October Magic

When people tell me
baseball bores them

I understand

Ours is a secret society
we have our own language
spoken over pitchers of Old Style in bars
in our den 3 Bloody Marys in

it is the poetry of math

from the traditional verse
of AVG and HRs

to the scat
of sabermetrics

when the pitcher talks
into his glove

you read it in the catcher's nod

and when it works

it's glorious

and never thrown
down the center of the plate

we're a strange breed
brushing the corners

When people tell me baseball bores them

I understand

© 2013 Lee Kitzis

Hump Day Blues

I had a dream
I sang like
Howlin' Wolf

I didn't want it to end

I woke up
and took the bus
to work

the Slavic beauties
with torn looks
like somebody
just killed their dog

the same faces I see
every day

and nobody was singing

much of anything

and I didn't want it to end

I woke up
and walked into a warehouse
in the middle of nowhere

and punched the clock
nine minutes late

having collected grays

having collected checks

having collected the gritted teeth
of city bus drivers

and schizophrenic screams

I put on my whites

poured a coffee

and tried

© 2013 Lee Kitzis

The Prep Cook's Lament

We would rather
make love
than make 50 lbs of spiced nuts
or 25 lbs of guacamole

walk the streets
to and from work
confettied with losing
lottery tickets
and security system signs
on the lawns
of the paranoid

and yet we go

and cling to the moments
we can steal

a kiss of the nipple
in the shower

a grab of the ass
in the dairy aisle

pawing at each other

in the German bar

with the midday drunks

we've won

whatever there is to win

and the world can feed itself for a change

© 2013 Lee Kitzis

Slim to None

I couldn't sleep

so
I scrambled some eggs

and bought a lottery ticket

the odds were 1 in 575,757

I thought of you
at work

another 10 hr shift

and the cats

they slept well
in the sun

while little kids
screamed their idiot screams

Last night
you came to bed
and told me I had 20 minutes

when we finished I told you
I used 19 minutes 30 seconds

and we laughed
and you fell asleep
and I read a short story
about a tiger
and drank
watery gin

$12.94 in our bank account

1 in 575,757

you never believe me

when I tell you you're beautiful

so I will tell you

575,757 times

© 2013 Lee Kitzis