Fantasy Baseball Nightmare

by James Finn Garner

Signing up for another hitch
To field a nine to hit and pitch
My squad last year just up and died
Reckless with my baseball pride

Where’s my Mantle off the farm?
My rotation always finds bum arms
And my whizbang keystone pair
Can muster neither clue nor prayer

.    In my fog all the stats
.    Become an acronym loop
.    WHIP, FIP, GO/AO, BABIP–
.    Wait, isn’t BABIP Korean soup?

Every morning, I link in,
Despite my trades, always sinking.
Why should I let it get me down?
Someone’s gotta be the Browns.

Phil Whalen, Zen Master, Meets Orlando Cepeda, First Buddhist Elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame

by Mikhail Horowitz

Does a Baby Bull have Buddha nature?

Not even the wind,
fluttering prayer flags
in the abandoned grandstand,
can say.

Peanuts and popcorn
in your begging bowl,
a pinecone nestled snugly
in your glove.

How many times being hit by a pitch
until you gained enlightenment?

379 homers? Or
379 drops of rain
pelting a temple bell?

Photo by the author’s sister.

A Spring Blossom

by Robert Ripley

From 1909. Ripley went on to create the syndicated Ripley’s Believe It or Not! in 1918. Thanks to the tumblr account of Mighty Flynn.