Baseball Stories (6)

. . . the length of the season is beginning to show on his face as he heads for the plate.  Takes his sign and lays down a bunt along the third base line.  Thrown out at first, a runner advances.  The fans approve of his sacrifice.  The coach smiles.  Only the score keeper remains characteristically unemotional and enters "now batting .445" for the record as if that is all that matters . . .

Baseball Stories (5)

. . . on an 0-2 pitch, he lines a rocket back to the mound . . . when the dust settles, the pitcher is seen laid out on the ground with a smoking hole in his glove as the ball rolls gently to a stop in the manicured grass of the outfield . . . two runs score and the umpire is asked for a ruling . . . you make the call . . .

Baseball Stories (4)

. . . toward the end of a good game gone ugly, he chews confidently and winks at the third base coach as he faces a 2-2 pitch to the heckles of the opposing bench.  A fast ball fouled finds its way to their dugout, careening off all four walls and sending the hecklers to the deck amid the caps and bats and bubble gum wrappers.

"The count is even," declares the umpire.  A vendor makes change for a dollar.  A bachelor decides to ask her to marry.  In his locker, under a towel, rests a long forgotten copy of "The Art of the Foul Ball", with one page missing . . .

He Said She Said

He said, " Were I a woman "
She sighed, " Were I a man "
they held each other
to gently whisper
" I'll give of what I can "

And so the simple sunset
left complex lovers sit
unlike the day before them
they'd found no home in it

For this the uncut diamond
clung to the basic coal
unsure of what's before them
and frightened to be told

Patience

What is becomes





What isn't


hasn't


.