By Stu Shea
Scorecards and pencils
In frostbitten hands,
Cold wind whips like a snake through the stands.
Occasional slats of sunshine
Serve only to bribe us to stay
With their manipulative promises of May.
Hold the Marmol
by Hilary Barta and Jim Siergey
In the East the first pitches are tossed
The Cubs lead while the ground still has frost
. It’s beyond all belief
. But just wait for “relief”
When the Bucs feast on his not-so-hot sauce
Opening Day – Yankee Stadium
by Stephen Jones
The Yankees are tattered —
already players are missing.
Jeter, Teixeira, Hughes,
Granderson . . . and A-Rod
(a “no show” already despite
his $27 million paycheck).
Still, it’s Opening Day.
The sun is bright, the field
manicured and green. The crowd
is excited and passionate.
The first crack of the bat christens
Opening Day as timeless.
This Year Is Next Year!
by Michael X. Ferraro
Opening Day is the greatest of all.
With one measly win, you contemplate Fall.
Multiply that box score by 1-6-2
And bang! Mendoza believes he’s Carew.
.
Michael X. Ferraro lives in Los Angeles, but is penciling in Dom Brown for 324 RBIs this year.
Goodbye, Cruel World, It’s Opening Day
by Hart Seely
The gods place bets with loaded dice,
And all our earthly dreams betray,
But listen to one clown’s advice,
Goodbye, cruel world; it’s opening day.
The politicians scrounge for power,
With consequences we shall pay.
But somewhere, it’s our finest hour,
Goodbye, cruel world; it’s opening day.
Our weary age is full of war,
The daily news brings dark dismay,
So surf the dreams worth living for,
Goodbye, cruel world; it’s opening day.
Hart Seely is the author of The Juju Rules: Or How To Win Ballgames From Your Couch, and also operates the Yankees blog, IT IS HIGH, IT IS FAR, IT IS….caught.