J. R. SOLONCHE


ABANDONED BALL FIELD

It looks like a Mayan temple
whose outline is barely visible

through the impenetrable rain
forest of western Massachusetts,

but the shapes give it away.
There is the curve of the centerfield 

wall. And there are the dugouts, two
oblong flower boxes filled with trees,

and the circular mound, pitchers’ burial,
and of the hitters who sacrificed themselves.

How perfect it is for children now,
for children too small to hold

a bat the right way, or throw
a ball straight, or run the bases

without falling down, or follow
rules, for children the right size 

to get lost in grass taller than they are, 
dandelion fuzz in their faces.

 

 

 

 

J. R. Solonche has been publishing in magazines, journals, and anthologies since the early 70s. He is author of Beautiful Day (Deerbrook Editions), Won't Be Long (Deerbrook Editions), Heart's Content (Five Oaks Press), Invisible (nominated for the Pulitzer Prize by Five Oaks Press), The Black Birch (Kelsay Books), I, Emily Dickinson & Other Found Poems (Deerbrook Editions), In Short Order (forthcoming from Kelsay Books), and coauthor of Peach Girl: Poems for a Chinese Daughter (Grayson Books).