COSMIC BASEBALL ASSOCIATION-David Dixon Margolis Poetry

The Back Of Chuck Hiller's Card

Slugged first grand slam

by an NL player
in World Series history
in 1962.
(Of all guys.)
In '67, led league in pinch hits.
First guy I ever knew of
that I would describe
as horse-faced.
Big prominent nostrils
that scared me a bit.
Acquired from Giants to fill gap
left by Ron Hunt,
who suffered
a separated shoulder
in collision with Cards' Phil Gagliano.
We never forgave Gagliano for that,
my brother and I.
Never.
Not even now.
Hiller was like your stepfather.
It wasn't his fault he was there,
but he was a daily reminder
of what you were missing,
what you really wanted.
Slugged first grand slam
by an NL player
in World Series history
in 1962.
And they can never take that away from him.
That or the horse-faced thing.

DAVID DIXON MARGOLIS comes from a long line of Brooklyn Dodger fans, most of whom have refused to watch a baseball game since 1957. He attended his first baseball game at Shea Stadium in August of 1964, watching the Mets beat the Phils 12-4. (Or was it all just a strange and wonderful dream?) Primarily a comedy writer until recently, David feels that poetry may be his calling, now that he's "gotten over that whole rhyming issue." He has a son, Hank, and until recently had cats named Clendenon and Kranepool. He's currently at work on a compilation of his poems entitled "Reflections May Be Larger Than They Appear."