Night Game: April 8, 2024

Night Game: April 8, 2024

By James Scruton

            Night games were played in several Major League cities
            along the “totality” path of that afternoon’s solar eclipse.
 
By game time the sky was once more
ordinary, that big moon just another
hanging curve, stadium lights blazing
in their familiar constellations.
 
Had the game been earlier we might’ve seen
our first day-night single-header,
everyone with protective eyewear,
some outfielder losing a fly ball in the non-sun.
We’d have called each homer a moonshot,
watched pitchers throw lights-out stuff.
 
Instead we’ll remember how,
when the heavens swung, we missed
our chance. We’ll find an E for error
in the cosmic box score, tell ourselves
there’s always next solar year.

James Scruton has published two collections of poetry and five chapbooks. His baseball poems have appeared over the years in Spitball, Elysian Fields Quarterly, and here in The Twin Bill, as well as in anthologies of baseball writing.

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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