September baseball and we’re in it
our hitters are hitting
and our pitchers are tough
boys become men
playing their hearts out
Another war in the Middle East?
More of our boys shot up, bombed to dust?
More women and kids blown out of their beds?
The game’s just a click away
We’ve got rookies and they’re good
rookies with clear raindrop faces
and serious names: Panik, Susak, Duffy
we clap and scream and sing
turn to each other with our hands in the air
Kids and veterans
injured, fixed, re-injured
boys playing on a bright green field
in the encroaching dark