Against Seven-Inning Doubleheaders and Starting Runners on Second Base in Extra Innings in Major League Baseball

← v21n2, Fall 2022

When the infielders were tired,

they just dropped their heads,

one after another, in dust

plumes along the basepaths,

and big innings occurred,

stroked singles followed

each other into the dusk,

infinite batsmen moved

through their stations.

The sky turned from purple

to velvet, then a glamour

of stars. Ballcaps became

curtains, the fielders sighed

and woke up again, eyes

raised into the ready position.

The diamond itself is a galaxy,

the teams orbiting one another.

Part of the bargain is

the never-ending.

sports time

Sandra Marchetti

Sandra Marchetti is the author of the poetry collection Confluence (Sundress Publications, 2015), as well as four chapbooks of poetry and lyric essays, including Heart Radicals (About Editions, 2018), Sight Lines (Speaking of Marvels Press, 2016), A Detail in the Landscape (Eating Dog Press, 2014), and The Canopy (Midwest Writing Center, 2012) . Her poetry has appeared in Ecotone , Poet Lore , River Styx , and Subtropics , among others. She earned her MFA in poetry from George Mason University and serves as the coordinator of tutoring services at the College of DuPage. Photo by Scott Semple