The Innisfree Poetry Journal

www.innisfreepoetry.org

by Tim Suermondt

Opening Day and the Great Poets of Any Age

It's a wonder they don't

throw their hands up

and quit trying to get through

amid the noise and the clutter.

But on those rare occasions

when they succeed, like today,

you're grateful for all their persistence—

you fall in love again

with their tangle of language,

the serious virtue and naughtiness,

the dead-on mot justes,

and their insistence on according

humor a good place at the table.

You say "Thank you" and turn on

the ball game, quite certain

that they will all join in the viewing,

staying until the very last out,

cheering from somewhere beautiful.