Browsing
through the Fleer shelves
and cards dating back to the 1980s,
I was flipping through card after card,
stopping at number seventy-seven.
There the world came to a screeching halt,
and Ringo Starr began to pound the drum set
to the tone of “I Want to Hold Your Hand.”
Or so the feeling was inside of me.
I looked at the ballplayer’s name on the top,
and I went on a journey to find every card
there was of him, through countless boxes,
and thousands
and thousands of faces
within this untold odyssey that was
filled of life,
that was filled with adventure.
And after endless
hours of searching,
I left the card shop happy as ever,
and brought my All-Star home with me,
where I tucked him in under the sheets,
as I slept
peacefully throughout the night.
BEAUTIFUL
-- To Jonathan Reynolds (1990-2006)
Beautiful boy, oh beautiful boy! Why
didn’t
Everyone in the world ever tell you
that you were
A beautiful boy? As beautiful as
the stars way
Up there? That’s how beautiful
you were.
That’s how beautiful you were.
Why then could
Injustice get in the way, keeping
you, preventing you
From living a peaceful life
of joy and happiness?
Unlucky soldier, perhaps
for your justified end, may
Life be better now
that your soul has been laid to rest!
