Dinger, The Rockies Mascot, The Last of the Dinosaurs
Dinger, The Rockies Mascot, The Last of the Dinosaurs
Evan Wambeke
reincarnated from fossils,
pieces of triceratops under Coors
Field, boxed bones, now sanctified
sitting somewhere on a shelf
underneath an aquamarine pocket in
the Denver Museum of Nature.
A couple of ribs they found,
that’s all. Bones
older than the mountains
they named the team after, or
younger, maybe, it’s hard
to say, because even the old-timers
who say the team’s been terrible forever
haven’t been around that long.
Nonetheless, it’s amazing, no?
The egg they found, or made, that
hatched in ‘94. The dinosaur that
rolled out much smaller
than we expected, for a dinosaur.
This life, these things:
the rib bones and strike boxes,
the time it takes
the shortstop to throw to the pitcher,
the time it takes to savor
an orange wedge at the bottom of
a Blue Moon, at the bottom
of a third inning, in a game we’ve already decided
we’re losing. They’re all so small.
Dinger in the stands, on the other side
of first, shaking off another losing season,
this too is a small thing, the way
from over here he seems to melt
into himself, to bob along the rows
as if a chokecherry fallen
in the South Platte River.
Evan Wambeke is a poet from Cody, Wyoming. He has appeared in the South Florida Poetry Journal, Paranoid Tree Press, and The Meadowlark Review. He has also written ekphrastic work for the Buffalo Bill Center of the West and the Lowe Art Museum. He is currently pursuing an M.F.A at the University of Miami where, from time to time, he goes to The Light to watch the Hurricanes play. More of his poetry can be found at: evanwambeke.com
Michael C. Paul is an illustrator, writer, and historian. He grew up outside of Kansas City, has moved around a bit over the years working as a history professor, illustrator, and occasionally an editorial cartoonist, and now lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and daughter. For more, visit https://mikepaulart.com or @MikePaulArt.
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