by F.X. Flinn
Escobar slashing launching
the booming start
like a kid’s first rocket
the pill going suborbital
speeding to splashdown
in deepest left center
two destroyers of hits
a joint Cuban – Ecotopian op
the fog of roar leaves
them blind to signals
the payload misses
the web deployed
in an instant they see
the horsehide capsule spinning
on the surface and then it’s gone
like Grissom’s Liberty Bell 7
Escobar breaks the siege
races home and later
on the bench winded
applies a pinch on his arm
Like, like!
This got the attention of the Brit who organizes “Pynchon in Public Day” on May 8. He praised it, even though he didn’t know much about baseball. We’ve been Tweeting back and forth all morning.
I understand the poem better than the book. Bravo!