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