Pop Fly
These poems all appeared in one of my trifold flyers, titled “Pop Fly,” in 1998. Most of these haiku have been published in various journals. Many also appeared in the baseball haiku issue of Fan Magazine (1998), and the first poem has been read at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York (2001). Some of my baseball haiku also appear in Cor van den Heuvel’s Baseball Haiku (New York: Norton, 2007). I agree with Cor that baseball and haiku were made for each other. See also my “Taking the Field” rengay with Christopher Herold.
birthday picnic—
grandma’s throw
half way to the toddler
cows in the outfield—
country little leaguers
waiting in the rain
home from work—
a scuffed baseball
among shards of glass
tailgate party—
playing catch
with an empty bottle
in the upper bleacher
a stranger waves
to another stranger
base hit—
the outfielder’s
four shadows
runner off first the pitcher’s tight jaw
seventh-inning stretch
dust
on the catcher’s knees
pop fly sound of clapping chairs
first drops of rain—
puffs of dust
rise from the infield
rolling down the ballpark steps
a paper bag
the shape of a bottle
last out—
my candy bar wrapper
falls under the seat
