On Aug. 31, the Cubs smacked nine homers to rout the Brewers.
I was floating on Cloud Nine.
Nine. What a beautiful number.
Maybe that’s why I’ve always been
so euphoric about baseball:
nine innings,
nine players on offense,
nine players on defense,
ninety feet between the bases.
Even home plate was originally
a nine-inch-diameter quoit.
No wonder I love this sport
from the nineteenth century.
This poem uses line breaks of prose from Dr. Oza’s debut novel, Double Play on the Red Line. Meet him on a panel hosted by The Chicago Literary Hall of Fame at Printers Row Lit Fest, 9/12/26, 3 pm.