Southpaw Catcher by Adam Jameson

At tryouts the coach told me

that no left hander would

ever play catcher for him.

I just shrugged my shoulders

and walked back to sit

with the rest of the parents—

2 games in and 17 passed

balls later, he finally let

Cole put the gear on.

We were on our 4th pitcher.

My wife glanced at me

when she heard the click

of the pitch counter.

We were run-ruled in 4 innings.

I waited till everyone had left.

I showed the coach the counter.

It read 28, the number of pitches

in the dirt that game.

I made a O with my fingers and

told him that was how many went

to the backstop. I had a 12 year old

left hander with a fat lip, 2 deep

bruises, and a missing fingernail—

laughing at his dirty face

in the truck mirror.

Adam Jameson was born and raised in Southeast Kansas. He is a 1995 graduate of Pittsburg State University.  He currently works for Westar Energy. He has been reading and performing with White Buffalo for the past 25 years. The Little Balkans Press has recently published his first book of Poetry, #9 to Sallisaw. He lives in rural Pittsburg with his wife Meredith and son Cole.

Al Ortolani’s poetry and reviews have appeared in journals such as Prairie Schooner, New Letters, Word Riot, and the New York Quarterly. His fifth collection of poems, Waving Mustard in Surrender, was released in 2014 from New York Quarterly Books. Currently, he is teaching English in the Blue Valley School District and serves on the Board of Directors of the Kansas City Writers Place.