Life? Quite possibly. Poetry? Most definitely. Poetry in motion, sure, but also as words on a page.
Empty baseball field
–A robin,
Hops along the bench
Jack Kerouac (threw and batted right-handed) composed this, the first American baseball haiku, in 1959. The first ever baseball haiku was written by Japanese poet SHIKI Masaoka (threw and batted left-handed) in 1890.
spring breeze
this grassy field makes me
want to play catch
More than two hundred delightful examples of baseball poetry are collected in Baseball Haiku, edited by Cor van den Heuvel and Nanae Tamura. A short informative essay introduces the major poets in the development of modern haiku in both Japan and America and suggests some of the natural affinity shared by baseball and haiku, each having a connection with Nature and a focus on the individual moment. Each of the poets is introduced with notes about his poetry and interest in baseball.
from Randy Brooks
carrying his glove
the boy’s dog follows him
to the baseball field
from SEI Imae
walking home
with his glove on his head
shrieking cicadas
from Tom Painting
bases loaded
a full moon clears
the right field fence
from Brenda Gannam
handsome pitcher
my eyes drift down
to the mound
The apparent simplicity of Haiku is notoriously tempting to the poetry rookie. Who can resist the temptation to try one?
game on TV
a roar pulls my eyes
up from a book
A Bookwoman’s Holiday 