“Equinox” by Ron Wallace

Songs of Eretz Poetry Review is pleased to present “Equinox” by Ron Wallace, the winner of the 2017 Songs of Eretz Poetry Award Contest.  His bio may be found here:  http://eretzsongs.blogspot.com/2017/01/announcing-winner-of-2017-songs-of.html.

Equinox

Ron Wallace

September is ending in the west

          a low roll of thunder

                    a broken promise of rain.

The fireflies have all faded,

not a cicada is singing

          there’s just the twist of a lid

that echoes in the night

out beyond  the backporch light

where the last moon of summer drops

          just over the centerfield fence

                    above my extended glove.

One last walk-off home run by Yogi tonight

brings the season to a close

          breaks my heart

finds me already missing April

moving into May,

June, July and August

as they spiral into the coming of cooler nights.

         Soon the dark will deepen

into shades of  the first autumn night,

and somewhere out there

          in the pitch of distance

                    unlit and unwanted,

I sense October, hovering,

haunting me like a goddamned ghost

          rattling chains and old broken baseball bats

in summer’s aftermath.

Poet’s Notes:  As the autumn equinox was approaching on February 22, 2015, the great New York Yankee Hall of Fame catcher Yogi Berra (pictured) passed at the age of 90. That started the thoughts that became this poem. This changing of seasons from summer to fall always moves me to reflect on the passing of youth. Berra, being a childhood favorite of mine, exiting this plane as summer and baseball were drawing to a close, brought me a longing for more summer, more youth, more time. 

Editor’s Note:  I enjoy the mood Ron creates here as well as the interesting comparisons between weather and baseball.  He captures many competing feelings here, not least among them the ambivalence we have for change, competing with the powerful feelings generated when we experience the exact moment of change.