where are you now benny santiago?
(for tony gloeggler)
improbable opening day
the swelter of july
the fate of the season
the fate of the country
hangs suspended
in this unsafe air
it’s been years since
I made it to an opening day
last one so cold
the stadium universally
voted a campfire
as between eighth
inning entertainment
previous year was shirt sleeves
forty year old benny santiago
whacked a triple
even from the upper deck
you could see his eyes wide
digging for second, spare
parts strewn across the diamond
he slides winded into third
I wasn’t thirty yet
I already knew
what that run meant
how each stride felt
benny retired the next day
I look over this year’s opening
day roster, selfish I know
the ‘rona cost a chance
to see a historically
bad pirates team lose
over a hundred games
I’ve sat through seasons
like that before
listening every night
to a roster of aaaa players
not looking for wins
hoping for attrition
I don’t think this season
will ever finish, suspended
in an open ledger like’ 94
no boys of october
the crisp of autumn
ushered in without ceremony
tonight stallings
the backup catcher
drops a single, brings in two
the bucs never catch
the cards though
they need magic
come the ninth
with a couple runners
on, only one out
they get lightning instead
harmless double play ball
game ends, soon forgotten
stadium lights blink out
the dustbin of minutia
I turn off the radio
settle back into a book
breathing water in humid night
sometimes it’s attrition
where are you now benny santiago?
About the Author: Jason Baldinger is a poet from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and former Writer in Residence at Osage Arts Community. He has multiple books available including the chapbook Blind Into Leaving (Analog Submission Press) as well as the forthcoming Afterlife is a Hangover (Stubborn Mule Press) & A Threadbare Universe (Kung Fu Treachery). His work has been published widely in print journals and online. You can listen to him read his work on Bandcamp and on lps by the bands Theremonster and The Gotobeds.
More Poetry by Jason Baldinger:
Image Credit: “BASEBALL DIAMOND, LOOKING EAST – Roosevelt Stadium, State Route 440 & Danforth Avenue, Jersey City, Hudson County, NJ” The Library of Congress (public domain)
As It Ought To Be 