Today’s New Verse News: SPITBALL MASTER HAIKU and ODE TO MY TESLA
by Earl J. Wilcox; by Timothy Hennum
SPITBALL MASTER HAIKU
Homage to Gaylord Perry, 1938-2022
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by Earl J. Wilcox
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Stiches seams grip tight
Gaylord’s secret sauce in flight
Cy Young Saliva
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Earl Wilcox writes from South Carolina, up the road from where Gaylord Perry spent his last years teaching his grandsons the fine arts of pitching.
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ODE TO MY TESLA
by Timothy Hennum
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Oh how shiny she sits, a cord thick as my wrist dangles from her hip. Oh how silent she moves, her screen—flat as a flag—glows bright as the moon. Perched behind her wheel, parked and alone, I scroll through their tweets and scowl at my phone. How easy it would be to delete my account; to push a few buttons and finally be out. But what about her? Now these smooth lines, this warm screen, her sweet purrs do not bring me joy. And no longer can I look at her, her screen a decoy mounted to that dark dash, that inflated hood, those obnoxious rims, and not think of him.
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Timothy Hennum is a writer and a physical therapist living in Minneapolis with his wife and two daughters. His writing has appeared in Your Fire Magazine, Intrinsick Magazine, Gear Junkie Magazine, and the Minneapolis StarTribune.