By Stuart Shea
Melky built a website and he tried to wipe his hands.
Melky’s gonna hear it from the stands.
Melky’s been suspended and his name is in the mud.
Melky signed a contract with his blood.
Carpe Tomorrow ?
by Barbara Gregorich
Now pales
beside Next.
Call waiting
beats call existing
.         every time.
Blue-star
free agents
glow brighter
than earthbound
team members
.         every time.
Never had
call waiting,
but if I did
I’d ignore it
.         every time.
I cheer
the team
that takes
the field —
and not the one
some baron’s
scheming.
.              Every time.
Barbara’s new book, Jack and Larry, chronicles the love affair between Cleveland slugger Jack Graney and Larry, the team’s American bull terrier mascot (the only live mascot ever used by a major league team) in verse form. Read more about it and order a copy here.
The Crowd at the Ball Game
by William Carlos Williams
The crowd at the ball game
is moved uniformly
by a spirit of uselessness
which delights them —
all the exciting detail
of the chase
and the escape, the error
the flash of genius —
all to no end save beauty
the eternal –
So in detail they, the crowd,
are beautiful
for this
to be warned against
saluted and defied —
It is alive, venomous
it smiles grimly
its words cut —
The flashy female with her
mother, gets it —
The Jew gets it straight – it
is deadly, terrifying —
It is the Inquisition, the
Revolution
It is beauty itself
that lives
day by day in them
idly —
This is
the power of their faces
It is summer, it is the solstice
the crowd is
cheering, the crowd is laughing
in detail
permanently, seriously
without thought
From The Collected Poems of William Carlos Williams Vol 1:1909-1939 (New Directions Publishing Corporation ). Copyright by New Directions Publishing Corporation.
Order in the Bleachers
by James Finn Garner
Three cheers for Justice Sotomayor!
The “wise Latina” knows what summer break’s for.
She’s not with Dick Cheney, slaughtering birds,
Or at a think-tank retreat with blue-suited nerds.
Sonia got the hell out of Washington quickly
Went up to the Bronx and, not being picky,
Bought a ticket and dog, and hunkered down grinning
In the right field bleachers with a guy named “Bald Vinnie”
She cheered while her Bombers flattened the O’s,
Heckled Zach Britton and lauded Cano.
While it’s doubtful this impacts much of her work,
I think she should hire Bald Vinnie as clerk.
Red Sox vs. The Yankees
by Stephen Jones
Cleats in the dirt.
But what’s that worth?
Win-loss meaningless
when rivalry assessed.
Forget any “Why/Wherefore” sense
& just figure it’s dugout justice.