the golfer

your friend carl
loves
to talk about his
game.
the science of golf.
the swing,
the putt, the roll
of the ball
down a fairway
onto the soft
Bermuda green.
each stroke can
be recounted,
the adversity of
it all, the sun,
wind, the slow
party of four
ahead of him.
he shakes his
head at the bogey
on hole
nine, laughs
at the near miss
on twelve.
talks about the splash
into the pond
on thirteen,
and the sand trap
that ate
his ball on three.
he can remember
every strike
of the ball he took.
how his wrists came
unglued
and how he took his
eye of the ball
with
his feet not far
enough apart.
you need to come out
and play
sometime, he says
grimacing as he takes
off his cleats.
I bought some new
clubs, you can have
my old ones.
they're in the trunk.
come see.