John Miller, a Belgian-American journalist, and a player/coach for the Brussels Kangaroos, is in his fourth year of writing Old World Pastime, a take on baseball as lived in 21th century Europe.
At Old World Pastime
Summer prose, and poetry
Like speed and finesse
What’s haiku? Here’s yes:
Why, five syllables, then comes
Seven, five. Great funs!
Theme should be seasons
And some bittersweet wisdom
No, we throw spitballs
And rhymes for jive calls
Like the five-tool big playa
‘time flashes sick knives
Summer is alive!
Always breakfast and ballgame
Thus, 25 years
I have other gears:
Food, love, work, Springsteen, Shakespeare
But hardball is thread
Ways to live instead
Of living way too serious
(Get out these days much?)
Euroball’s soft touch
We play for love, not money
Make baseball, not war
The game’s ever more
Richer for its players here,
Nettuno, Haarlem
Rotterdam, Brussels
Brno, Madrid, Regensburg
Paris, Milano
Bust, Soriano?
We dig fantasy baseball,
MLB.COM
See Yankee Stadium
When we check out le New York
Records remember
Spring to September
Long seasons lead us onwards
Diamonds consume us
Magic cool-aid bus
To sublime, ridiculous
Welcome to the hive
Baseball bees will strive
Solid rock physics, not books
For brawn and not brains
Baseball’s magic names:
Bonds, Niekro, DiMaggio,
Gwynn: Hall of Fame gold
But here’s to Sam Fuld
A big leaguer, and a nerd
Hero to our kinds
Like Euroball finds
See Kepler, Rick VandenHurk
Inspire our green springs
And history brings
A tale to each, offer talks of
Kriek/krak of balle/batte
We know where it at:
Mister-Baseball Old World ‘time
Haiku, first inning!
Send your (European) baseball haiku, and other thoughts, to oldworldpastime@gmail.com. Yes I know this isn’t exactly what haiku is meant to be, but it’s my column.