Game 16

​CHI 99               DEN 90

When I was just a boy,
My uncle Shel
Would take me to games.

Thinking about it now,
This was probably
My first real taste
Of the World.

The world of normal adults.

Shel was cool--

A ladies man
With street smarts
And a sports car.

He was one of my first teachers.

At Chicago Stadium,
With my uncle Shel,
I learned many things.

I learned the smell of
Old Style beer.

And that swearing
Is just talking
That grown-ups
Like to keep for themselves.

I learned about gambling
And dirty jokes

And that
Screaming
Is as much about being happy
As it is about being angry.

I learned that certain organ songs
Are wholly constructed
For a group to yell
CHARGE
Together.

And that I, too
Could yell it--
Making it bigger.

And making me bigger, too.

And that this feeling
Maybe explained
Those religious things
My friends did,

Like church.

I remember wondering why
As one win was
Winding to its close,

The coach
Took out
The players
Who had played the best.

One by one.

I wanted them to stay in--

To keep performing
For me.

Shel explained:

Coach is giving
Us the chance
To cheer for them
Individually.

To thank them
For playing so hard
For us.

People like feeling appreciated.

Flipped the script
On my young ass.

Zen Master style.

This thing here--

That smells like beer
And sounds like a chorus of curses--

Is simply a relationship
Between human people.

Based on balance
And exchange.

Just like everything.

Amen.

---

Afterward

When baseball players
Score runs
They are
Welcomed home.

Even when
On the road.

Words are magic
Like that.