4.13.2026

a sweetly growing spaciousness

Just before he died, 
when Tim had come back 
from his dream of dying 
to tell us it was all 
just bush league, Little League, 
why the hell did I waste 
time fearing it? I thought 
 
of that moment when the ball's 
hit and you start in and, 
uh-oh, should have gone 
the other way and all 
you can do is watch it arc 
over your clumsy scramble 
to reverse direction— 
 
too late too late, why 
hurry, and anyway 
isn't the lifelong 
fought-against sensation 
of defeat now nearly 
irresistible, a sweetly 
growing spaciousness 
 
in which the celebration 
at home plate shrinks 
to nothing, and the cut-
off man, no longer shouting, 
or waving, turns away 
to kick his glove in tiny 
dust clouds down the infield? 
 
[Alan Shapiro {1952- } 'Misjudged Fly Ball', from The Best American Poetry 2006]

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