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Why She Broke Up with Him

Not long before their college graduation,
His bright and beautiful four-year girlfriend,
With no more than a sudden conversation,
Brought their long-happy romance to an end.

The guy was devastated, and shut down.
He absolutely could not fathom why,
Though he’d be leaving for a distant town,
They could not vow to keep their loving tie.

Soon after, as a friend of both of them,
I asked if she’d be willing to explain
From what did her surprise decision stem,
Since clearly it raised questions and caused pain.

She had regrets but saw no other way—
He would be living on a far off coast,
And notwithstanding what they now might say,
Long distance they’d last one more year at most.

So it would simply be a foolish plan,
For her to keep devoting from her life,
More time in making him a better man—
“To only benefit his future wife.”

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Lesson from High School Baseball

A captain of the team walked towards the plate.
His hitting was not going well of late.
But this was the last inning of the game,
His team behind, he had to light a flame!

He quickly started taking practice swings,
Then heard the most embarrassing of things—
A younger kid, who’d barely played before,
Was called to hit for him—to help them score.

The captain’s shock and sadness were extreme,
In shame he headed back to face his team,
He passed his stand-in with discouragement…
Then turned—and gave him strong encouragement!

I long ago forgot who won, but find
That selfless gesture never left my mind.

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Poet’s Note: In baseball, a team manager can select a “pinch hitter” as a replacement for the regularly scheduled batter, if the manager feels that the pinch hitter stands a better chance of helping the team to score in that moment. The regularly scheduled batter then cannot return to bat again in the rest of the game.

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Russel Winick recently started writing poetry after ending a long legal career. He resides in Naperville, Illinois.

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6 Responses

  1. Roy Eugene Peterson

    “Why She Broke U with Him” is a perfectly sad lesson in human relationships that particularly affected me because of solders being either recently wed or in a long relationship that is broken when one is away for an extended period of time. Reading the reason given in your poem for the breakup was priceless and worthy of consideration, though I have always felt true love conquers all. The high school baseball lesson of sportsmanship and unselfishness even through disappoint is a great life lesson for us all. Both poems are extremely well-considered, well-written, and profound in their own way.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Thank you Roy. I completely agree with you that true love conquers all. Clearly that was absent with the woman here, though she can’t be blamed for that. But you’ll be happy to know that the guy eventually recovered from his devastation!

      Reply
  2. Cynthia L Erlandson

    I really love both of these stories, Russel, and you’ve written them succinctly and with a great deal of understanding of human nature. The end of “Baseball” makes me wonder whether you were the pinch-hitter; but since that’s not of the essence of the story, you’ve wisely left that ambiguous.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Thank you Cynthia. I was not the pinch-hitter, nor would I at age 18 have had the maturity to react the way the team captain did. In fact, I’m not sure I could react that way even now!

      Reply
  3. Paul A. Freeman

    Like reading prose, the stories in these two poems flow from line to line, from start to finish. Not a mean task.

    Thanks for the reads. Russel.

    Reply
    • Russel Winick

      Thank you Paul. Your astute observation is one reason why I like telling true stories in poetic form. I appreciate your comments.

      Reply

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