Hard Thinking
May 13 2008


I think hard about things
— world peace,
the ’92 World Series,
how seriously they mean “best before”
on a carton of milk.
An artist’s depiction of hard thinking:
eyes screwed shut,
great drops of sweat bursting-out of both temples,
and ears steaming red.
So hard, my head hurts,
and the harder it gets to decide.

There was that big man/boy from Louisiana,
a raw southpaw
who could throw a fastball through walls.
They hit him hard, so he humped-up and threw even harder.
His weary catcher trotted out to the mound
squirting tobacco juice, scratching himself
and drawled out 2 simple words:
“Try e-e-a-s-y !”
Not try harder, try easy.
So he trusted his stuff
and let muscle memory take over
and watched, astonished
as the ball danced and darted
off-speed,
its spinning seams biting the heavy night air.
Three up, three down — unhittable.

They always said if you don’t succeed
try hard, try harder.
Now I try easy;
and things seem suddenly clear.


They say "baseball imitates life" ...and that "baseball can teach all you need to know about life." I guess this is one lesson. B Green