A poem by Evan Gore

People drove from all ‘round just to stand side-by-side
to cheer on their big heroes for winning and pride
but books tried to look, just to see past the fans
who were blocking the doors raising phones in their hands.

because books all love baseball; this isn’t a mystery,
they relate to the drama, the characters and history,
with innings like chapters, a nine-part whodunit,
blind umpires, close calls— it’s unreal who just won it!

With the season now over and a long wait till spring,
and the book fans unable to see a World Series ring,
one Young Adult novel called his book friends by name,
“Hey let’s form a league! Let’s all play a game!”

So they played in the lobby, and floors two, three and four.
bouncing balls off computers, off the murals and more,
teams of nine, benches clear, everyone got to play
and the kids picture books smashed home runs on that day.

The Business Books business’d, their fielding was great,
while the Cook Books got cooking against Books On Tape,
The Periodicals tied with the Biographies
While a tag out at home dropped Art Books to knees.

The Children’s Books cheered and the Romance Books sighed
when the sharp New Release reached third base on a slide.
and the Play Scripts took heat from the long-winded critics
but still won, exposing their opponent’s arthritics.

At the end of the ninth, all the books tired and spent,
they returned to their shelves, just a few pages bent
having had a great time, having made some new friends,
they lined up back in order between their book ends.

–Evan Gore