Monday, September 13, 2010

Fred Chappell - "Fast Ball"

for Winthrop Watson

The grass raw and electric
as the cat's whiskers.

3 and 2.

At secoond the runner: loiters:
nervous as the corner
junkie: loitering for a connection.

Hunched like the cat, the batters;
his prehensile
bat he curls and uncurls.

The pitcher hitches & hitches.

At last the hitcher pitches.

"It gets about as big," Ty
Cobb said, "as a watermelon seed.
It hisses at you as it passes."

The outfielders prance like kittens
back to the dugout.
They've seen what they're glad they
don't have to worry about.

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