Lifted from Elizabeth Kaeton's Telling Secrets. Elizabeth and I have had our spats over theology and church politics--we view one another from across a fairly wide chasm--but no one who loves both baseball and poetry can be utterly reprobate. What a beautifully apt summary of what the denizen of a hill 60'6' from home plate attempts to accomplish:
THE PITCHER
by Robert Francis
His art is eccentricity, his aim
How not to hit the mark he seems to aim at.
His passion how to avoid the obvious,
His technique how to vary the avoidance.
The others throw to be comprehended. He
Throws to be a moment misunderstood.
Yet not too much. Not errant, arrant, wild,
But every seeming aberration willed.
Not to, yet still, still to communicate
Making the batter understand too late.
No hits, no runs, no errors and no one left on base. Hmmmmm ;-)
ReplyDeleteObviously the poet was not writing about the Chicago Cubs pitching staff!!
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