INNINGS

In a time they called 1983,

a man called himself Michael, a woman

called herself Cathy, and they invented

partitions of activity

called innings. 

They stacked nine, composing a game

called baseball.  They grew a town

called Baltimore, and created birds,

called Orioles.  They named

Baltimore’s baseball team

after the birds.

They invented apartments 

fabricated air-conditioning units

for walls, so they could stay cool

while the Orioles sweltered

in Baltimore. 

They sprouted other towns

with names like St. Louis,

Toronto, created more birds,

so the Orioles could compete

while they watched, cool

from air-conditioning.

When they grew tired of watching Orioles

in Baltimore, and the air became too cold,

the man called Michael, and the woman

called Cathy, took the seventh inning 

and split it in two, inventing

a time to stretch, together

in their apartment.

Nearby, in a place

they called Arlington,

across a river

they called Potomac,

thousands of mushrooms

popped from the soil,

spaced in perfectly measured

columns and rows.