Spring Training Worries
Nothing serious
just Arizona sunshine
and escapees
from the snow belt
turning red
drinking beer
smug in their knowledge
they’ve cheated nature
but in the dugout pitchers
worry about seasons spent in
Birmingham
Chattanooga
Rochester
about shoulder twinges
sore wrists
blisters
popped elbws
rotator cuffs
torn tendons
and average careers
that last two years…
Ode to a Knuckleball
born cockeyed
staggering home
weaving left and right
balances like a drunken sailor
wobbles like a two-legged stool
a butterfly with hiccups
more dips than an ice cream parlor
more twists than a madman’s logic
slow as a sloth on valium
harder to hit than the lottery
exhausted it drops
out of the zone
Philip Theibert is a freelance writer and his latest books are: Collisions at Home: The Baseball Poems of Philip Theibert, The Blockbuster Book of Brain Expanding, Creativity Enhancing Writing Exercises, Potato Chip Economics, and The Most Creative, Escape the Ordinary, Excel at Public Speaking Ever. His website is www.writingcoachnow.com.
Steel Toe Review 