042615   042624

Aunt Ellen taught me how to play catch in the side yard
Clara and I shot baskets in the driveway and
played hotbox on the side-street lawn.
In the front yard we built tag forts and umbrella parachutes 
it was baseball camping and running in the back yard.
Nervous to avoid injury Aunt Ellen taught the most gentle
underhand catch in the last half century
which is when she taught me that day.
At Crosley Field where Hudepohl beer was hawked
concessionaires entreated Get Moody With A Hudey.
Although Aunt Ellen consoled that losing was a shame for kids
we had adventure enough being in the major league park.
Now I have so many more than she had years
I’d wish to see her as a young woman in her 30s
and me old as now to thank her sincerely
grateful and calming appreciation 
she’s the special one who taught me to catch the ball.