Dad in Plein Air

Dad in Plein Air

—Pittsburgh, 1960

By Susan Swartwout

We lived in golden days after the Pirates
won the Series. That October, classes
were cancelled so all could sit on wooden
folding chairs in the gym and watch baseball
on a B&W TV with the metal cart positioned
just so, a PA system mic crackling out its audio.
 
Each Saturday hosted ball games
in our big front yard—my brothers, me,
the neighbor kids. The fields
of Queen Anne’s lace and indiangrass,
tall in the curved hill behind our house,
smelled of spices and sweet hay,
waving like fans bunched under the sun.
 
Dad would join us, a reluctant sentinel.
He preferred brooding solo or frowning
over some project on his workbench.
Never a catcher or fielder, always pitcher,
he saved batters possible concussions
from balls thrown wild out of eager kid hands.
 
In the bottom of the fifth, I hit a grounder,
dropped the bat, and started running the bases
faster than Roberto Clemente. Dad gloved the ball
and, miracle!, he ran after me, the ball clenched
in his outstretched hand, an arrow headed for its mark.
 
My heart and my feet drum their tattoos,
I’m sure he’ll wear out any second,
my backward glance frames his resolve.
He will not stop. He will not relent.
 
we are both laughing
we are gasping for air
we race past
wide-eyed neighbors
their beagles are howling
I cut from third base to first
we’re outside the rules
we blaze with abandon
perimeters and scrolls
into that big front yard
I spin I twist
zig and zag
the ball
my dad
won’t stop
I’m giggling
squealing
I’m winning
but no,
one can’t
beat Dad
he’s Dad
 
I slowed, relieved in belief that he was infallible,
surrendered my body’s joy in wild motion,
to be tagged by proof of his dadly power,
by the absolute wonder of a gold autumn
day in Pittsburgh, when my father was laughing.

Susan Swartwout was born in New Orleans and raised in Metairie, Dallas, and Atlanta. She is the author of the poetry book Odd Beauty, Strange Fruit, two poetry chapbooks, and co-editor of Hurricane Blues: Poems About Katrina and Rita and Real Things: An Anthology of Popular Culture in American Poetry. Her work has been published in Mississippi Review, Laurel Review, River Styx, Spoon River Poetry Review, Southern Quarterly, Delta Poetry Review, and other journals and anthologies.

Jeff Brain is a retired public school teacher. You can find more of his art on his website or on Instagram.

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