Thursday, March 12, 2015

forward...pitCH!

I'm tossing out an old pitch today, a poem from Pumpkin Butterfly that 's just full of those -CHs I love so muCH.  Without further ado (and with deep longing for more of the hint of warmth that we got in Bethesda today)....


Cherry Very


Be sneaky, be cheeky
Pinch from the kitchen
The reddest, the roundest there are

A bowl full of cherries
a bowl of the very
most cherriest bombs by far

Backbone straight
Step up to the plate
Puff up your chest and lungs

Swallow the fruit
Ready to shoot
Put the pit in the groove of your tongue

One more tip:
Round your lips
To launch it without a hitch

Don’t get tense
Aim for the fence
Wind up like you’re fixing to pitch

Now blast it hard
Across the yard
Kissing that missile goodbye

It’s over the fence!
It’s out of the park!
It’s a letloose cherryjuice
        noschool slobberdrool
        spitwhistle summerfun    home run!

HM 2009
all rights reserved


************************

And what cherry pits are you spittin' I mean pitCHing at us today?  I heard a rumor that we might have some kids' work coming our way today....CHampion!

Diane outdoes herself and just about wears out the word with her tale of a pirate taleteller:

Mr. Peeps a.k.a. the Pitch Perfect Pirate

Filthy from pine pitch and stinking
of rum still his mateys love
the timbre and pitch of his voice.
They spend hours rapt in his tales
of heroics and winsome lasses.

Like the pitch of a snake oil salesman
Mr. Peeps grabs their attention and
doesn't let go until the sale is made.

Any helmsman who dares steer
into a swell will find himself
pitched overboard if he causes
the vessel to pitch and roll.
Ship mates brought to
an emotional pitch become
testy if a story is interrupted.

The captain knows the pitched
battle will ne'er be fought when
Peeps is telling tales, but he
no longer pitches a fit, for in
the pitch black night no one
notices him sitting listening
with thumb in his mouth
thinking of his dear, old, mum.

Mr. Peeps' stories'll do that to a man.

--Diane Mayr

Charles gets in the game with a distinctly diamond-shaped pitch--love all the muscular language and the cacophony of metaphors!

PUNCH OUT

Tattered mound caked in cleated footprints,
Dirt soaked uniform clings to my flesh,
Arm dangles like spaghetti being hoisted out
Of a colander. I blink; wipe sweat out of eyes,
Identify my battery mates signal, #1,
The Heater. Fingers pressed across crimson
Colored sutures, I breathe deep, rear back, let fly
This ruby pearled orb, the pitch whizzes by
As the batter stands frozen as
An Alaskan winter, “Strike 3!” Game over.
I slouch in happiness.

(c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

Mary Lee's taking it to the retail sector where pitching a fit might lead to a moral dilemma:

RIGHT AND WRONG

The customer is always right
except when they're wrong
and so determined to get their way
that they go over your head to your boss
and next will be your boss' boss
if you don't pitch your scruples
in order to keep the peace.
The customer who is the biggest bully is always right.
And that's just wrong.

©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

Donna returns with another how-many-pitches-can-we-fit? story (so glad not to be on this trip):

The Pitch

The salesman made the perfect pitch
and sold me on a tent ;
I called my friends they all pitched in
and in the van we went .
We drove down to the town boat launch,
put rowboat in the lake
A storm came up as we set out
which was our next mistake!
Our little rowboat pitched and rolled
more than a little bit -
We tossed our cookies in the lake
and pitched a whiny fit!
We tried to sing some sailing songs,
our voices swayed off key
Along the way to camp, I fear,
Our pitch was lost at sea!
To shore we rowed and rowed some more
and pitched the boat on land.
We tried to pitch our tent upright
But we were on wet sand.
Pitch black, and raining pitchforks
and hammer handles, too,
No flashlight, nor a candle,
What were we all to do?
The home-run pitch to pack it up
Was uttered from some lips
We crossed the water to the van
parked under pitch pine drips.
We pitched the tent into the back
to head home for a towel.
I aired the tent and washed the van -
proclaimed the pitch was foul.

©Donna JT Smith, 2015

Keeping it tight, Kate's got it right:

Wow

She sings and she plays baseball.
She really is a witch.
Cause either thing she’s doing
the girl’s got perfect pitch.

—Kate Coombs

Carol brings us just the Concluding Poem of her Spiritual Journey Thursday post:

So let me pitch an inviting plea
to find the road to positivity
and discover what falls along your way
that allows one new discovery each and every day.

--Carol Varsalona

Joy's pitch is the dark pine-type:

The night is dark,
as dark as pitch.
Mosquitoes are flying
and I've got an itch.

And perhaps most excitingly, Kim Doele, a 3rd grade teacher and Poetry Club Advisor from Wealthy Elementary School (would that they were all Wealthy!) in Grand Rapids, MI, has linked to some pitch-perfect poems by her students. Follow THIS LINK to continue reading poems by Teagan, Eli and Hania!


      Homerun!

The batter's at home.
He taps his bat.

The pitcher's arm swings
Here comes the pitch-.......


Sa-Wing bada bada

The pitch is coming down the lane
The crowd is shouting, "Sa-wing bada bada."
Bathroom using, I had ta!
Suddenly the crowd went
silent.
Was this gonna get violent?
Here's the pitch,......


Pitch Perfect

You need to be
pitch perfect
You look quite ugly to me.
Look at you.  You're a mess!
Go put on your dirty dress.......


We just love it when "The Naturals" get in on the poetry game!  Thanks, Ms. Doele and kids!


 

19 comments:

  1. I love this poem, Heidi. Cherries are such versatile fruit--from pies to missles! Here's my ch poem for today:


    Mr. Peeps a.k.a. the Pitch Perfect Pirate

    Filthy from pine pitch and stinking
    of rum still his mateys love
    the timbre and pitch of his voice.
    They spend hours rapt in his tales
    of heroics and winsome lasses.

    Like the pitch of a snake oil salesman
    Mr. Peeps grabs their attention and
    doesn't let go until the sale is made.

    Any helmsman who dares steer
    into a swell will find himself
    pitched overboard if he causes
    the vessel to pitch and roll.
    Ship mates brought to
    an emotional pitch become
    testy if a story is interrupted.

    The captain knows the pitched
    battle will ne'er be fought when
    Peeps is telling tales, but he
    no longer pitches a fit, for in
    the pitch black night no one
    notices him sitting listening
    with thumb in his mouth
    thinking of his dear, old, mum.

    Mr. Peeps' stories'll do that to a man.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Could you have worked in one or two more meanings of the word pitch, Diane?!?!? Well done!

      Delete
    2. Well, except I didn't make mine pirates...I guess we were on the same page with pitch!

      Delete
  2. Hey Heidi. The one I sent to you e-mail didn't have the word listed. :-P This one does. Enjoy!


    PUNCH OUT
    Tattered mound caked in cleated footprints,
    Dirt soaked uniform clings to my flesh,
    Arm dangles like spaghetti being hoisted out
    Of a colander. I blink; wipe sweat out of eyes,
    Identify my battery mates signal, #1,
    The Heater. Fingers pressed across crimson
    Colored sutures, I breathe deep, rear back, let fly
    This ruby pearled orb, the pitch whizzes by
    As the batter stands frozen as
    An Alaskan winter, “Strike 3!” Game over.
    I slouch in happiness.

    (c) Charles Waters 2015 all rights reserved.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I like "frozen as an Alaskan winter"!

      Delete
    2. So visual an image, Charles, from the first line: Tattered mound caked in cleated footprints,

      Delete
  3. Mine is here: http://www.maryleehahn.com/2015/03/grrrr.html

    And here:

    RIGHT AND WRONG

    The customer is always right
    except when they're wrong
    and so determined to get their way
    that they go over your head to your boss
    and next will be your boss' boss
    if you don't pitch your scruples
    in order to keep the peace.
    The customer who is the biggest bully is always right.
    And that's just wrong.

    ©Mary Lee Hahn, 2015

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I love the punch line at the end, Mary Lee. Traveling over to your site now.

      Delete
  4. Mine is here:
    http://mainelywrite.blogspot.com/2015/03/pitch.html
    And I have it below:


    he Pitch

    The salesman made the perfect pitch
    and sold me on a tent ;
    I called my friends they all pitched in
    and in the van we went .
    We drove down to the town boat launch,
    put rowboat in the lake
    A storm came up as we set out
    which was our next mistake!
    Our little rowboat pitched and rolled
    more than a little bit -
    We tossed our cookies in the lake
    and pitched a whiny fit!
    We tried to sing some sailing songs,
    our voices swayed off key
    Along the way to camp, I fear,
    Our pitch was lost at sea!
    To shore we rowed and rowed some more
    and pitched the boat on land.
    We tried to pitch our tent upright
    But we were on wet sand.
    Pitch black, and raining pitchforks
    and hammer handles, too,
    No flashlight, nor a candle,
    What were we all to do?
    The home-run pitch to pack it up
    Was uttered from some lips
    We crossed the water to the van
    parked under pitch pine drips.
    We pitched the tent into the back
    to head home for a towel.
    I aired the tent and washed the van -
    proclaimed the pitch was foul.

    ©Donna JT Smith, 2015

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. "The Pitch" - not "he Pitch"...where did I put that "T"?

      Delete
    2. Yes, you and Diane, hit the jackpot on using the word pitch in many different ways. I already visited your blog to find out what else you wrote.

      Delete
  5. Wow

    She sings and she plays baseball.
    She really is a witch.
    Cause either thing she’s doing
    the girl’s got perfect pitch.

    —Kate Coombs

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. A witch who sings and plays baseball-a first for me, Katie. Fun poem!

      Delete
  6. I love this poem! Thank you! In ever heard of the -CH thing, but the poem is adorable and really swings!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Heidi, your pitch poem is filled with so many fun thoughts about cherry pits flying in the air. I must admit that I never engaged in this or ever saw anyone who completing a cherry pitch. This poem and image hit home with me.

    My offering is embedded in a lengthy poem for Spiritual Journey Thursday. It is a tribute to all of the OLWs of the bloggers in our small community. My pitch poem is the concluding statement. You can find all at http://beyondliteracylink.blogspot.com/2015/03/discover-lifes-possibilities.html.

    The Concluding Poem is here but it should be read as the ending of the larger piece.

    So let me pitch an inviting plea
    to find the road to positivity
    and discover what falls along your way
    that allows one new discovery each and every day.

    ReplyDelete

  8. The night is dark,
    as dark as pitch.
    Mosquitoes are flying
    and I've got an itch.

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for joining in the wild rumpus!