BART

BART

By Jack Albert

He chain-smoked his way
throughout every lecture
while pitching the essence 
of the Divine Comedy—
 
From the depths of purgatory
to the green fields of summer,
he juxtaposed literary images
with baseball analogies.
 
No surprise when the professor
was named commissioner,
giving the game ultimate
class and stature—Dr. Giamatti,
most fluent and learned fan—
 
And when Pistol was caught
gambling on his team—
Bart stood tall defending the
honor code, reminding us all
of the grand unwritten rule.
 
I’ll always remember the cigarettes
dangling from his sturdy hand,
one after another until the lecture ended.
Only five months on the job, age 51,
Bart went to bat for the soul of the game,
puffing away into baseball heaven.

This poem was nominated for the Pushcart Prize.

Jack Albert is a writer and a baseball fan going back to his Connie Mack Stadium days, sitting in the .75 cent bleachers, watching many future Hall of Famers in their prime. Jack’s poetry and prose has been published in a number of sites throughout the years. He attended the Breadloaf School of English at Middlebury College, where in addition to studying American literature, he took Renaissance and Dante courses with Dr. Bartlett Giamatti who later became well-known as Baseball Commissioner.       

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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