No Pitch

on march 24th, 2001,

randy “the big unit” johnson

hurled a fastball toward calvin murray

and exploded a mourning dove.

the ump ruled it a no pitch.

i was driving a sun-bleached truck

back to the grocery store after buying

hotdogs, corn, and a watermelon,

and dropping my wallet in the parking lot,

when a small bird thwacked the windshield.

i was going the speed limit: 45 mph.

somewhere in america, a drone pilot

flies an ugly bird in the blue of a foreign place

and watches a bearded man dirt bike

through a desert with a kid

wrapped around his back.

the missile, already on its way,

was fired long before the catcher

signaled for the heater up-and-away,

before i hungered to see my children

devour a melon to the rind,

before the kid on the dirt bike

bent his lips

to the driver’s ear and yelled,

go faster, faster.