KG Newman
All Hail The .400 Hitter
Like the victorious generals of Rome he'd fancy himself
returning home to a parade, The Greatest Since Williams,
they'd say, All Hail The .400 Hitter. And like the generals of Rome
he'd have a slave, an old coach who didn't believe in him, perhaps,
trailing close behind to whisper in his ear: All Glory Is Fleeting.
But even in the washed-up present he knows there isn't a chance in hell
he'd believe that: The aplomb that comes with .400 is something
that can never be given back. And instead of rose petals, wide-eyed kids
would throw their own fresh-cut grass at his feet just to tell their friends
that Mr .400 himself touched their very lawn. But even in this tableau,
with all admirers clobbering for a mere glimpse of his attention,
the crowd never directly addresses him by name. He is just another general
in a long history of successful generals. If distance is the gods' means
of reward, he'd figure, then he'll continue to play along,
keep on marching on the way to escape himself.
Bio
KG Newman is currently the sports editor at the Alamogordo Daily News in Alamogordo, New Mexico.
A Denver native and graduate of Arizona State University, he's a baseball junkie,
part-time rapper and full-time lover of women in sun dresses. He has been published in
numerous literary journals, including Curbside Splendor, Lines+Stars, Blue Lake Review and
Canyon Voices.
To read more of his work, visit
kinggriffeypoetry.blogspot.com