Maybe snow cones
And pickup lines
Aren’t meant to go
Hand in hand,
But I needed a map
Because I was lost in your eyes.

You gave me a snow cone
I gave you my number
And maybe
That’s not a good trade
But you thought
Maybe
It was worth it
At least for one night.

You’re just a football-playing
Baseball boy
And maybe
There was a spark
And maybe
You liked the taste of grape
That lingered on my lips
And maybe
You’re still going
To text me back.

But maybe
Is no assurance
To a girl
In love with love
And boys who make
Snow cones.

warm May morning

early cool breeze  

pock-marked bleachers

men loping lazily across

a verdant carpet  as

bright-white baseballs are

snared under ice-blue skies

and as three-year-old eyes

dart unfailingly, and

sneakers kick up and down

mid-air while tiny fingers

grip the metal chair in

full anticipation

All things considered
I'm not too big a fan
Of the state I'm in.
Considering I always skip over
The denial part.
I've been at bat for too long
To not know when to take a pitch
Outside
And when to take one in the ribs.

the windows to the soul
it blinks
screeching glass bending for the simplest movement
the air inside is muggy
any the pane begs to break
to release
years
centuries
the air has waited
never breaking
the glass always strong
by now
all that is left is the dust.
the pane shrieks
screaming to break
for the glass to stop holding on.
it wasn't quite a home run
the pane creaks
the glass speaks
rattling to the ground.
the dam overflowing
the baseball rips through the window
tearing it in half,
then thrown back
avoiding the shards of glass
the puddles of tears
chips of glass sprinkle
drip
crashing and cutting those who try to mend her
jagged pieces of her eyes
bleed with the kindness that comes
with saving those that are gone behind the window
with the broken walls come
thicker walls
more layers
prepared for the next baseball
ready to reject it and throw it back harder than it was tossed before
once broken
the window gets stronger on the outside
new glass
but the pane is still weak
and breaking
so they shut the window tighter
so no warmth
no wind can cradle it
no breeze dares
to come close to the broken glass.

He took nothing from nobody--- never
As tough an umpire as they come
Big, boisterous, arrogant
Walking with a strut
"Whatever call you make is only the right call.
Never complain, never apologize," he used to say.
Ken Kaiser may be gone, but his memory will always be in play.
In the off season, his family would tell him to calm down and stop telling them what to do
If you can believe it, before umpiring he was The Hatchet, a professional wrestler, and never won a match.
He was proud that as an umpire he never lost control of a game.
The field was intimidated by him.
Rightly so.

I got dumped on by a blue jay
While out sitting in my yard
The fact that I'm a Tigers fan
Made the bombing rather hard

I do not like the red birds
I mean, the team can't pitch or hit
But, I'm sure that if I pick on them
One will fly by me and ****

The Orioles, I do not like
I guess you've got the scoop
If I pick on them as well
One will fly by me and ****

There's a ball team down in Mexico
The parrots, to them I'll tip my cap
Because you know, if I 'dis them
One will fly overhead and crap

There are other teams named after birds
I don't know them all...do you?
So, I will let them off the hook
In case one comes by to pooh!