Mantle

Mantle ran so hard, they said,

he tore his legs to pieces.

What is this but spirit?

I prayed for him to quit, before

his lifetime dropped below .300.

But he didn't, and it did.

He makes Brylcreem commercials now,

models with open mouths draped around him

as they never were in Commerce, Oklahoma,

where the sandy-haired, wide-shouldered boy

stood up against his barn,

lefty for an hour (Ruth, Gehrig),

then righty (DiMaggio),

as his father winged them in,

and the future blew toward him,

now a fastball, now a slow

curve hanging

like a model's smile.