The Banishment of Moses Fleetwood Walker
The Banishment of Moses Fleetwood Walker
By Matthew Johnson
While waiting for a pitching change
That has grown into a heated debate
Between a frustrated manager and a stubborn pitcher,
Ernie Banks waits in his position,
And grows queasy standing under a pitiless sun for so long.
Careening to his knees from the heat, a man appears to Mr. Cub,
Stretching out a hand to help lift him up.
And like Saul, or Nat Turner, seeing the Son of God,
Ernie Banks sees a dream-like figure,
And it is no other than Moses Fleetwood Walker before him.
The martyr of black baseball, while helping the slugger from the dirt,
Warns the Chicago shortstop to embrace it all, the ups and downs of the sport:
Play two if you must. For I will tell you what they told me at my final game.
You shall not play two. You shall not play one more.
You shall not play today, and you shall not play tomorrow….
Matthew Johnson is a northern transplant living in NC and a MA graduate of UNC-Greensboro. A former sports journalist and editor who wrote for the USA Today College and The Daily Star (Oneonta, NY), his poetry has appeared in Maudlin House, The Roanoke Review, the Maryland Literary Review, the Front Porch Review, and elsewhere. He’s a two-time Best of the Net Nominee and his debut collection, ‘Shadow Folks and Soul Songs’, (Kelsay Books) was released in 2019. His second poetry collection, ‘Far from New York State,’ is scheduled for release in Fall 2022 by New York Quarterly. Twitter: @Matt_Johnson_D Website: https://www.matthewjohnsonpoetry.com
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