the stinky nose locates not
a garland’s litiginous intent,
but, does shop for size 7 nostrils
in case septumitis returns …
ah, September, season of sneezes
exposes infrequent uncles, copious
ants parading with deliberate pace
in face of a mucous avalanche
after awe, stinky nose has no permit
to paint a passages OPEN sign or
balance shiny coppers on its
“Slope of Good Hope”
each time a bat swings, the ball
twists away into a parallel universe
where might exist a connection between
pitchers and lemonaiding a herd of
lactators out standing in either field
rookies, rockies and ‘ole timers
meet at hard-scrabble pitchers’ mound,
take a round of blowing nose stories,
then walk the outline of a dugout …
‘sacred’ shovel shared for digging
before machines grab hold next day …
an afternoon’s sweaty end, a pick-up
raises dust … baker’s hat … Happy
Pat booms out he’s happy to bake the
celebration cake when all is ready for
game one
reminds everyone the game is for fun
where “one finger up yours” and even
a nose gone bloody shows how much we care