Home Plate Poem by Lawrence S. Pertillar

Know 'something' about the game.
And how it is played.
Know 'something' about strategy,
Before believing a task to pass...
Can be mastered without the rudiments.
Skipping over the fundamentals,
Does not provde the essentials of life.

There are those still aging in classrooms,
Awaiting to approve how lessons are taught.
And from pictures, movies and TV screens,
Deem themselves qualified to know about life.
Believing themselves prepared to describe,
What takes place at home plate...
Where a game they've never played,
Will tolerate them to change the rules.

What fools we mortals be.
And yet too ignorant to perceive stupidity.

And it is not behind the umpire,
One should inspire or attempt to get the best results.
Or initiate complaints to begin arguments,
As to why other people are needed on a field of play.
To then ask why they appear to be aggravated,
With their arms folded.
When they should be minding their own business.

'It is obvious,
You are totally misunderstanding this entire process.'

~Oh?
People like you get on my last nerve.
If you knew so much...
Why are you wearing a mask? ~

'It is part of what it is I do.
I decide who breaks and/or follow the rules.
And you have broken all of them from the beginning.
Not only are you unprepared to play.
You are not willing to comprehend or learn the game.'

~I'm leaving to come back.
And when I do,
You're going to be sorry you said that.
I'll return with others who will protest your 'facts'.~

'Either way...
Any game you want to change,
You first have to know the rules.
And those 'boos' you hear?
Are not directed at me they are directed at you.'

~OH yeah?
Then why are they screaming at 'me'...
To get 'you' off the field?
They know who is and 'who' isn't,
In masquerade.~