Born in Topeka, Kansas, on December 1, 1944, Michael Fessler grew up in northern Kentucky, where he played Little League Baseball from the age of six. He was on his high school team at Covington Catholic High School, playing shortstop and pitcher. He throws right, but is a switch-hitter. He was a fan of the Cincinnati Reds who played just across the Ohio River. He writes: “My favorite player on the Reds was Ted Kluszewski: My uncle knew Big Klu and took me to meet him after one of the Reds’ games. Big Klu’s trademark was sleeveless jerseys. He had industrial-strength muscles and brown bags under his eyes. Sad eyes. I also liked Gus Bell who played center. I went over to Crosley Field quite a few times with my dad and uncle, but I usually watched the games on TV or listened to them on radio with my grandfather.” Fessler attended The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., on an athletic scholarship to play basketball.
In 1986, after seven years in San Francisco, an interest in Japanese culture led to his moving to Japan. He now teaches English at Waco University in Tokyo and catches the Japan Series each year on TV. He also watches U.S. baseball when it is on (which is when Ichiro, Matsui, or Iguchi are playing).
Though Fessler knew about haiku in college (from reading about Pound’s “In a Station of the Metro”), he didn’t start writing his own until after he went to Japan. His first published haiku appeared in the Mainichi Daily News in 1986. His haiku collection The Sweet Potato Sutra was published by Bottle Rockets Press in 2004.
August heat
umpire and manager
nose to nose
dust storm trick:
infielders
face the outfield
diving catch
some dandelion puffs
in center field
change of pitchers
the right fielder puts his glove
over his face
bottom of the ninth
the rookie stares
at his clean spikes