How To Play Night Baseball by Jonathan Holden

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A pasture is best, freshly
mown so that by the time a grounder's
plowed through all that chewed, spit-out
grass to reach you, the ball
will be bruised with green kisses.
Start in the evening. Come
with a bad sunburn and smelling of chlorine,
water still crackling in your ears.
Play until the ball is khaki—
a movable piece of the twilight—
the girls' bare arms in the bleachers are pale,
and heat lightning jumps in the west. Play
until you can only see pop-ups,
and routine grounders get lost in
the sweet grass for extra bases.

Comments

  1. AnonymousAugust 18, 2008 at 11:33 AM

    This is great. I love the details, the water crackling in ears, the khaki ball, the heat lightning.

    Growing up in a rural area, I spent many summer nights hanging out a tiny rustic ball field, talking to boys in the glow of the concession stand, one eye on the road to check out the drivers of the pickups cruisin by...

    ReplyDelete

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