عشق آمریکایی من (هژده. تماشای بیسبال)

My American Love

        Thirty-Two Poems for Wendy

Eighteen.

Watching Baseball

        By Majid Naficy

I,Wendy, who disliked commercial sports,

Now a few years after my mother’s death

Have become infatuated with baseball.

I watch it for a whole season,

And have an aesthetic pleasure

In the swings of bats and balls

And the hits  and catches of players.

When my mother was young

She called the players of our city “my brothers”

And later, “my sons”.

Sometimes she spent a lot of money

And went to visit her team

With my brothers.

She bought popcorn with cold beer

And did not return home till night.

I never went with them to watch baseball

Because I believed that money

Was the only winner of sport fields.

But now when watching it on TV

I see my mother who alongside with me

Strikes, catches and runs

And lets out a shout of joy

With each scoring of our team.

        May 20, 2015 

POEMS: 1. On the Bridge, 2. I Hope the Water Returns, 3. Empty Baskets ۴. Coffee Maker ۵. Anxious Heart ۶. Washing ۷. Bougainvillea ۸. Simple Truth ۹. Persian-Singing Bird ۱۰. The Gardener ۱۱. Lost Cypresses ۱۲. Visiting the Wall ۱۳. Is Love a Glass of Hormones? ۱۴. Independence Day ۱۵:  Oh, Pain ۱۶. The Season of Picking Raspberries ۱۷. Who Is More Envied? ۱۸. Watching Baseball ۱۹. A Night in Calistoga