“We made too many wrong mistakes” - Yogi Berra
Clouds descended
over our Southern California houses
and swam all the way to Pasadena
putting a diaphanous coil
around Brookside Park
like choruses from a
1949 movie soundtrack
How long has it been
since Chuck Conners caught a ripple
punching a long single to the right field
corner later got picked off, as Nellie Fox
mitts a relay from Al Zarilla, shovels it
over to Chico Carrasquel forcing an out,
putting himself
on a leash between 2nd & 3rd in the
bottom of the 9th with Bob Rush hurling a
six-hitter and the Cubbies clipped the
White Sox about 2,000 miles
from hometown turf
It rained yesterday the same way it did then that
springtime a long time ago,
when we were begging for bubblegum on
benign streetcorner universes: and at
the same time, begging for the moon to
spend a little more time with us on
nights free from the drag of discipline:
free from the raspy rule-ridden
demanding hollers from strange women
we called “mother”
and free to remain patrolling the outfield
wall, then begging for the chance to bag
one in deep center just like
“handy” Andy Pafko
So doesn’t it seem a little bit weird, now, that we
who, somehow, survived traumatic
development of
American disillusion, since 1951,
are still into
some sort of pre-season exhibition?
And is there any chance at all that
we could ever be
called on account of rain?
Altadena, California {1971}
From: Crosswalk Casserole
Summary
“GROUNDING OUT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA” by Michael C. Ford is a poem centered on place and geography, memory, family. Its imagery is anchored in Pasadena, California. The poem develops its subject through recurring images and shifts in emotional pressure rather than reducing the experience to a single statement.
Analysis
Voice
The speaker works through observation and associative imagery, allowing scene and image to carry the argument.
Style and form
The poem is line-driven. The poem moves by accumulation: images, references, and tonal turns build on one another, so meaning emerges from their relationships as much as from narrative sequence.
Themes and imagery
Its strongest thematic currents include place and geography, memory, family, identity. Concrete images give those abstractions physical weight, while changes in diction and pace keep the poem from settling into a single emotional register.
Reading the poem
A productive way to read “GROUNDING OUT IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA” is to watch how its images change function as the poem progresses. Details that initially establish scene or memory become emotional evidence. The result is a poem whose argument is carried through association, rhythm, and image as much as through explicit statement.
Explore this poem
Source & rights
Source: Crosswalk Casserole (Lawn Gnome Publishing, First Edition, 2013)
Rights: © 2013 Lawn Gnome Publishing. All rights reserved.