from Southern Poetry Review
Imagine Crowd Noise
An old time radio announcer stayed home
for away games, unbeknownst to the fans,
and read the play-by-play off the wire,
making up details, playing crowd noises,
giving his listeners the game they expected,
his voice as familiar as the rituals
of men on first and third, nobody out. A swing
and a miss. Top of the order coming up.
Their rote emotions as practiced as a waltz:
the twinge at a loss, the reunion with comfort
at a win. We are so accustomed to things!
And what léger de main there is in words!
How easy they make it to live in our heads,
to stay at home and imagine the game.
