Body and Mind 2013 Body and Mind 2013 Featuring poetry, prose, and praise from Body and Mind 2013 Volume 8 Issue 2 Jeffrey Alfier John Gifford HONEST REFLECTIONS ON LIFE’S LEISURELY DIVERSIONS Terry Barr Curtis LeBlanc Rus Bradburd Kate Meadows Tobi Cogswell Scott F. Parker Katie Cortese Roxy Richardson Lorene Delany-Ullman Mark Rozema Sport Literate Dave Essinger Robert Walton Joey Franklin Chris Wiewiora Best American Again! Congratulations to Cinthia Ritchie. Her contest-winning essay, “Running,” which ran in Sport Literate in 2012, has been anthologized in The Best American Sports Writing 2013. What’s more, Frank Soos got a notable nod for “Another Kind of Loneliness,” which led off our pages two issues back. Ritchie and Soos, both ISSN-1082-3247 Alaskan writers by coincidence, are our small press heroes holding their own in the Big Leagues. U.S. $12.00 Canada: $14.00 Rip City: We hope each issue of Sport Literate provides readers with thought-provoking literature on life’s leisurely diversions. This year’s offering, however, seems particularly cognizant—if not somewhat bodily obsessed—with questions about why we take on these activities. Hence the title Body and Mind 2013. We don’t know this yesteryear fellow on the cover. But he certainly seems intense and mindful of his own temple. Photo courtesy of ThinkStockPhotos. BEGIN In memory of Charlie Lewsader 1946-2013 Body and Mind 2013 1 On Body Experiences and Mindful Expansions It’s been almost a decade since I stood on Notre Dame sidelines (envious of the Foreword William Meiners longer lenses beside me) to cover football unny how these Sport Literate issues come together. Other than the occasional games. I’m more fan than a journalist, and Ffootball, baseball, or swimsuit special collection, we’re not consciously think- certainly more fan than photographer, but ing of themes. But within these pages, many of our writers and poets are thinking I did blog about the Irish on our website. boldly aloud about bodies and what to make of all this leisure time beneath our Honestly—and this may sound odd coming feet. from a guy who founded a sports journal— Running enthusiasts push aching legs and thinning frames beyond limits. I don’t really like reading and writing about As does a fighting poet in her contest-winning poem. In the back, a son bonds “sports.” Fortunately, I don’t think anyone with his father over Alabama Crimson Tide football. But we begin with a distant- in this edition is focusing on just a game. remembering narrator recalling her family affairs at an uncle’s fish fry. Elsewhere, I watch sports, all the time. It’s the through poetic musings, a young wife revisits her family’s minor league baseball reality television of my world and I will days. schedule my weekends and evenings Outdoorsmen, adept in both poetry and prose, reflect on fishing and share around a collection of young men I’ll never campsite tales of visits from undomesticated bears. These aren’t the Bernstein meet pitted against each other in games Bears dropping by for lox and bagels. We’ve also got an automotive section, with bouncing balls. And I know that sounds silly, too. I wonder how much of a where two poets reflect on muscle cars, horses beneath the hood, and all things near half century I’ve passed simply bearing witness to games. cherry bomb. I like a good story, too. They didn’t have ADD when I was a kid, but I’m as an Though there are fewer literal balls in the air, there is much to ponder about impatient a reader as you’ll find. Another shameful admission by a literary maga- the deeper meaning in diversions. Two essayists, for example, discover a sense of zine editor? But the simple mission of Sport Literate has always been to publish the “otherness” through sports. One white kid becomes distinctly aware of his own true stories and close-to-the-bone poetry that we like and simply cannot shake. Dig color (or lack of it) as plays hoops on a predominately black basketball court. A into the rest of the 108 pages and I think you’ll be struck by its staying power. young woman considers her role as a trespasser in the ironically machismo world Special thanks to Rus Bradburd, our guest essay judge, and all the folks of Fantasy Football. (listed on page 4) who breathe life into this literary endeavor. They spend a lot of As you might suspect in a journal of this name, there are allusions to literary time reading and designing for free and the magazine is richer for it. Artistically lions like John Cheever, William Faulkner, and Henry David Thoreau. Three con- speaking that is; SL makes no bank. tributors conjure up those writers to make some artistic sense of their own motiva- I constantly think about hanging this thing up, becoming a grownup, or maybe tions. Dave Essinger, an ultramarathon runner and a teacher of Cheever, won putting this effort into backyard landscaping. But then I wouldn’t be one of the first our essay contest for his efforts. Joey Franklin, a former scoutmaster, looks for people to read and publish an essay about the hallucinating effects of an ultramara- something of Thoreau, even Norman Rockwell, as he leads two reluctant scouts up thon. Or ponder the poetic significance of an empty baseball diamond in winter. a Utah mountain. It’s both funny and beautifully written. You can build the bank a bit through a subscription or donation. Come on, 20 As always, I hope you’ll spend some time with the works to follow. It seems a bucks. A c-note if you’re feeling friendly. I’ll keep SL going as long as we keep get- bit like old times at Sport Literate. In typical scramble mode to get the issue to the ting good work and I’m not putting my family in the poor house. The son of a finan- printer in late November, I am well aware that time stands still for no slow press. cial planner (that’s him pictured back in the day, when he escaped to Tahiti to paint And though I don’t imagine our readers are setting their watches by our publica- the natives), I missed that gene. But I did inherit his love of sports. Maybe even an tion schedule, I suspect we’re arriving in mailboxes around the holidays. So I hope ear for a good story. And so it seems, after all these years, that’s why I’m here. this finds you happy, well, and ready to read. 2 Sport Literate Body and Mind 2013 3 Support YOUR NAME HERE Volume 8, Issue 2 Thanks to everyone who has supported Sport Literate over the years. Published under the umbrella of Pint-Size Publications, an Illinois nonprofit, Sport Literate stays in print because of grants from the Illinois Arts Council, William Meiners Nicholas Reading along with subscribers and supporters like you. And we are a true nonprof- Editor-in-Chief Managing Editor it, this year back in good graces with the IRS. Please consider joining our Frank Van Zant Erin Ingram team with a tax-deductible donation. Poetry Editor Graphic Designer Franchise Players ($500) Glenn Guth Lafayette Printing Pinch Hitters ($100) Mouthpiece Printer The Bench ($50) Kathleen Cook, Kathleen Guth Karl Malone Illinois Arts Council, Mick and Kris Meiners Franchise Players Sport Literate™ (ISSN 1080-3247) is a literary journal published by Pint- Size Publications, a nonprofit corporation. We feature creative nonfiction, Jay and Alison Archer, Rus Bradburd, Patrick and Beth poetry, photo essays, and interviews. Individual subscription rates are Gavaghan, Glenn and Kathleen Guth, Doug and Courtney $20 for two issues, domestic; $30 for two issues, foreign; and $30 for Howie, Robert Mather, Bob and Lisa Meiners, Olaf Mend two issues, libraries and institutions. We now publish one issue per year. (in memory of), Dave Thurston Pinch Hitters If you’re a subscriber moving, please alert us by mail or email at www. sportliterate.org. Send subscriptions, queries, and other stuff to: Mark Desmond, Robert Durkin, Susan Eleuterio, Frank and Sport Literate Tricia Fisher, Colleen Gavaghan, John Girardi, Bob and 2248 West Belmont #20 Dixie Meiners, Virginia Mend, Karl and Barb Meyer, Bill and Peggy Roach Chicago, IL 60618 The Bench www.sportliterate.org Note: As this Volume 8 ends, we’re going to clear the decks before the Writers, we welcome poetry and all types of creative nonfiction (personal start of Volume 9. essays, literary journalism, travel pieces, etc.) that fall within our broad definition of sport. Query, too, with interview and photo essay ideas. Only Sport Literate falls under the umbrella of Pint-Size Publications, a nonprofit corporation. Checks, made payable to Sport Literate, can be sent to: submissions with a self-addressed, stamped envelope will be returned. 2248 West Belmont #20 Read this issue, and any back issues if you like (available online), and Chicago, IL 60618 send something good our way. Subscribe, donate, or peruse online at www.sportliterate.org. 4 Sport Literate Body and Mind 2013 5 Table of Contents Body and Mind 2013 Volume 8, Issue 2 8 Who’s on First: Kate Meadows Fish Fry at Uncle John’s Essays 44 Chris Wiewiora The Gift of Nothing Essays 56 Joey Franklin Climbing Shingle Mill Creek 18 Scott F. Parker Colored White 24 Katie Cortese Winning Like a Girl Contest 30 Robert Walton Bill and the Bear 68 Rus Bradburd Suburban Distance Winner 70 Winning Essay: Dave Essinger John Cheever, Buddha, and the Poetry Unabomber on the Urban 34 Curtis LeBlanc Carson Pegasus Ultramarathon 36 Jeffrey Alfier Muscle Car, One All Saints’ Day 80 Winning Poem: Roxy Richardson Glass in Widow Akulina’s Meadow, When a Chocolate Chip Cherry Cadillac Was All Essays I Learned of the Bible’s Harlot-Queen 82 Mark Rozema The Point of the Game 40 Tobi Cogswell Katie Caldwell Meets a Plumber at the 88 Terry Barr In the Back of the End Zone Muscle Car Dance 98 John Gifford Running as a Means to an End Lorene Delany-Ullman Welcome Wagon, Alligator Mouth 42 Poetry 106 Jeffrey Alfier Winter Diamond 6 Sport Literate Body and Mind 2013 7 Fish Fry at Uncle John’s social event of the year.