TAKE ME OUT

Ice covered windows signal
snow day panic button response
of fry-daddy summers and ivy smothered
Wednesday afternoons at Wrigley.

Roaring upper deck harmonies
Take me out with the crowd.

Saint Ron Santo, patron
of the seventh-inning stretch, rain delay,
“Cooooottooon Caaaanndaay!”
and swatting at in-face flies
like fork balls in the dirt.

Lake Michigan’s breezes caress and
kiss away the heartbreak
like a sympathetic mother murmurs
wordless relief to a sunburned child.

Soaring upper deck harmonies
take me out with the crowd.

The wind chill strikes me out looking.