Foxtrot

Originally published in Tule Review, Fall 2013 – Copyright © October 2013, Sacramento Poetry Center Press

And in those days Dad would pile us in

the back of the green Volare and we’d

take the drive up 880, past Freemont and Newark

and into Oakland, to the Coliseum

to watch the A’s – Ricky Henderson

stealing his 100^th base, Dennis Eckersley

recording his 45^th save, record setting years –

Dave Stewart striking out the side,

Dave Kingman hitting another home run,

Billy Martin getting tossed by the umps –

           one

                      more

                                 time

and the return of Reggie Jackson …

and the only character bigger than them

was Dad, buying us hotdogs and soda-pop,

crackerjack and popcorn, pennants and programs,

talkin’ bout Rollie Fingers and Catfish Hunter,

and how Mom danced the foxtrot with Vida Blue