John D. Rockefeller, owner of the New York Buyers, knew what he wanted.
A good starting pitching staff built on iconic confidence and swagger. A savvy manager who understands what it takes to win. A bullpen by committee. A starting lineup of respectable, accessible poets. No fancy theory. No avant-garde. No messy, melancholy, romanticism. No light verse. No children’s lit goofiness.
So far it’s paid off, as the New York Buyers and their manager, Charles Darwin, lead the Modern Division with a 32 and 16 record.
They’ve already opened up a 9 game lead on the second place Dreamers, Pamela Harriman’s club which began fast behind pitcher Margaret Atwood, but has faltered.
The Buyers’ success can be summed up in four words: Whitman, Freud, Twain, Engle.
Walt Whitman 4-2, 2.79 ERA
Sigmund Freud 5-4, 3.32 ERA
Mark Twain 7-2, 3.18 ERA
Paul Engle 8-2, 2.88 ERA
Paul Engle is the no. 4 starter! And look at him!
Helen Vendler and Judith Butler have each won 3 games in relief.
Elizabeth Bishop (2b) has been the offensive surprise for the Buyers, clobbering 20 homers!
She likes playing with shortstop Robert Lowell, who has contributed 10 dingers.
Dylan Thomas has hit 14 homers, Kenneth Rexroth has 6, Robert Penn Warren has 5, and Duke Ellington and Edgar Lee Masters each have 4.
With Thomas at third, Lowell at short, Bishop at second, and Masters at first—that’s 48 homers from the infield!
Whatever the Buyers are selling, people are buying—whether it’s Whitman’s holy extravagance, Freud’s naked symbolism, Twain’s gilded era wit, or Paul Engle’s Cold War Writing entrepreneurship—these starting four, together with Elizabeth Bishop, Robert Lowell, and Dylan Thomas’ hitting, seems real enough to carry this team to a Poetry Baseball title. When asked to confirm, manager Charles Darwin merely looked up from his beard and ponderously mumbled a barely discernible assent.
Here’s a snapshot of the Modern Division:
The Buyers John D. Rockefeller 32-16
The Dreamers Pamela Harriman 23-25
The Universe Steven Spielberg 22-26
The Printers Andy Warhol 21-27
The Crash A.C. Barnes 19-29
WINS
Paul Engle, Buyers 8-2
Mark Twain, Buyers 7-2
Margaret Atwood, Dreamers 5-3
Anais Nin, Dreamers 5-4
Marjorie Perloff, Printers 5-4
Freud, Buyers 5-4
Walt Whitman, Buyers 4-2
Duchamp, Printers 4-3
Relief Wins
Picasso, Crash 7-2
F.O. Matthiessen, Printers 3-0
Hilton Kramer, Printers 3-1
Judith Butler, Buyers 3-1
Vendler, Buyers 3-2
Foucault, Universe 3-2
HOMERS
Elizabeth Bishop, Buyers 20
Sharon Olds, Dreamers 14
John Updike, Printers 14
Dylan Thomas, Buyers 14
Edna Millay, Dreamers 13
Aristophanes, Printers 13
Louis MacNeice, Dreamers 13
Robert Lowell, Buyers 10
Bob Dylan, Universe 9
Juvenal, Universe 9
Allen Tate, Crash 8
Stephen Spender, Crash 8
Muriel Rukeyser, Dreamers 8
Paul Celan, Universe 7
Kenneth Koch, Printers 7
Kenneth Rexroth, Buyers 6
Anthony Hecht, Universe 6
Hart Crane, Printers 6
Scarriet Poetry Baseball reporting