quaking

a 7. quake in California,
50 miles in a line to our mountain land
where we lived when we married.
the shake would have had our attention.
now thinking of Jerry in his grave by our cabin
i'm sure made a joke before he cried.

do not lose your head, yet

Shakespeare today

a three hour play,
measure for measure,

in wilting hot weather

with windows open.

am i thee not kidding,

or am i? or am i?

a whamie...off with his...
at times culture is needed

a shake at wendy's may save me.

ole, ole

chickens and the cows don't mind,
if you're the kind
to have eggnog on the fourth of July

ole. get it going, buttercup,
every time, it'll be fine. ole, ole
hold the line, Zabaione

happy holiday.

i think of eggnog,
for my Italian friends,
call it what it is: Zabaione, oh yeah. ole.

Zabaione: the thought
that will not go away

your dad

got hot here.
ninety-two road melting
degrees...and humid.

indoors is cool air fine

how is your living going?

are you still the head dog? 

Meri told me the term today.  

Alpha Dog. yeah. there you are.

and she has a bunny in her garden now.

it is eating the purple plant, 

larkspur, expendable; but i'm
sure it'll develop new appetites.

thought to write you
something...but i
forgot what

but not you.

we got 68 mpg with our 2017 KIA Nero today. 

wanna spread the word. don't see their advertising.

got 58 mpg on the second half of a thirty mile trip.  

the air conditioner took the mileage down.

you made me smile

and you didn't do anything.
see how easy...

love your dad

the game

game begins, this is major league baseball;

right away it's 2-0, 

then 3-0, made me flinch.

end of first inning, it's 4-0.

the game just started.

end of the second inning,

the pace picked up,

8-0.

went to bed.

woke for a final listen on the radio, 

seventh inning, 9-0

really, really went to bed.

woke game over, heard it ended: 13-0

stains one's impression of the home team, 

the good guys.

is the feeling everlasting?

how could it be...it isn't even July.

fall is the big time,

and always, always there is hope again next season.

cancel, cancel

second game the following day against the same bottom ranked 

Baltimore Oriels and our hometown heroes lose again  

by the identical score 13 - zero. 

but i write more. these are the golden boys of summer who two years ago in 2017 won a record setting 22 games in a row.

now Rocky Colavito is touring with his book. in 1959 when i was 14 and routing for him he was Cleveland's outfielder and hit an amazing four home runs in one game.

gee the seasons change,

yet they do go on.