Highways and Byways: A Poem for Roy Dean

By Maik Strosahl

“You know, you may be right, Roy Dean.
I watched that. In fact, that was a damn
bit of poetry, that was.”
—From the movie Pastime



He’s been there,
had his cup of coffee,
put two pitches by The Man.
His next was sent soaring
to a great roar in St. Louis,
and no sooner,
his cup dry,
he was sent back to the farm,
thirsting for another taste.

From the bullpen,
he whistles an exhortation,
with three claps to break
the song of crickets
coming from the bleachers—
“Let’s get two!”

The moment collects
as sweat on their brows:
the rag-arm winding,
the runner on first
taking that extra step,
the catcher deep in his crouch,
number sixteen twisting
the nub of thirty-five ounces.

A crack and two bounces,
past the shortstop’s stretch,
but not the third baseman, diving,
who rises and shoots for second,
who receives and relays to first,
beating the batter’s foot
by just inches.

And the inning is over,
the moment recorded 5-4-3,
Has Been to
Could Have Been to
Never Was
in the annals of
California D-Ball,
1957,
soon to be forgotten.

’Cept by Ol’ Roy Dean,
who claps his appreciation
for the poem
as he awaits the call
to throw again—
for the coach,
for the team,
for the bigs and
one more taste of coffee,
one more chance at Musial

that will never come.

Copyright © 2020 by Maik Strosahl Michael E. Strosahl has focused on poetry for over twenty years, during which time he served a term as President of the Poetry Society of Indiana. He also dabbles in short fiction and may be onto some ideas for a novel. He relocated to Jefferson City, Missouri, in 2018 and currently co-hosts a writers group there. In September 2020, he started the blog “Disturbing the Pond.”