Arlen D.H. Johnson

Accident

"Clutch the ball in your
Hand like this," he never said
And never taught me to throw.
"Run the bases with a loping
Stride the way old Boney
Used to do."
He might have, if the metal coupe
Hadn't closed 'round him
Leaving him always in his
Favorite chair. An athlete
On the bench.
And so we never threw
A baseball and ran
Through the thick weeds
On a coastal summer day.

Eric Alfred Burns