Inside 'The Dugout'

Inside 'The Dugout'

Disgruntled players with heads in their hands.
Their ears are assaulted by ruthless fans
who rise with a ringing chorus of boos
for the rookie on deck, ready to bat.
His shoulders are slumped and his face is pale.
Another year of damned disappointments
conveyed by teammates, with heads in their hands.

The crowd gets louder with every pitch
as the rookie remains waiting on deck.
Impatiently waiting are fans at home.
Cubdom is a tragicomical group
of fans deserving of a better fate.
Ninety-nine years of tears over a team,
(their team) whose heads are buried in their hands.

This poem was inspired by artist Norman Rockwell's piece 'The Dugout', which can be viewed here.

The assignment for this class was to write a poem based of a piece of artwork. I chose this piece of art because it is one of my favorite pieces of art (mostly because the scene provides the viewpoint of Cubs fans.)

What I tried to do here was describe what was going on in the artwork. I tried describing the looks of the players, the fans in the background and really--the main thing I tried doing here was to describe the artwork as a whole.

Later, I got a little more specific, and wrote about emotions that could be drawn from this piece. I wrote about those emotions from the viewpoint of Cubs fans. It was easy to write that because as a life-long Cubs fan, it is easy to describe and write about heartbreak.

I've always said, the Cubs have broken my heart more times than any woman...and that trend will likely continue.