Loneliness

Loneliness

Jacob Stratman

Is the flag at half-mast flailing like an abandoned 
nest, pointing now due east, due to me, perched 
here in evening dusk at the end of the bench  
in this dugout, absorbing a scalloped sky  
of gray growing black and pink, mixed  
underneath like wet bottom feathers  
of a barred owl after eating crawdads.  

The setting sun loses its battle  
to the storm.  A row of aluminum bats 
lean against the chain-link fence,  
waiting their turn.  Called to the plate, I grab  
the fat bat—only wooden one,  
the one I need, at night, in this storm:  

my grace, even if heavy to swing true. 

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Jacob Stratman
Poet & Educator

Jacob’s What I Have I Offer With Two Hands is a part of the Poiema Poetry Series (Cascade, 2019). His most recent poems can be found (or forthcoming) in The Christian Century, Wordgathering, FreezeRay, Ekprhastic Review, among others. He lives and teaches in Siloam Springs, AR.

Photography by Francisco Gonzalez