Even if we'd score more, forget about

Protecting pitchers practicing the art

Of specializing in styles when pitching out

Of jams.  I say, teach them the batter's heart—

What better way to pitch than to know how to bat?

 

Forget the marketing strategies of more—

More hits, more runs.  Play ball, right? Well, let them

Be in the batting order as games were before.

Pitchers hit— that's a fact.  Heck, "Lem the Gem"

Could whack what pitchers now will whiff you with.

 

Robert Manaster has published poetry in various journals including Many Mountains Moving, The Wisconsin Review, International Poetry Review and The Literary Review.  Recently, he was chosen as the recipient of the Dorothy Norton Clay Poetry Fellowship for the Mary Anderson Center.