writing from
Scars Publications

Audio/Video chapbooks cc&d magazine Down in the Dirt magazine books

 


This appears in a pre-2010 issue
of cc&d magazine.
Saddle-stitched issues are no longer
printed, but you can requesting it
“re-released” through amazon sale
as a 6" x 9" ISBN# book!
Email us for re-release to order.

cc&d v195

Order this writing
in the book

Survival of the Fittest


Get this book in different forms:
Survival of the Fittest
Play ball!

I.B. Rad

With bases loaded
in the bottom of the 9th,
Team America
was three behind,
when that infamous slugger,
Joe Prez,
stepped up to the plate.
“Strike one,” the umpire cried.
Then, his next call,
“One ball;” until,
with the count two and three,
a final pitch
seared over the plate.
It passed so fast
the ball bounced out
of the catcher’s mitt,
rolling round
the batter’s feet.
“Praise God! It’s a homer!”
the umpire whooped,
covering the ball
with his left foot;
while he mimed
tracking a ball
soaring over a wall.
Not losing a beat,
Joe Prez shot off,
circling the bases,
tipping his cap to the fans;
while his manager,
sauntering up to the ump,
slipped him ten grand.
Honoring the old saw,
“Good things happen
when you play ball,”
sports casters went wild,
extolling Joe Prez to the sky
while the sole announcer
who’d wondered aloud,
“What on earth’s going down!”
suddenly found
he’d been put off the air.
The fans didn’t know
what to make of the scene;
though, as they’d merely been trained
to cheer their own team,
the stands rang with acclaim.
As for those unpatriotic few
who started to boo,
their neighbors taught them
a lesson or two.
In the end,
Joe Prez was catapulted
to baseball’s Hall of Fame,
its’ supreme ref ruling,
“That guy’s a born winner,
a credit to the game!”
And so, oh, too much later,
in some fairer age,
when a sole critic
was heard to complain,
“But he struck out”
- it didn’t matter at all.
And then, only then,
a wizened Joe Prez
was heard to drawl,
“But what’s all the fuss?
It wasn’t me
who made the mistake;
it was clearly the catcher
who dropped the ball!”



Scars Publications


Copyright of written pieces remain with the author, who has allowed it to be shown through Scars Publications and Design.Web site © Scars Publications and Design. All rights reserved. No material may be reprinted without express permission from the author.




Problems with this page? Then deal with it...