Poetry corner: From Frost (Robert) to frosted (Smoltz)
(With apologies to Robert Frost, who once said: “Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.“)
Dumping on Frank at a Moment’s Notice
Whose fault this is I think I know.
The one whose hair gleams white as snow;
He will not hear me creeping up
To give my whistle this shrill blow.
My little pal must think it queer
Having been tossed out on his ear
Without a pitch so much to make
The coldest day of Tom’s career.
He gives his ruffled pride a shake
And asks if there is some mistake.
But no, alas, it is too true;
He was wronged by some suited flake.
My wrath is mighty, dark, and deep;
The name’s Smoltz, and I do not weep.
But on Frank Wren this blame I heap.
But on Frank Wren this blame I heap.
The real thing: Frost’s “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening,” which everyone should know by heart, can be found here.)
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73 comments Add your comment
Ron Bailey
June 8th, 2009
2:22 pm
Mrs. Smoot and Mrs. Turnipseed would be proud of you.
Chopper
June 8th, 2009
2:31 pm
Braves Haiku
The Nineties were fun
Glavine, Smoltz, and Maddux aced
Now it is the pits!
LizDawg
June 8th, 2009
2:33 pm
To paraphrase Billy Shakespeare:
Tommy G’s but a walking shadow, a poor player,
That struts and frets upon the G-Braves mound,
And then is heard no more. It is a fastball
Told by a union lover, lacking sound and fury,
Signifying nothing.
Mark Bradley
June 8th, 2009
2:33 pm
Thanks, Ron.
(Mrs. Smoot, you should know, was my Latin and journalism and homeroom teacher at MHS, and also my next-to-next-door neighbor. Mrs. Turnipseed taught me freshman English and, for reasons unclear, seemed to like me.)
Mark Bradley
June 8th, 2009
2:34 pm
And now we’ve gone all Hamlet on here. Nice, LIz.
The Murf
June 8th, 2009
2:38 pm
Been a while since I’ve laughed this hard at work… My cubicle neighbors are getting suspicious
BugKiller
June 8th, 2009
2:39 pm
Mark…
Thanks, about the Lofton thing.
I don’t care what anyone says about the Texiera trade.
Trading Justice and Grissom to Cleveland for the Lofton-rental was the WORST trade in The Genius’s career.
And I say The Genius without sarcasm or malice.
I am on record as the Braves owe the 1990’s to The Genius, and not the idiot manager who wasted October after October because he is the worst tactical manager to ever be given the kind of talent he was given, single-handedly dooming this team which SHOULD have won multiple titles to one, lone championship.
bali
June 8th, 2009
2:43 pm
geez mark think i can smell a Pulitzer in your future………. when are u going to give your first reading
ATLfan15
June 8th, 2009
2:53 pm
Roses are red,
Violets are blue,
Glavine should go gracefully,
And Smoltz should keep his mouth shut.
This doesn’t rhyme and I don’t care.
By the way, nice poem MB!
Braves Fan....for a while
June 8th, 2009
2:55 pm
There once was a Brave named Francouer,
Many think he should be shown the door.
Instead, Wren let him keep on hitting,
Therefore Cox will just have to keep on spitting.
Francouer’s up with men on base,
Yep, there’s another ground ball to the pitcher.
The fact that he is still a Brave,
always makes me run for the switcher.
Rain, rain, go away…. and take Francouer with you
M Anthony
June 8th, 2009
2:59 pm
Glav got the normal Atlanta sports scene boot.
No class, no thought, just a point made moot.
They saved a few bucks and tried to convince
a city its losing is enough.
Most have been Hall of Famers to be.
While the fans sit and wonder just what they will see.
Dana
June 8th, 2009
3:07 pm
Glavine I knew
This would be your fate
When my 90 yr. old grandma
beat your fastball to the plate
wxwax
June 8th, 2009
3:09 pm
The Big Apple was shiny
And blinding with loot
So Glavine moved his hiney
And left the Braves in the poop
Now the Braves have a shiny
Young pitcher who’s cheap
So they’ve ditched Glavine’s hiney
And he ‘s whining like sheeet
Mark Bradley
June 8th, 2009
3:22 pm
This little exercise might have set a perilous precedent. We might just have to do it again.
What should our next poetic subject be? Matty Ice? Mike Bibby? (Please don’t say Michael Vick. That’s one we’re not tackling, as it were.)
WilliamG
June 8th, 2009
3:38 pm
First there was the curse from the chief
felt by Braves young and old, timid and bold
Some scoffed and said it was beyond belief
But the tribe’s wisest knew it was as told
Then along came Glavine with a new threat to display
Shunned and made to feel small, he put a curse on the ball
Bats curled up and snoozed, and the runs ran away
The park that had been hallowed now became fallowed
The big bosses laughed at the thought of a curse
and said Glavine was old and in need of a nurse
But the truth be told, they just didn’t get the pitcher
Mark Bradley
June 8th, 2009
3:41 pm
We’re here to entertain, Murf. Just a little verse, for better or worse, to get one through the working day.
anotherdawg
June 8th, 2009
3:49 pm
Another column like this would be GREAT – Like many others, I can’t WAIT. Although we have players MOVING – articles like this are actually SOOTHING LOL
Mike In Valdosta
June 8th, 2009
4:04 pm
While much of this prose, smells less like a rose,
It sure has been fun, but now must be done,
But before I go, there is something you should know,
No championships we’d be having, if it were not for Tom Glavine
Butterbean
June 8th, 2009
4:08 pm
That Chipper is handsome,
My girlfriend still raves.
Just be glad Atlanta Spirit,
Doesn’t own the Braves.
BOB HORNER FROST
June 8th, 2009
4:35 pm
BRAVES PITCHING GETS POPPED
LIKE KIDS WITH BALLOONS.
FRANK WREN MAKES THE BRAVES
LOOK LIKE BUFFOONS.
NCBravesFan
June 8th, 2009
7:56 pm
Hardly A Pitcher
Makes the Show
Whose Fastball
Is Slower
Than Sid Bream Slow
BURMA SHAVE
BT
June 8th, 2009
8:53 pm
Hope this is a double switch and Diaz goes into left.
The facts of blog: Three times a day, five days a week | Mark Bradley
July 10th, 2009
2:33 pm
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