“Lakers Drilled: Thunder picks them apart from the start . . .,” LA Times (4/25/10)
When you’ve grown too old
For movies and TV—
When the BBC News at Five
And the promise of a ballgame
Are all that’s left—
We watch appalling collateral damage,
Scores blown up
Coming home from prayer,
And Somali pirates,
And Red-shirt riots
In Bangkok.
Stories fragrantly,
Flagrantly flavored,
Tartly seasoned
By wily bankers
Selling (at great profit)
Obscene assets
Designed to fail
But, still, the games remain.
We watch as impossibly
Corpulent
Pitchers give up
Five run leads.
We watch as four tall,
Overpaid players
Stand frozen,
While the star-crossed fifth
Tries to do
What cannot be done alone.
We yearn for inflated spirit,
Some psychiatric lift—
However artificial—
Some lofty joy
Distilled from our home team’s
Victory!
But, alas, there’s no air
Left.
(4/25/10)