April in Elysian Fields Quarterly, The Baseball Review: HOT STOVE ISSUE, Vol. 23/No. 1 • 2006
Lyric Poetry in Zone 3, Spring 2003
Norwegians in Late Autumn, the Upper Midwest in Zone 3, Spring 2003
Prof. Jay Hill's Web Page

THE WIND-UP, THE DELIVERY

You set the scene: old Sarge
    asleep on the b ack stoop
as we hear the thrum of a reel mower
    (because it's 1956)
rolling up from two yards down . . . .
    Then the call of balls & strikes
drifting out from a Motorola
    in the neighbor's garage
in which through its cobwebbed,
    gable-end window you
glimpse (you'll swear to us
    in coming months on
endless stacks of Bibles!)
    everyone's fa vorite aunt, Marsha,
who favored tortoise-shell frames,
    wore her hair in a French twist,
& volunteered breezy counsel on
    what to steer clear of in boys,
unbuckling the belt on the
    trousers of Mr. Alfred Schmidt,
insurance agent & recent widower,
    who swings the door of his
new DeSoto hardtop open
    wider even than your eyes,
as you crouch, thirteen going
    on Natalie Wood in
Rebel Without a Cause
    in Nana's rhubarb patch
to receive the pitch.

April in Elysian Fields Quarterly, The Baseball Review: HOT STOVE ISSUE, Vol. 23/No. 1 • 2006
Lyric Poetry in Zone 3, Spring 2003
Norwegians in Late Autumn, the Upper Midwest in Zone 3, Spring 2003
Prof. Jay Hill's Web Page