A Bad Break
       

Lou Gehrig is crying. Lou Gehrig is crying for every story in New York
City. Lou Gehrig is wiping down every bleacher seat in Yankee Stadium
with his salt. Lou Gehrig. Lou Gehrig. He has the right. He banged
every one with a dinger.

DiMaggio can't believe the greatest ballplayer he ever played with is crying.
Gehrig once hit behind Babe. Lou Gehrig is crying. It fills every stein
and mug in the Bronx. Gehrig wanted to play in every game. DiMaggio
wants a hit in every game. DiMaggio marries a bomb who will sleep
with the president.

Lou Gehrig is crying up and down Broadway. He just got a bad break.
He says he is the luckiest man in the world. The Babe and Gehrig are
hugging like sisters. They don't speak to each other. Gehrig's mother
said something about Babe's wife. Lou Gehrig is crying. DiMaggio still
loves Marilyn. He is laying flowers on her grave. They were going to be
married again. Lou Gehrig is crying.

Lou Gehrig is crying down at the financial district where someday the
big bucks will build our future at the World Trade Center. Casey says
DiMaggio won't play if he can't play ball the way people expect Joe
DiMaggio to play ball and it's only to take the money. Joe DiMaggio is
an American hero. Joe DiMaggio's father's name was Giuseppe in San
Francisco in 1942. That took guts. Lou Gehrig is crying.

Ruth. Gehrig. Dimaggio. Now the Commerce Kid like Babe wants to
hit a home run off every broad in the city. His dad Mutt gave him a
baseball when he was hours old but sometimes Mickey Charles wanted
a bottle. The Mick needs your liver now. He and Billy and Whitey for
awhile drank up all of Gehrig's tears.

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Copyright © 2011 Paul Dickey All rights reserved
from They Say This Is How Death Came into the World
Mayapple Press
Reprinted by Verse Daily® with permission