A Poet and Baseball: E. Ethelbert Miller’s “The Fifth Inning”

Baseball inspires poetry, as true fans of both well know. Jack Buck showed us that. So did Ogden Nash, Garrison Keillor and Grantland Rice.

Now comes E. Ethelbert Miller with The Fifth Inning. A poet, essayist, memoirist and literary activist, Miller reflects, as he nears 60, on life, relationships and loss in this, his second memoir, released last March.

Why the fifth inning? Miller writes:

In the fifth inning you know anything can happen. This could be a complete game. You count your blessings for surviving the fourth. The first hitter sends a ball deep to the warning track in left field. This brings your manager to his feet. He starts to pace in the dugout. He’s afraid you’re losing it. You look down at your feet and kick the rubber. You’re afraid too, and it tips the next hitter off. One swing and you’re down four. The next two hitters follow with a single and a double. It’s over now. You might as well play catch in the backyard with the kids. The catcher asks the umpire for time and walks out to the mound. Here comes your manager getting ready to ask for the ball. Inside your glove, you hold it and keep waiting for it to speak. The silence tells its own story. The game keeps searching for an author.

For more, see the following interview with Miller or visit his web site.