The Center

by Paul Kocak

The center, it did hold
Promise and potential
Glittering as three golden rings
Twelve years as the beating heart
Of forged trial and triumph
Leaping exaltations
Hugging exclamations
Victors’ arms aloft
As gladiators parade
Down Market Street
And Main Street, Everywhere

Our avatar of success
Is silhouetted behind the plate
A catcher fair and famed
The center of the storm
An oracle of swing or miss
Each pitch thus framed
By one so named
Gerald Dempsey Posey III
Buster, to us
Forever young
Forever loved
A giant among Giants
Hanging up the cleats
Headed home

Paul Kocak is the author of Baseball’s Starry Night and World Serious, as well as the poetry collections Rounding Third and Tipp Hill Litanies. His memoir Chasing Willie Mays is a must-read for Giants fans. Check out all his books at his Amazon page here.

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