The Shoebox - Day 25

Gary Gaetti
3B - Twins
#19, Donruss Diamond Kings, 1987

If we must be born again, let it be
in rehab, humbled by the prophecy
of a copywriter making deadline. Sure
to be a king for years to come,
whispers that your knee won't bend,
there in black and white for God
and every infield divot to hear.
When the stat line is a long mesa
we might wander far enough to forget
what falling means. If we must be born
again, we're bound to be awkward
tweens again, taunting dusk as we play
the game in someone's yard, the pain
our father calls growing in every joint.