Seeing Flat Top Mountain
this morning, its cold peak
a paint pot of orange and rose,
I’m reminded of reading
Wordsworth as a sophomore
in eastern Idaho, when every
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For Coach Gregg Popovich, J.S., & R.S., M.E., & J.C.
because he now has the highest
winning percentage in season-openers,
which feels ironic when I imagine
a young Pop in a military post somewhere
ending any bar fight—not starting them.
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The boys love ball and hoop anytime, anywhere, stare at scores and have dunk contests with the little hoop on the door. The boys leap & loop and break themselves and bounce back. The door hoop has been Shaqqed to death four times, but they have to do an hour of chores to earn a new one after cracking a backboard. The boys love ball, more I think than they love me but not my wife, which is okay, I get it, ball is life and they love it and so do I. Life comes and goes in so many ways and
a teardrop falls and celebrates.
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When I was eight, I was a god.
We all were.
We didn't have rules then about inning limits
or “the play's over once a fielder touches the ball.”
I hit 27 dingers with an aluminum bat Mom & Dad
bought me at the hardware store.
It pinged and every old man grimaced, waiting for a crack
like a knee, like a belt.
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It helps to think of it as a city. The beginning
Of a city, a little town blooming loud around you.
You’re in the middle of it, side-central flower.
There are creeks that run with the sound of
Crying babies. This is perfectly normal.
This is how cities are made—first with eggs
On a fervent bed of moss. Purple moss,
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Violence is a marker
of the condition.
A series of questions becomes diagnosis. The animal
backs into a corner. Car crash.
Randy “Macho Man” Savage: I am the cream, yeah, the cream of the crop. And there is no-one that does it better than the Macho Man Randy Savage! On balance, off balance, doesn't matter...I'm on my way, and nothing is gonna stop me. Nothing's gonna stop me.
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limp head turned right to hide
pain, ice pack just as penetrating
as the firm heavyweight grip that helped pay to feed
the muscles now torn, left to dangle
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After Miguel Cabrera hits his 499th home run
I make you guess all the members of the 500 club
You take it so seriously
Give it more thought than the time