Two Memories of Miguel Cabrera Two-Run Homers

Two Memories of Miguel Cabrera Two-Run Homers

By Matt Gulley

The key to longevity is to learn every aspect of music that you can – Prince

the first memory of two, comes in a haze
I was mostly drunk and alone those days

on a beat-up couch, leaning perilously forward
in Ferndale, Michigan,
August 9th, 2013

watching baseball and convincing myself
my life was full of the stuff that mattered

key interests, a good and demanding job
but it was television keeping me company

Mariano Rivera, enter sandman
on a grand retirement tour

sought to face down Miggy,
a hobbled giant on a single leg

the color commentary sang the choir
the greatest ever vs. the great of his era

and the coronation hit a hiccup
Cabrera smashed it out to tie the game

something I could text to friends
with exclamation points, and wait for reply
they would not come, I had drove them away

time leaps forward, I was
living another life it seemed

sober and content,
“the fear” put away in a hole, shoveled over

in Detroit, my home, but visiting from somewhere else
with my family, my partner, and the sun
September 12th, 2021

and here comes the man, the big man
nearing a decade past his prime, like me

and there were no high stakes
another miserable season in the books

but he came to the plate, all regardless
he still had a job, like me

and each time, the crowd leaned perilously forward
the communal sway of spectators as sunflowers

three at-bats had come and gone
strike-out, ground-out, and struck-out again

and these games, these days
they go on long, don’t they?

and here he comes again,
still commanding the fingers to grip

the bat of his, that heavy wand
and all the fingers on cups and seats

and smash again, out of the park
beyond the wall, to raise the squall

we all went home happy
I always used to go home scared

and today, April 23rd, 2022
I am moved to write about these feats

because the man, the big man Miggy
has hit a ball three thousand times

and ever-the-journalist, I fact-check myself
only to find, on that day in September

he hadn’t gone long at all,
just a well-placed single to advance two men

but what had happened that day,
was less about the true facts stated

and like all of sports, and all endeavor
was about what I chose instead to remember

because it tells a better story
about where I was and where I am

so thank you, Miguel Cabrera,
and out of great love, and respect,

I will not be changing the title
of this piece, because to me

most important of all,
it remains the truth, and always will be thus –

Matt Gulley is 34 years old. He attended Wayne State University in Detroit and the MFA program at Long Island University in Brooklyn. He currently resides in Brooklyn with his girlfriend Jenna and tries to write a little bit every day.

Jason David Córdova lives in Puerto Rico as an illustrator and painter. Some of his art can be seen on Instagram at @jasoni72. You can visit his shop on Red Bubble.

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