{"id":8574,"date":"2015-09-26T20:10:39","date_gmt":"2015-09-26T20:10:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/?p=8574"},"modified":"2015-09-26T20:12:20","modified_gmt":"2015-09-26T20:12:20","slug":"in-appreciation-of-bowling-mash-note-to-a-great-sport","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/2015\/09\/in-appreciation-of-bowling-mash-note-to-a-great-sport\/","title":{"rendered":"In appreciation of bowling: Mash note to a great sport"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"IMG_4199\"<\/a>Hey there–<\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s the first night of the season! Happy League night!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Peace, love, and solace<\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mash note to a great sport<\/strong>
\n(for the team and Ann)<\/em><\/p>\n

Hey Bowling,<\/p>\n

I love you \u2013 you big lug.<\/p>\n

So straightforward anyone can play,
\nMore understanding than any other guy,
\nyou reward a striking performance,
\neven give me a second chance.<\/p>\n

You big galoot, I like how you\u2019re down to earth,
\nhow I have to come to a noisy alley,
\nhow you let me know
\nit\u2019s bad to wallow in the gutter.<\/p>\n

Your talk speaks so loudly:
\nwe\u2019re in the alley or the lane,
\nwe leading off or on the approach,
\nafter that it\u2019s follow through, follow through, follow through.
\nThen it\u2019s all about the release and how
\nwe marked, scored, converted.<\/p>\n

I love your rituals\u2014
\nthe stroker squeezes the little rosin sack,
\nthe kingpin blows into the finger grips or straps on his wrist master,
\nthe captain addresses Mr. Headpin and calls for an Explodo,
\nthe anchor clutches his heart when there\u2019s a near split–
\nand your gestures– high fives, backslaps, pounding knuckles,
\nand \u201cthe Tiger pump\u201d that one guy always makes.<\/p>\n

I don\u2019t mind your unseemliness–sweaty palms, fingers in holes,
\nshared soles, sprayed and swapped, because it doesn\u2019t detract
\nfrom your best quality \u2013 the most fun of all–
\nwith you, I get to knock things down! Glorious destruction!
\nYou let me wreak havoc, encourage it even.<\/p>\n

And, I appreciate your history.
\nIt figures Fred and Barney bowl since
\ncavemen and cavewomen had leagues
\ndown by the dry creek bed.
\nAncient Egyptians left the game
\nwith their mummies, and
\nJulius Caesar dug his bocce
\njust like the Big Lebowski.<\/p>\n

And I dig our compatriots\u2014Split Happens, Pinheads, Four Balls
\nand Two Bags, da Bears, Bowled Over,
\nSpare Me\u2014and the matches\u2014
\ncamaraderie, competition, shot and a beer,
\nwaiting for the chick who never pays attention.
\nBowling for trim or glory, Xs
\ncover the sheet like kisses.<\/p>\n

With you, my big brute, the possibilities roll
\nlike a 14-lb pound Ebonite
\nspinning into the pocket,
\nzigzagging for grandma\u2019s teeth,
\nlove-tapping the barmaid.
\nKnocking down those sleepers
\nmakes a satisfactory clatter,
\neven if it is a Brooklyn.<\/p>\n

What have I forgotten?
\nHow your ten frames
\nbuild like decades in a century,
\nthe tenth so filled with possibility.
\nBang or whimper? Bang, definitely, bang.<\/p>\n

Oh bub, you\u2019re good for a date or a league commitment.
\nI\u2019ll take you squeezed between the old timers
\non a weekday morning, Whatever weather,
\nI can come by the alley and recreate\u2014
\nmaybe trot with a turkey or howl with a hambone.
\nIt\u2019s even okay when I have frame after frame
\nof number nine, just like in that Beatles song.<\/p>\n

My baby, darling of kings and jolly good
\nfun to ordinary folk alike,
\nat two bucks a line,
\nyou\u2019re almost as cheap as my old pal poetry.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Ellen Wade Beals, 2012<\/strong><\/p>\n

This was first published in Intentional Walk Review<\/em><\/strong><\/a>, December 2, 2012<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hey there– It’s the first night of the season! Happy League night! Peace, love, and solace     Mash note to a great sport (for the team and Ann) Hey Bowling, I love you \u2013 you big lug. So straightforward anyone can play, More understanding than any other guy, you reward a striking performance, even […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1364,2733,2732,12,1366,13,16,2731,32],"class_list":{"0":"post-8574","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-uncategorized","7":"tag-bowling","8":"tag-bowling-league","9":"tag-bowling-poetry","10":"tag-ellen-wade-beals","11":"tag-mash-note-to-a-great-sport","12":"tag-poetry","13":"tag-solace-in-so-many-words","14":"tag-sports-poetry","15":"tag-weighed-words","16":"entry","17":"has-post-thumbnail"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8574"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8589,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8574\/revisions\/8589"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/solaceinabook.com\/site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}