<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Left-Handed Pitcher Working on a Scaffold</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I am a failed state,</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">about to crack my backbone </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">while still young</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">enough to fire smoke</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">95 MPH.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Herodotus abridged</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">and a bag of salted nuts</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">fall like lethal acorns</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">shaken free from my back pocket</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Remember my torn mitt once autographed by Whitey Ford,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">three no hitters in Catholic school. </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Was I the greatest? </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Sun contradicts breeze.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Soapy squeegee scrapes my skin.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Wind picks up.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Belt cracks; a universe unfastening </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">symmetry as I unfold.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Somersaulting,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">time slithers,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">clichés ring,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">historical antecedents drop like parachutes</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">behind enemy lines.<i class=""></i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><i class=""> </i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Before crashing, I spot autumn</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">gardens on rooftops,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">helicopters like dragon flies overhead,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">a peregrine falcon </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">circling.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">If only I were a bird,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">not ineffective like Icarus</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">flapping my melting wings</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">at cloud formations.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Absence is my future.</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Dad smoldered </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">when I read the <i class="">Odyssey</i></div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">in the locker room</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">after blowing a game in the ninth.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Given a better ERA</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I’d never have taken a job</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">in the sky.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">Dad, if you hadn’t craved a superstar, </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">cash bonus to boot; if you hadn’t drilled me</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">daily with burning hot grounders</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">off varnished baseball bats,</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">I’d have studied physics or mythology </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">instead of screwballs and sliders.</div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">If my arms were shorter than ostrich gams, </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">the flame on my fastball would never </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">have held steady as a gelding’s canter —</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">granting me years to emerge whole</div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">before turning </div><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class="">old. </div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;"> </p><div style="margin: 0in 0in 0.0001pt;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Barry Denny </div></body></html>