Pome

 

Half-Talent Friday Night

 

 I’m trying to watch old videos

From you tube, a local country

Band who nearly almost made it,

But on the TV a college baseball

Coach has allowed his starter

To hurl over 130 pitches,

An undersized lefty,

Not likely a prospect,

And I am now completely

Distracted from the quality

Harmonies, the rare footage

From the PB Scotts dome

In 1983 Blowing Rock.

No wonder the MLB

Hates college baseball

I’m thinking as the home

Team ties the game

On a ninth inning homer,

Pitch number 138.

After which the “coach”

Finally makes the change.

The band’s lead singer’s

Name is Walkup, and he

By God looked like a prospect

In the hard suffering world

Of music. Two batters

Later the home team

Hits a two-run homer walk off.

In the next video Walkup

Is a white-bearded old man,

Still harmonizing with

What’s left of the crew,

In a much reduced venue.

They play seated on stools,

Cowboy hats replaced by ball caps.

The bar’s beer lights blink behind them.

The audience is sparse as the

Chess pieces left at the end

Of a long game.