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Strange Things Happen

Text of Poem

I found a ball in the yard
and tossed it as high as I could
and waited to catch it.
Not mine, it probably belonged
to the neighbor kids—
weird in appearance, stripes
around it like Saturn’s rings,
stars and a moon on the sides.
It may belong to a game
where the pattern fits the play.
It lay in my yard, fresh shiny cover—
I never saw one like it.
It’s been years since I played
catch. We never had a ball
marked like this, just an old
faded red one with a chunk
knocked out by a bat or dog’s teeth.
This ball looked different,
not ordinary, not play-worn.
I tossed it into the air
(that was years ago).
I remember it never came back.

First Line
I found a ball in the yard
Original Pub Location
Original Publication Date
1984
Original Citation
Yankee Magazine (July 1984) 153.
Republication
Complete Poems
456
Word Count
127
Poetic Form
open
Themes
Twitter Quote
It may belong to a game / where the pattern fits the play.