Picture Postcard from Fenway Park

Thomas Sheehan

High in the right field stands,
chaired with wheels, knowing
he will never feel the grass
beneath his feet, never feel
the chalk lines go like clouds
under foot, never face a foreign
pitcher, or dare a steal, a boy
of bright eyes and sad legs
lets go; he tries to measure
the speed a fastball has,
the gyrations of a knuckleball
or a moon-ball dipsy-doodler.

Only when he feels the weight
of his father's tears does he smile.
The scoreboard never shows it or
the box score in the next day’s
newspaper, but one man remembers,
two rows back, three seats over,
forever.

CP

Thomas Sheehan’s latest books are Brief Cases, Short Spans and From the Quickening. A collection of cowboy stories, Where the Cowboys Ride Forever, is now in the hands of a western publisher. His work has also appeared in many print and online publications. Sheehan has several Pushcart nominations and won the Georges Simenon Award. His web site is here.