MAGICKER
Pulling a rabbit
out of a hat
out of a hat.
—from Rattle #60, Summer 2018
Tribute to Athlete Poets
__________
T.J. DiFrancesco: “I never planned for a future. Instead, I took thousands of swings a week. Dissected tapes. Ran drills. Studied the art of meditation and the art of war to try to get a mental edge. After blowing out a knee, I learned the secret is that you can’t plan for the future. You need to be dedicated to the moment. You need to read the slider out of the pitcher’s hand, the spiral of its seams making a red dot in the center of the ball. You focus on the violent moment of impact, then you run. My poems are about the violence of the moment and about the rededication and redemption one can find in spoiled dreams.”
