Salute 2 Brian Gordon

years and years of
cheap motels,
roadside diners
watery coffee
greasy pie,
(bus rides on what
sometimes seemed like
dirt roads)

empty stands
lackluster anti-fans
stupid names,
like
Iron-pigs

A lot of dreams must have
died,
before he came to the mound
an aging man with a newly
formed cutter

Those bright crisp lights of
the Bronx
Those o so clean and o so straight
blue & white pinstripes

6 innings & 2 runs later
those ornery fans
came to their feet

His father among the crowd
lifted as if by a cloud
for the ovation