1936 Wheaties - Series 5

Herm Card - "Between the Lines"

All that prevents him from
devoting his total attention
to the baseball game
is the pile of student writing
between him and the TV,
a stack of cliches and
tired metaphors,
worn out by a thousand previous users,
and abusers,
of the language.

He sifts through the pile
looking for one which will
motivate him to continue on
to a second and a third,
and so forth,
a metaphorical rounding of the bases,
until he has reduced the pile to nothing,
and able to turn his full attention to
the Yankees and Red Sox.

Glancing above his glasses to catch the replay
of Derek Jeter rocking a line drive
off the green monster
and only getting a single,
he ponders the mysterious twist of baseball fate
that penalizes a player for hitting a ball
too hard,
like he is penalizing himself for caring
too much,
about grading these papers.

So he pores over them
with the Fenway crowd noise
as background
until he chances across a phrase
which makes him grab the remote
and click the ball game into darkness
and stare at the screen
to see the image which had leapt off
the page in front of him
far more vivid than the night-game-green
of Fenway's infield,
reverberating louder than
the crack of Derek's bat.

Conrad Hilberry - "Stop Action"

Slowly as in an underwater dance
the shortstop dips to take the ball
on a low hop, swings back his arm, balancing
without thought, all muscles intending
the diagonal to the first baseman's glove.

As the ball leaves his hand, the action stops —
and, watching, we feel a curious poignancy,
a catch in the throat. It is not this play only.
Whenever the sweet drive is stopped
and held, our breath wells up like the rush

of sadness or longing we sometimes feel
without remembering the cause of it.
The absolute moment gathers the surge
and muscle of the past, complete,
yet hurling itself forward — arrested
here between its birth and perishing.

Peanuts Lowrey

Wikipedia - "Harry Lee 'Peanuts' Lowrey (August 27, 1917 — July 2, 1986) was an American outfielder in Major League Baseball who played for the Chicago Cubs (1942-43, 1945-49), Cincinnati Reds (1949-50), St. Louis Cardinals (1950-54) and Philadelphia Phillies (1955)."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Jeff Worley - "Biographical Note"

In the first game
of a twi-night
double-header,
July 10, 1947,
recovering alcoholic
Donald P. Black
of the Cleveland Indians,
only moments before
I slid safely into
the world,
fired a final
belt-high heater
that rookie
Ferris Burrhead Fain
waved goodbye to
for a no-hit,
no-run game,
rode the shoulders
of his team
into the dugout,
and disappeared
into the brightest bars
in the city forever.

Rina Ferrarelli - "Crowd at the Stadium"

bits of flesh color patches
of bright cloth stitched
together in rows in the old
fan pattern: a quilt
that rises in waves
with every cheering wind

1974 Street & Smith's Yearbook

Conrad Hilberry - "Instruction"

The coach has taught her how to swing,
run bases, slide, how to throw
to second, flip off her mask for fouls.

Now, on her own, she studies
how to knock the dirt out of her cleats,
hitch up her pants, miss her shoulder
with a streaam of spit, bump
her fist into her catcher's mitt,
and stare incredulously at the ump.

John Poff - "Baseball Sestina (for Enos Slaughter)"

An ancient North Carolinian broke off a plug of tobacco
And said, "When you get to the ballpark,
First thing you do is check which way the wind is blowing,
And then get yourself a good ball to hit." I took that native
Advice to heart, but it was years before I felt it in my hands.
You see, I rode the bus; he took the railroad.

The ocean is a whale-highway, but America is a railroad.
Many times I’ve crossed it, rolling my own tobacco
Into homemade cigarettes, cupping there in my hand
The eternal promise of addiction, a park
That’s beautiful, filled with hope and native
Flowers, but always just around some corner, blowing

Out of reach like this smoke is blowing
Across the continent. At ten I played ball down by the railroad.
The leather and dirt and grass and wood provided a native
Thrill. My dad sat in the stands smoking tobacco.
Did his thoughts ever run out past the parked
Cars, out to a whole world he once hoped to hold in his hand?

Once I hit a home run and the audience gave me a hand.
As I circled the bases, I felt the wind blowing
Across my every molecule. This was a new park
To be in, fantastic, like a railroad
To the sky. When original Americans smoked tobacco,
America was like this, something tremendous, a native

Splendor. That first home run is with me yet, a nativity
Scene enshrined in memory. If my wrinkled, weathered hands
Now shake, still I remember. Pass the tobacco.
Sometimes I think what was once me is now blowing
Far off, on the other side of the railroad
Where we used to play. A graveyard is also a park.

We drove all night to get to Cleveland and parked
Six blocks from the stadium. The natives
Rushed to sell us junk and we felt railroaded
By the ticket-takers. Still, through the prism of clapping hands,
I see myself there, one moment real, one moment blowing
Into nothingness, like a dream of Indian tobacco.

There is a park where natives and invaders smoke the same tobacco,
Where the sound of one hand clapping is known,
And where the wind blowing and the railroad whistle are the same.

Steve Barber

Wikipedia - "Stephen David Barber (February 22, 1938 - February 4, 2007) was an American left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball from 1960 to 1974, best known for his years with the Baltimore Orioles. In 1963 he became the first pitcher of the modern Orioles to win 20 games in a season."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Dan McCullough

entering
the batter's box
afternoon shadows


__________



during
the pop-up
full moon


__________



shooting star...
promptly picked off
second base


_________


first lightning
the shortstop
flashes leather

Stephen Cormany - "Sorcery in the Event"

The Black Hole of Calcutta
Was last seen up close in 1967
In a game between Baltimore and Detroit
At Tiger Stadium.
Ed Brinkman was at bat and
Steve Barber on the mound for the Orioles.
The mirage was brief:
The Taj Mahal shat itself
Free of the British Navy,
Winston Churchill and Mahatma Ghandi
Dove for cover,
And Brooks Robinson re-emered at third base.
Later, he admitted to chewing Red Man tobacco,
Accepted a stiff fine,
And promised to turn over a new leaf.

The Negro Leagues; Playing in a Shadow

Mark Chiarello
"A Docudrama about the Triumph and Tragedy of the Negro Leagues." YouTube.
Wikipedia - Leon Day

Doug Fahrendorff - "Field of Dreams"

Not only in Dyersville but
Anywhere baseball is played
Is a field of dreams
A cornfield
From which heroes
Emerge and disappear at will
May not border every outfield
Dreams are not that different
In heaven
Or Iowa

Lawrence Welk

"A 1-2-3 double play. This occurs when the bases are loaded and the batter hits a ground ball to the pitcher (No. 1 position), who throws it to the catcher (No.2 position) to force out the runner coming home from third, and who then throws it to the first baseman (position 3), who steps on first to force the batter out."
Suite 101 Baseball

Lynn Rigney Schott - "Souvenirs"

To my daughter, born February 6, Babe Ruth’s birthday

In 1928 my grandfather gave a baseball
signed by Babe Ruth
to my father, who was ten.
Such balls travelled around by the dozen
in the Babe’s suitcase and arrived
eventually in many small hands.
Dad grew up on Frisbee Street in Oakland
and there were never enough baseballs
in the neighborhood, so this one became
a game ball, not a collector’s item.
By the end of a season it was so scuffed
up that the autograph just wore off
the horsehide, disappearing under so many
groundballs, so many slaps of the bat.
But all those pitches, those double-play
balls, those afternoons in the sand lot
never faded, only sharpened
his reflexes and his ambition and his boyish
love of this game that became the indelible
signature written all over my father’s life.

Chico Carrasquel

Wikipedia - "Alfonso Carrasquel Colón (January 23, 1928 – May 26, 2005) was a Venezuelan shortstop in Major League Baseball. Listed at 6' 0", 190 lb., Carrasquel batted and threw right-handed. He was born in Caracas. The first in a great line of Venezuelan Major League shortstops, Carrasquel was also the first Hispanic American All-Star in Major League history. His uncle Alex Carrasquel and his nephew Cris Colón also played in the majors."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Kristin M. Betzler - "Going Home"

The fans in the stands cheered
Sun illuminated the field of play
And the green grass swayed in the wind.
The brown dust settled on my white pants
As the fielders took their stance
The pitcher glared at me, grinding her teeth.
I tapped the aluminum bat against my spikes
And I took my stance.
I shut my mind down and
Concentrated only on the white
Sphere hurtling toward me
I swung my bat in
A perfect arch
There was a reassuring
THUNK
As bat mated with ball.
A jolt ran up my shoulders
And I stood transfixed
As the ball flew over
The heads of the
Infielders
Outfielders
The crowd roared as
That perfect ball
Sailed over
The white, picket fence.

Minor League Baseball Game, Casper, Wyoming.

Louis Phillips - "Godot in Midlands, Texas"

Even in Texas, where humans & cattle
Are spaced far apart,
Failure has a way of catching up with us.
Estragon & Vladimir know, &
Everybody in the minor leagues knows
That life is a place where you wait & wait & wait,
That in some parts of the human heart
It is always 150 degrees in the shade.
Here I am, one more season
With the Midland Rockhounds,
When all I want to do is play in the Majors,
Leave behind Christensen Stadium &
Take the next plane to Oakland
Where a million dollars is just another pay day.
Troy Glaus started here, & Jim Edmonds,
It takes a will of iron to survive,
To survive even in our fantasies
The narrati o fabulosa of a Nolan Ryan fastball,
The stuff of legends. On October 25, 1820,
In another universe, not a parallel one,
Ralph Waldo Emerson inscribed in his journal:
"I need excitement." I need excitement too.
Everybody needs a bit of excitement.
Greg Martinez is taking batting practice, &
Curt Young, the pitching coach,
Is waving at me to begin my warm-ups.
My whole life has been a warm-up for this moment, &
Like rookies on this roster I'm tired of waiting.
Now the Rockhound fans straggle in.
They're waiting too, waiting for the game to begin.

Vada Pinson

Wikipedia - "Vada Edward Pinson, Jr. (August 11, 1938, Memphis, Tennessee - October 21, 1995, Oakland, California) was an American center fielder and coach in Major League Baseball. Pinson played in the major leagues for 18 years, from 1958 through 1975, and his greatest seasons were with the Cincinnati Redlegs/Reds, for whom he played from 1958–68."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Alan Steinberg - "as if it were"

Cricket night:
walking in the lamplight,
me dog. Four and me
picking up the smell
of wet and yellow summer weeds
in the small and dark
vacant lot
which was the sandbox of
my Brooklyn Dodger days
when Edwin Donald Snider plays
the centerfield of life,
and always leaps against the dark black wall
of Ebbets Field and me
to snatch a round white ball
from unprotected hands
reaching eager from stands
then trots across the crayon grass
with the peanut hotdog popcorn breeze
billowing his Friday-night silky-shirt
pushing at that big blue number 4
until he sits down in the dugout
and draws my silky heart some more
every Brooklyn, crayon, peanut breezy night
into those rich but over days
when I played sneaker-footed ballgames
of my own, Edwin Donald Snidering
in this wet and weeded lot
and, walking later, Four and me
whiffed the summer streets
wet with summer rain
and I thought of love again and again
as if it were a Dodger Game
at Ebbets Field which
the Dodgers didn't win.

David Elliott

Shielding his eyes
with his baseball glove...
first geese


__________


Empty bleachers
on the freshly raked baseline
pigeon tracks

Rogers Hornsby

Wikipedia - "Rogers Hornsby (April 27, 1896 – January 5, 1963), nicknamed 'The Rajah', was a Major League Baseball second baseman and manager. Hornsby's first name, Rogers, was his mother's maiden name. He spent the majority of his playing career with the St. Louis Cardinals, though he also had short stints with the Chicago Cubs, the Boston Braves, and the New York Giants, and he ended his career as the player-manager of the St. Louis Browns."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Michael J. Bielawa - "Beisbol's Arrival"

how did baseball first
arrive
in these southern worlds
and then return North
reinvented rich aromatic coffee dark fresh as rain

beisbol
before visas & passports
an Americano wading through jungle
under a panama hat
during gold rush daze or
aboard ship
unloaded at hazy evening dockside
flambeaux illuminated
clipper's crew on
drunken leave
swinging beer and denuded
banana stalk in jest
jostling warped dock boards
below bare feet running
to an imaginary first base

the game actually stops with each hit
(experienced fielders reminding a batter
who'd never played before
to...
RUN!)

imagine the thoughts
in the eyes of this first
Latino youth
stepping from damp shadows of a
curtained doorway
somewhere a baby crying at his back
striding toward
an unfamiliar sailor or would-be forty-niner
taking the makeshift bat (maybe a pick-ax handle)
in calloused hands
squinting at the blonde pitcher

summoning future spirits
Adolfo Luque
Minnie Minoso
Cepada, Cookie, Clemente
Carew, Valenzuela
rubbing the bat with such small hands
unknowingly molding the future

Ball Four

Wikipedia - "Ball Four is a book written by former Major League Baseball pitcher Jim Bouton in 1970. The book is a diary of Bouton's 1969 season, spent with the Seattle Pilots (during the club's only year in existence) and then the Houston Astros following a late-season trade. In it Bouton also recounts much of his baseball career, spent mainly with the New York Yankees. Despite its controversy at the time, with baseball commissioner Bowie Kuhn's attempts to discredit it and label it as detrimental to the sport, it is considered to be one of the most important sports books ever written and the only sports-themed book to make the New York Public Library's 1996 list of Books of the Century."
Wikipedia

Cup of Coffee

Cup of Coffee. Refers to a brief stint in the major leagues. Example: “Catcher Crash Davis was in the majors with the Baltimore Orioles for a cup of coffee at the end of the 1983 season.”
Baseball Slang Dictionary

Stephen Cormany - "The Boudreau Shift"

On one side
It was like a church school picnic
All the ringers had attended
On the other ...
The hot corner of Pluto

Gary Gildner - "In My Meanest Daydream"

I am throwing hard again
clipping corners, shaving
letters, dusting off
the heavy sticker crowding clean-up
clean down to his smelly socks -
& when my right spike hits
the ground he's had his look
already & gets
hollow in the belly -
in my meanest daydream I let fly
a sweet steam of spit, my catcher
pops his mitt
& grins
& calls me baby.

1942 East-West All Star Game Ticket Stub

Negro League Baseball Players Association

Thomas Michael McDade - "Ted Williams - Still Smiling"

I was the one
in the Navy
but my baseball cards
went AWOL.

Thirty years later
I replaced them
settling for a '55
Ted with corners rounded
like an ace of clubs.

I plunked down $38.00
even though creases
indicated a string
of Yankee fans
abusing it
for stress of hex
when the rivalry
was in session.

Ted was still smiling
and so was I.

The '54 Ted that Topps
numbered "1"
that year had a
tiny "v" clipped out
of a corner
reminding me
of books and records
selling cheap,
but I paid $75.00
despite the evidence
of counting
spokes on bicycle wheels.

Ted was still smiling
as if he were mint -
screwed down in plastic
thick enough
to dome a stadium.

Donna J. Gelagotos Lee - "Winter at the Ball Field"

The ball field
stretches out into
the park, its baselines
long legs.
In the armchair of winter
it relaxes, the tracks
of birds and small
animals tripping up
the baseline. The sun
opens itself
fully overhead
like the home run
of summer. I am sitting
on the bleachers. I have
dusted off a seat. The
wind cheers for me
as I watch the memory
of summer white out.

1949 Bowman

Frank Shea
Vintage Card Traders

Mikhail Horowitz - "All-Zen Team"

1st b. - Sadaharu Oh*
2nd b. - Johnny Tample
SS - Johnnie LeMaster
3rd b. - Buddy Bell

OF - Jim Rice
OF - Wally Moon
OF - Gil Coan

C - Les Moss

P - Wilbur Wood
P - Steve Stone
P - Bill Stoneman
P - Ken Clay
P - Glenn Abbott

*as in OH! - Satori

Nancy Pham - "Baseball: a Poem"

Baseball is a simple game,
It's hard to find someone who does not know the name,
of Ruth or Gehrig or Mays
baseball can go back to the days
of horse drawn, up to horsepower
an amusement used to pass the hours
and minutes, and days, through a lifetime
like mine
the wonderful joy of horsehide on cowhide
the bat on the ball
spikes on the bag
dirt in your palms
grass under your feet
the white of the lines
the black on the plate
the mound, that's just there
the cap on your head
the wood in your hands
the perfect throw from center to home
from third to first
or that little flip from short to second
to complete
the most beautiful thing in the game
the double play
one…then two
perfection
like 90 feet in a faultless diamond
or 60 feet 6 in between
it's exciting,
the rundown
the homer
the triple
or triple play
the double down the left field line
the stolen base
or pickoff
it's boring,
the walk
the force play
the infield fly rule,
the ground-rule double
it's the stuff dreams are made of
Game 7
Bottom of the 9th
2 outs
bases loaded
and you hit the game winning homer
nothing
nothing
nothing
is better than that
nothing is better than baseball
a pure pastime
a childhood memory
a grown passion

Lee Gurga

pitching change
a butterfly follows a wave
through the upper deck

____________


hangovers in suits
climb onto the team bus
summer morning

The Curse of Rocky Colavito

Wikipedia - "The Curse of Rocky Colavito is a phenomenon that supposedly prevents the Cleveland Indians baseball team from winning, be it the World Series, the American League pennant, reaching postseason play, or even getting into a pennant race. Its origin is traced back to the unpopular trade of right fielder Rocky Colavito for Harvey Kuenn in 1960. It is a classic example of an urban legend or a scapegoat for the Indians' past failures."
Wikipedia - The Curse of Rocky Colavito

Mark VanPutten - "Letter to Richard Hugo from Washington, D.C."

Dear Dick:
Though we met only once,
The intimacy of your letter-poems
Emboldens me to address you so.
Though hung over, you and Ripley were so very kind
That Sunday morning thirty years ago
When I showed up, uninvited, at your home in Missoula.
We sat in your backyard drinking iced tea talking of baseball and poetry,
Laughing about Seattle’s new team and Ray Oyler’s strange trek
From the Tigers to the Pilots to the Safeway loading dock.
Somehow, it doesn’t seem funny any more
Now that Denny McClain’s serving Slurpees after hard time for mail fraud,
Mickey Lolich sold his donut shop to do time on baseball fantasy cruises,
And the emptiness between Hughes and Jarrell on Borders’ shelves
Where once your books stood.
The only joke my new town triggers
Are the eleven-dollar crabcakes at the ballpark
And arguments over parking and concession revenues.
Seriously, I miss the clarity of your voice from Montana
And the honesty of the obstructed view seats in the old Tiger Stadium.
Fondly, Mark

The Polo Grounds, New York, 1887

Paul B. Janeczko - "After the Game"

Bases yanked.
Infield groomed.
Tarp pulled
to the edge of the outfield grass,
smoothed.
Lowered flags folded.
Hisst, hisst, hisst of brooms
sweeping aisles and ramps.

Section by section,
the lights go out
until the field is dark,
and the ghosts of players
gone
to other lives
long
for another game
on that sweet diamond.

Mickael Ketchek

forsythia
the sound of a ball
striking a bat

______


dog days of summer
twenty-three games
out of first

______


struck out
the long walk home
in the dusk

Sixto Lezcano

Wikipedia - "Sixto Joaquin Lezcano Curras (born November 28, 1953 in Arecibo, Puerto Rico) is a retired baseball player who played for 12 seasons as an outfielder in the Major Leagues between 1974 and 1985. He played for 5 different teams in the Majors and won a Gold Glove during his career. Lezcano was originally signed as an amateur in 1970 by the Milwaukee Brewers."
Wikipedia, Baseball Reference

Mary Kennan Herbert - "Night Baseball, 1947"

Enos Slaughter in left field
Musial in right field
the pitcher
warming up to the sound
of my brother's heartbeat
my father's voice
it is a lost July night in St. Louis
and my dress flutters behind me
as we run to catch a streecar
after the game

1952 Topps Baseball Card Set

"The 1952 Topps Baseball Card set was the first mainstream set issued by the Topps Gum Company and far surpassed all earlier sets in size, quality and quantity. The giant sized cards symbolized America’s new postwar prosperity and became an instant hit with collectors and set a new benchmark for the hobby."
Dean’s Cards

Pritchard Baseball Game. Alene, Idaho

Richard Brautigan - "A Baseball Game"

Baudelaire went
to a baseball game
and bought a hot dog
and lit up a pipe
of opium.
The New York Yankees
were playing
the Detroit Tigers.
In the fourth inning
an angel committed
suicide by jumping
off a low cloud.
The angel landed
on second base,
causing the
whole infield
to crack like
a huge mirror.
The game was
called on
account of
fear.

Gerard John Conforti

With a full count
the batter misses a hard fastball
dust from the catcher's glove

____________


a blimp
above the baseball stadium
floats by the moon

Pete Runnels

Wikipedia - "Runnels was born in Lufkin, Texas. A master at handling the bat, he was a notorious singles hitter who had one of the best eyes in the game, compiling an outstanding 1.35 walk-to-strikeout ratio (844-to-627). Altogether, he batted over .300 six times, once with the Senators, five with the Red Sox. Despite winning the batting title in 1960, he just drove in 35 runs, a record low for a batting title winner."
Wikipedia

Paul Marion - "Spring Fever"

Last Sunday in February.
Neighbors lean on warm cars.
Snow pulls away from the grass.

At the corner variety store
kids huddle out front,
hustle off, scattering
baseball card wrappers
colorful as April tulips.

Kyle Lee Williams - "True Story"

I
left her standing
on 42nd Street
pointing at the huge
SONY screen, she said
He's dead! He's
Dead! Did you just see
that! up there! Mickey Mantle.
He just died! I just saw that,
just now. Right here. While I was
standing here next to you.

Just now? I said
isn't that something
The Mick
an era

Jimmie "The Colonel" Crutchfield

Wikipedia - "John William Crutchfield, born May 25, 1910 in Ardmore, Missouri, United States – died March 31, 1993 in Chicago, Illinois, was an All-Star baseball player in Negro League baseball. A right outfielder, at 5' 7" tall, and with a small frame, Jimmie Crutchfield made up for any physical shortcomings with a natural talent for the game and speed, both of which were backed up by a hard work ethic. Without power, he mastered bat handling to control the placement of the ball through a hit or a bunt that consistently provided for a good batting average."
Wikipedia

Fred Chappell - "Junk Ball"

By the time it gets to the plate
it's got weevils and termites.

Trying to hit Wednesday with a bb gun.

Sunday.

Or curves like a Chippendale leg or
flutters like a film unsprocketed or
plunges like Zsa Zsa's neckling or
sails away as coy as Shirley Temple

(or)

Not even Mussolini could make
the sonofabitch arrive on time.

George Swede

empty baseball field
a dandelion seed floats through
the strike zone

Mariano Rivera

Wikipedia - "Mariano Rivera (born November 29, 1969) is a Panamanian professional baseball player who has spent his entire Major League Baseball (MLB) career with the New York Yankees. Nicknamed 'Mo', the right-handed Rivera has served as a relief pitcher for most of his career. His presence in the late innings of games to record the final outs has played an instrumental role in the Yankees' success, particularly the team's late 1990s dynasty. He has won five World Series championships as a Yankee."
Wikipedia

James J. Metcalfe - "A clever runner steals a base."

The game of baseball is the king
Of all the games we play
And it is one pursuit that is
Distinctly U.S.A.
The people swarm into the stands
To watch their favorite teams
And munch their hot dogs when their lungs
Are not engaged in screams
The pitcher hurls the horsehide and
The batter gets a hit
Or else the ball goes sailing and
Some fielder smothers it
A clever runner steals a base
A player takes a walk
Or managers and umpires
Decide to have a talk
The crowd is gay or gloomy or
Completely in suspense
But it goes wild when someone knocks
The ball beyond the fence.

Paul B. Janeczko - "Double Play"

The runner is
a non-swimmer in deep water,
inching from the bag
timid
returning in alarm.

The shortstop and second baseman
are schoolboys
passing secrets
behind the pitcher's back.

Moving before the pitch,
the shortstop dashes to the bag
glove up in anticipation
as runner and
peg from his partner at second
approach.
He drags the toe of his right shoe
across the bag
as the ball slaps home
and he leaps
to avoid the spikes.

Resting in air
safely above the slide
long enough to throw to first
before he tumbles to the dirt,
his eyes on the ball
the mitt
until
the umpire's confirmation of perfection.

1911 Turkey Reds

"The American Tobacco Company distributed the Turkey Reds (designated T3) in 1911. It is a set of full colored (lithograph) premium cabinet cards similar to the M110 Sporting Life series. The cards were originally issued in panels. Loaded with hall of fame players, the set is one of the most desired by early card collectors and is probably one of the easier cabinet sets to complete."
Baseball Cards Live

Joe Pacheco - "No More Outs to Play (A Villanelle)"

As per Edward Arlington Robinson

They have all moved away,
The stadium’s shut and still.
No more outs to play.

No one to shout hooray
Or feel late inning thrill,
They have all moved away.

No afternoon display
Of valor, strength and skill.
No more outs to play.

Nor high priced stars to pay
Or luxury box to fill,
They have all moved away.

As empty stands decay,
Grass shrouds the pitcher’s hill,
No more outs to play.

One last fireworks array
Will deliver final kill.
They have all moved away.
No more outs to play.

___________________
Wikipedia - "A villanelle is a poetic form which entered English-language poetry in the 1800s from the imitation of French models. A villanelle has only two rhyme sounds. The first and third lines of the first stanza are rhyming refrains that alternate as the third line in each successive stanza and form a couplet at the close. A villanelle is 19 lines long, consisting of five tercets and one concluding quatrain." Wikipedia

Tanya Merrill - "Lowell"

Memere always said
Uncle Jack drank too much, falling
asleep with his Miller
in front of the Red Sox
but he dismissed her as easily
as he brushed me away, as easily
as he ate memere's lemon pies.
He haunted her ice box, brooded
on the back porch dreaming
writing.
Even though my Uncle Jack littered
back rooms with ink pens, plaid
shirts, manuscripts and empty
bottles of Tokay and Port wine
I never felt him there.
My Uncle Jack said EVERYONE
always came home in October.
He did too, in a pine box with a
swollen frown burned into his sad
dead face.
I hate to think he was born
the same way he died.
Uncle Jack was never home.