Poem a Day, Sunday

A One Week Poetry Challenge
(An April challenge to write and post a poem a day for a week, as hosted by Two Writing Teachers)

Older Brothers

They stand
hands in pockets
watching
themselves as younger boys
when baseball was fun
and not just another mark on the calendar
with the coach mad
at some missed catch
and the game on the line
and all that stress
that follows you right up to the pitcher’s mound
night after night after night
and you can see it in their crooked stance
how they are pretending to run the bases in their minds
with high-five celebrations all around
and nothing but time on their hands.
The older they are,
the more they think how great it would be
to be young again
while the younger ones
hold close to aspirations of beating their brothers
at baseball.

listen to the Poem as a Podcast

Peace (in poetry),
Kevin

ps — and to keep things on the lighter side, how about this classic Abbott and Costello skit about baseball.

[kml_flashembed movie="http://video.google.com/googleplayer.swf?docid=-8342445135331678445" width="400" height="326" wmode="transparent" /]

2 Comments
  1. I spent last weekend, and all day today with my older brother. It was interesting to watch him, to watch who he is as a man, to see the ways he watches his son and feel the power of his wishes for him, his yearning to have back some of the chances he’s giving his child.

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