TEAM FLAME a Hermit Crab essay in a baseball lineup card

Nine At-Bats

BATTING NINTH

Number 68, Pitcher, FLAME THROWER

(Coaches note: don’t expect much, a hit is a miracle)

I’ve still not seen the burning bush, but I do see small flames, even miracles from STORYTELLERS:

All those listening. All those walking.

All those meditating. All those making music.

All those riding bicycles. All those Mother Joneses.

All those practicing yoga. All those keeping pledges.

All those painters and fixers. All those readers and thinkers.

All those tapping natural energy. All those canoeing quiet water.

All those easing into gentleness. All those making local decisions.

All those recyclers and myth-busters.
All those choosing herbs and acupuncture.
All those bailing on the bruising, busted, boisterous business world.

Not one tree ablaze in the wilderness, but the nine hole batter getting a hit, a faint flame against enormous odds . . .  a minor miracle; but lets celebrate this DUMB LUCK.

Its a number nine batter with a hit; its millions of ordinary people carefully tending embers through the night.

Look, the burning bush.

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^{Burning excerpts from Stories Emerge Like Bears, a Cornerstone Press forthcoming lyric memoir in 2028 exploring wilderness, memory, labor, rhythm, motorcycles, drumming, fire, and the sacred atmospheres and languages of place.}