Thursday, September 15, 2005

Poem: Games of Toss

Today would be my dad's 66th birthday. He died in 1992, but he carries on in my mind and in how I live my life. We were extremely close; best friends. We shared Rutgers' season tickets in basketball, coached youth sports together, spoke several times a day by phone, were openly affectionate, and just flat out enjoyed each other's company. The scene from "Field of Dreams," where Kevin Costner and his father have a catch, touches me, not because my dad and I ever needed a reconciliation, but because of what the game of catch meant to my father and I on a regular basis. For all its commonality, it was uniquely our own.


Games of Toss

A baseball glove sits
No more catches
And I miss you
Miss the games of toss.

No one throws me curves
Puts a righties’ mitt on backwards
And I miss that
Miss the games of toss.

I don’t throw now
Stopped finding release in the game
And I miss you
Miss the games of toss.

Wishing for one more time
Just back and forth like it was
And I miss that
Miss the games of toss
Miss them with you
Miss you.

Copyright SGW 1997

Footnote: My father had major league offers in his youth and, as a kid and as an adult, I heard countless stories that he was the best ballplayer in Brooklyn at the time. He had a curveball that would drop off the table, a knuckler that seemed to stop in mid-air and he could throw with both hands (hence the righties' mitt on the wrong hand). He switch-hit, too. I used to marvel at his swing because he reminded me in style of Willie Mays. Yes, he was that good.

Added to One Single Impression for Childhood Memories.


7 comments:

SandyCarlson said...

I sure can feel the loneliness in that one, Scott. The simplicity of the pleasure comes through in "the game of toss," and brings me right to the heart of your missing your dad. This is a beautiful tribute to the love you shared.

gautami tripathy said...

Great tribute to your dad, Scott! Rememeber he is still watching over you from above there!

alpha and omega

Anonymous said...

Very touching tribute of the closemess in your own personlal field of dreams.

barbs.haiku said...

A bittersweet tribute to your Dad, Scott. Thank goodness for our memories! Thank you for sharing this!

Beth P. said...

once loved...never really gone until forgotten...so your dad is alive and well in you!

Thanks for this lovely tribute--

Tumblewords: said...

Bittersweet post! Wonderful to have had that time and yet, ....

Anonymous said...

what a wonderful post... it is truly amazing how the simple keeps on giving... soon you shall play together again... don't you agree?