More Poems

A Chattanooga Lookout

The Lookouts got their first shot at fame;
A New York Yankees Exhibition game.

They signed Jackie Mitchell, a publicity stunt,
but she pitched like a pro, not some sorry runt.

The starter gave up a hit and a double.
They sent Jackie in to heal this trouble.

She struck out Babe Ruth, third up to bat.
She stuck out Lou Gehrig, imagine that.

Lazzeri, she walked; put a third man on base.
The manager pulled her just to save face.

The commissioner said that she had to go.
Should women play baseball? He just said no.

But Jackie played on in House of David fame.
That barnstorming team won many a game.

The men all wore beards and long hair to boot.
She donned a fake beard; thought it was a hoot.

She wasn’t afraid of a publicity stunt,
but she pitched like a pro, not some sorry runt.

A Chattanooga Lookout was previously Published in a now-defunct online literary magazine. Jaskie Mitchell was 17 years old when she faced the New York Yankees in Engle Stadium. 

The Hellbender
 
Hellbender – North America’s largest Salamander. They dine on fish, crayfish, and aquatic insects.

She curls among the tumbled rocks
and waits for a crayfish dinner.
If she doesn’t find a crawdad soon,
tomorrow, she will be thinner.
 
She will happily eat a frog or fish,
for she’s an agile swimmer.
But the crawdad is a favorite dish,
it causes her eye to glimmer.
 
Beneath the rocks, she laid her eggs.
There must have been a hundred or more.
At parenting, she is the dregs.
She ate a few just to even the score.
 
Her mate saw this act and chased her away
If eating eggs, she just couldn’t stay.
He guarded those eggs till they hatched one day.
Then he swam away much slimmer.
 
Previously Published in Tennessee Magazine

Repurposed Clothing
A Duplex Poem

The naked trees have no shame.
In innocence, they shed their leaves.

Without shame, they shed their leaves.
Divide living tissue from dead.
 
Divide the living to bury the dead.
Leaves depart to cover the ground.

Leaves depart to warm the ground.
They shuffle across the forest floor.

The wind sends them across the forest floor
to form a blanket for wildflowers.

They form a blanket for wildflowers.
Snug and warm in the heat of decay.

A slightly different version of Repurposed Clothing appeared in The Weekly Avocet.