

And the sexy dress on You-know-who!

  

Poinsettias, tulips and a drink named “Bull,”

Fire trucks and hydrants forever full,

Strawberries, M&M’s, dying embers,

Cabooses almost no one remembers,

Radio Flyer childhood wagons

And the fiery eyes and breath of dragons,

Stop signs, double decker buses,

Lucy’s hair over which she fusses,

I’m a long carpet at a world premiere,

And butcher’s meat making vegans jeer.

The hood on a wee girl who met a wolf,

And the caps sports sport when playing golf,

I’m watermelon flesh so juicy sweet

And adorn an old Schwinn’s bicycle seat.

A good bet on the roulette wheel,

I’m on robes to whose wearers many kneel.

The very tallest trees are named for me,

And Communist flags fit me to a tee.

I’m the petticoat Rhett Butler bought for Mammy

And the Happy Meal box you bought in Miami.

I’m comedians Skelton, Buttons and Foxx,

And for Boston fans,

what else?

I’m the Sox.