Preservationist

PRESERVATIONIST

By Barney Warren

I WORK IN SUBLIME SILENCE;
THE BREATHING OF A PATIENT
WITH A STETHOSCOPE ON HER CHEST
WOULD SOUND LIKE A DOG’S BARK.
 
FAR BEYOND THESE WALLS
A FORMER PRESIDENT
WAITS AT THE AIRPORT FOR HIS LIMO;
BUT THE ONLY CLINTON I CARE ABOUT
WAS A YANKEES OUTFIELDER.
 
FAMILY COMES FIRST–
AND MY FAMILY LIVES HERE;
MANY ARE RETIRED,
MANY ARE DEAD,
BUT TO ME THEY’VE NEVER STOPPED PLAYING.
 
MY FAMILY IS IN OLD LINEUP CARDS
I SPEND LONG DAYS INDEXING,
IN BATS I RESTORE WITH SAND PAPER,
IN SOUVENIR COINS
OF EACH MEMBER OF AN ALL-STAR TEAM.
 
WHEN I GRAB MY JACKET TO LEAVE
THE CLOTHES HANGER
SWINGS BACK AND FORTH
LIKE THE HANGERS IN A LOCKER
IN A BALLPARK TORN DOWN YEARS AGO.

Barney Warren is a 67 yr-old former Brooklynite who was a rabid Yankees fan back in the “Horace Clarke” era.  The Yankees 1970 campaign, in which they won 93 games and finished second in the AL East to the Orioles, impelled him to begin writing poetry.  He now write about all subjects, but always seem to come back to baseball.

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