“And Here Too Is Another Echo of Baseball’s Childhood Memory…”

He threw Spitballs
Dopers
Out-Drops
Fist-Sockers
Inshoots
Up-Downs
and Curves.

He threw Twisters and
Cyclones
Tornadoes
Tropical Storms
Whirlwinds
Typhoons
Gale Winds
Nor’easters
A Gentle Breeze.

He threw Varmints and
Robbers
A Tempest in a Teapot
Freaks
Jack London’s Call of the Wild
Snapping Turtles
A Red Hen
Elephants and Donkeys
The Wabash Cannonball.

He threw Racetracks and
Beer Kegs
Broken Treaties
Casinos
Missionaries
The Civil War.

He threw Hell at them
And Paradise.

When there was nothing left
he threw himself, and strolled off the mound
disappearing into a three-letter town
named Ada.

–Miko Kings: An Indian Baseball Story