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NINE: A Journal of Baseball History and Culture 13.2 (2005) 120-121



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A Poet Listening to a Baseball Game Late at Night, and Losing Streak

A Poet Listening to a Baseball Game Late at Night

Go Mets. They're leading, 6-0, not a bad way to end the day.
Piazza has recovered nicely from his latest injury. Leiter
has an easy job of it. They're playing the Diamondbacks under a western sky
sparkling with those same stars cowboys see, like a scorecard in May
when the season is young and the team is full of energy,
promising another summer of pleasures on my little radio, a Sony
I bought for only ten bucks, my silvery link to rows of those stars so far away
and near. This piece of paper, that whack of a bat, a rustle, a synergy,
far from my desk and yet close to my heart. Nothing really important. Hey,
they're hitting homers up to the Milky Way. This game is pure poetry. [End Page 120]

Losing Streak

First hurricane of the season.
Water and wind slap windows of the diner.
Here I sit in the diner toying with dinner.
Our howling storm focuses my mind
on how an extra "n" makes the difference
between bacchanalia and banality.
Extra innings. If only, if only my team
had stayed the course. Of course, they lost
the pennant. No deluge of champagne.
Waves of rain cascade down dirty glass.
The outfield grass is beaten down.
Think of analogies. Watery gravy escapes.
This mushy grave cannot contain it.
Mashed potatoes are a dubious mitt against
the torrent. Soon, the eye of the storm.
Puddling. Hunger pokes at the catcher.
Rivulets of moisture slide down a tumbler.
Yet another supper. Super storm, eh?
What do you recommend
for dessert? What for the pain?
Slide, slide, beat a wild throw home.
Mary Kennan Herbert teaches literature and writing courses at colleges in New York City. She is a Brooklynite and a Mets fan. Six collections of her poems have been published, and her work has appeared in many literary journals, including the Elysian Fields Quarterly. One of her poems is included in Line Drives, an anthology of baseball poetry published by Southern Illinois University Press.


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