A Fan's Proposal

                 Richard Hutcherson proposes marriage
                 during a Nashville Sounds baseball game.

During the seventh inning stretch, he knelt
on the dugout and proposed while people drank
their beers and grazed on popcorn, hotdogs, chips,
and ice cream. Amplified, his voice unwound

from every speaker, distance shearing words
from lips, while showers of pointillist hearts
cascaded across the scoreboard, hounded
by neon cupids. Later, over glasses

of beer at the Gerst House, he grinned and held
her hand while toasts were made and friends played darts
or pool. He talked about their plans, the sounds
absorbed in barroom smoke and pints of Bass.
A wedding like a carnival. Her blank
expression too elusive to be bound.

Copyright © 2002 Rob Griffith All rights reserved
from The Formalist
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission