Watching baseball

We can be having a conversation
about nothing even in particular
and suddenly you’ll burst into an
animated shouting of go go GO GO GO
and he’ll round the base
and someone will catch the ball
and we’ll go back to talking like nothing
has happened, which nothing really has
My enjoyment of the game comes mostly
from others’ enjoyment, from yours
or before I met you from other spectators
at the ball park eating their hot dogs
or nachos while wearing their hats
and talking, always talking, or sulking
when their team’s not making it happen
a feeling which I feel baseball fans know
better than those of most sports
But I don’t or can’t get into the middle
with all of you, I stay off the first base line
while you’re right behind the plate, maybe
even between the umpire and batter
you’re, in a word, involved in it
in the pitches, strikes, balls, the errors,
runs, walks, balks, innings, peanuts and crackerjacks
in a way that I will not be
and don’t know how to be