Compliments                                                     


            Some people – like you for instance –
            Just can’t take a compliment
            No matter what
 
            I’ve tossed knuckleballs and curves,
            Sliders, change-ups and have even thrown heat
            Straight down the middle
 
            You always act as if I’m brushing you back
            On an 0-and-2
 
            When all I really want
            Is for you to take a healthy cut,
            Send my pitch into the stands
            And round the bases nonchalantly towards home
            So I can start again
 
            When I was a kid I hunted forever for arrowheads
            Along the riverbank
            Because they were light, smooth and thin
            And with just the right angle and speed and spin
            I could skim them sheer across
            The mesmerising surface of the sparkling stream
            Clear to the opposite side
            And celebrate with an Indian whoop
 
            Some never made it all the way,
            Piercing and sinking out of sight
 
            I used to put it down to poor technique
 
            Though now I’ve come to think
            The river’s unseen chaos
            Had a part to play


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            Emanuel E. García, Leaf Thoughts, One Hundred Poems2013

          author's video reading