Workshop
I can’t believe someone pays me
to sit, stand, walk back and forth
in the front of this classroom
and workshop poems, spend ten
minutes pretending this haiku
about a backyard bird and a cat
is worth any discussion. Someone
thinks that maybe a word isn’t quite
right, while someone else has trouble
with a line break, but then there goes
the syllable count and I’m thinking
about the summer I coached Little
League, for fun and for free, a dozen
13-year-old boys and 1 superstar girl
on a traveling team, and Kevin Coughlin’s
father wanted to know why his son
hardly played, and I pointed out the kids
voted to play to win at our first practice
and sorry, but Kevin pretty much sucks,
maybe you could buy him a guitar—
is his birthday coming up?
A couple of the other fathers got
between me and Mr. Coughlin
when he rushed me, tried to
wrestle me to the ground as Kevin
stood there looking embarrassed.
Days later, Kevin said he was sorry
about his dad, he gets carried away
sometimes, and years later I heard
Kevin was the leader of a trash punk
band and dedicated the opening cut
of his first EP to me, Starting Point.
Unless Kevin dies in a plane crash,
OD’s on pain pills or suicides,
I believe his father owes me
an apology. Of course, the league’s
commissioner reprimanded me,
strongly suggested I apologize,
and I did. Today, I ask if there are
any other comments. Once, twice,
going, going, gone, and thank the poet
for reading his work and tell him
I’d love to see any revisions.
Tony Gloeggler is a life-long resident of NYC who managed group homes for the mentally challenged for over 40 years. His poems have been published in Rattle, New Ohio Review, Chiron Review, Gargoyle, and Vox Populi, among others. His most recent book, What Kind of Man ( NYQ Books), was a finalist for the 2021 Paterson Poetry Prize. Here On Earth is forthcoming with NYQ Books.
Currently Reading:
The Surrendered by Chang-Rae Lee
Favorite recent reads:
The Music Of Chance by Paul Auster
The Dutch House by Anne Patchett
Saints At the River by Ron Rash