field of play

I walked the line from first to home

through grass as thick as young boys’ hair had been

on evenings just like this

when this field roared

with cracks of hard balls on hard wood

whaps in soft leather struck and holding

safe slides in gravely dirt scratched denim

snazzy jazz drum swishes

cheers for our side’s glory

taunts of their side’s failing eyesight

dropped catches

missed balls

I can see the lines from memory

could walk the long gone chalk

in late summer light

over this old field of play

August 2017