A Poem By My Mother About Baseball...

Baseball, U.S.A.

Write a theme about your country
What it means to you, the U.S.A.
An elementary school dilemma, one sees
Something more than jingoism this day

Yesterday we sat on hard steeled bleachers
We watched the best athletes compete
How does one apply this sobriquet for teachers
The sun reddened our faces, enthusiasm replete

The intellectuals said baseball, inane
The seventh inning ritual stretch
In closeted heart, they envied freedom of game
Remembering childhood throw and fetch

And so goes the game and the United States
Free to run, win and yell aloud
To all there is, someway, an open gate
Bases loaded, what next, the crowd

Umpires rhubarb as do politicos
We gulp down hot dogs and sparkling drinks
And this is the way America goes
And so, with another chance, when sun sinks.

By Antoinette Bell (All Rights Reserved, 1987)