The Daily Examiner, June 3, 1888
I think you will enjoy this poem by Bill Herring, and the backstory for the poem—and how he became a lover of poetry.
Ode to a San Franciscan Ern
Of
all the world’s great poets who’ve filled the page with lines,
Who’ve
dipped their mighty pens into the inkwells of their minds,
There
is one that I admire and feel compelled to mention—
A
master of the written word and worthy of attention.
Of
all the bards and balladeers who’ve opened up their souls
For
all the curious world to see displayed upon their scrolls,
I
must confess, I stand in awe, respectfully amazed
At
Ernest Lawrence Thayer and the poem he aptly phrased.
You
couldn’t classify this guy with Coleridge or with Keats,
Nor
could you forge affinities with William Butler Yeats,
And
if you tried comparisons with Emerson or Frost,
Your
logic would be senseless, and your efforts would be lost.
This
man was never known for literary verse
In
those times of penning lines for William Randolph Hearst.
He
pranced around with poetry expecting nothing great,
But
all that changed one day in June of 1888.
This
nineteenth century journalist is sitting at his station,
Thinking
philosophically in quiet contemplation.
His
fingers tap the cadence of a writer in a trance.
His
mind begins to focus; his heart it starts to dance.
And
now the words begin to fly, and the page begins to form,
And
out of all of this something lyrical is born.
And
when the work’s completed the opening line will say:
The
outlook wasn't brilliant for the Mudville nine that day.
Oh,
somewhere in this favored land, filled with all its promise,
Someone’s
reading Charles Baudelaire, and someone Dylan Thomas.
And
somewhere in the evening light a boy climbs on a lap
And
listens to his dad reciting “Casey at the Bat.”
~ Bill Herring
Bill Herring retains copyright to his poem and the backstory below:.
Putting Mother Goose and other toddler poems aside for the moment, “Casey at the Bat” was probably the first one I remember that drew me into what William Cullen Bryant called “the witchery of song.” There were others—Lewis Carroll, Robert Service, Clement Moore, etc., but Thayer’s poem made the most lasting impression. It still remains one of my all-time favorites. I wrote “Ode to a San Franciscan Ern” (emulating Thayer’s meter and rhyming style) some thirty years ago when my son was in his single-digit years and playing Little League baseball. I read “Casey” to him, as well as other “songs” and stories, usually at bedtime. He’s now in his mid-thirties and one of the few people I know who (along with his mother and I) appreciates the pleasure of sitting down with a good poem
Bio:
Bill Herring is a retired freelance corporate communications specialist who often turned to writing poetry to escape the deadline frenzies. He has been published in print, including the Evening Street Review, Full-Time Dads magazine, Goose River Anthology and Talking Stick/Escapes, as well as online with Your Daily Poem. Bill is an award-winning member of the League of Minnesota Poets. He was one of the five winning entries co-sponsored by the Minnesota Center for Book Arts and Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. He lives in Minneapolis.
