John Lee Clark was born deaf and became blind in adolescence. His work has appeared in many publications including The Chronicle of Higher Education, The Hollins Critic, McSweeney’s, and Poetry. His chapbook of poems is Suddenly Slow (Handtype Press, 2008) and he also edited the definitive anthology Deaf American Poetry
(Gallaudet University Press, 2009). John is married to the cartoonist
Adrean Clark and they live in St. Paul MN with their three sons.
This poem uses action, description, and narrative to explore the
tension between the confines of the physical world and the freedom of
the spirit. I have read it over and over again and I’m still not ready
to turn the page.
Winter Baseball
By John Lee Clark
High kick then swinging
his arm like a sledgehammer,
he smashed every one
of them. Not the windows
but the balls sliding
down the panes, drooping
away from their dreams
of becoming home runs.
Will the boy’s dreams
of one day becoming a pitcher
be smashed like that?
Why ask
if there is no answer in sight?
Ask the blind boy
what is the color
of the snow in his hands.
His answer will be pure
white, purer than any baseball
in any other boy’s dreams.
Ask him and you will see.
WOW!