At Bat

First published in the “Briefly Reviewed” section of Frogpond 39:3, Autumn 2016, page 121.

At Bat by Cor van den Heuvel (2015, Peaks Press, Forest, Virginia). Anita Virgil, illustrations. 44 pages, 8½×5¼ inches, saddle-stapled. ISBN 0-9628567-4-6. $15.00 from 202 Merrywood Drive, Forest, VA 24551 or email avirgil2@outlook.com.


It’s good to see Cor van den Heuvel still swinging for the fences. This book began when Anita Virgil found baseball illustrations she had done years before, and thought they would go well with Cor’s baseball haiku. The book presents an image and poem together on each right-hand page, with blank left-hand pages. And although it contains only twelve poems and twelve pleasing images, it makes for a great game of baseball—into extra innings. Six of the poems are from Cor’s Norton anthology, Baseball Haiku, and six poems are new, such as this one: “in the infield’s / late-afternoon shadows / the coolness of my glove.” Brief but recommended.