Herman Melville

The greatest baseball novel is Moby-Dick.

Not because Captain Ahab reminds me

of Gene Mauch, but because Starbuck’s perfect

for all Kevin Costner moralisms.

The New Bedford Nine’s Race for the Pennant.

The Boys of the Whale-Killing Summer.

The Big Game and Stabbing an Albino Whale

Right in Its Fucking Stupid Whaley Eye.

Baseball novels usually start with abjection –

I found myself riding the Pequod’s pines –

and through body-comedy find victory

or loss. ‘Funny, but is it writing?’

Given the ivory tower’s ivoriness,

and its persistent monocle-related

injuries, it’s easy to understand

hostility to Herman ‘Babe’ Melville.