Live in the moment, we exhort ourselves as well as others,
But such a mandate is a fool’s errand, nothing more,
For all which we endeavor, all we savor and regret,
Are transitory things, snatches of synapse,
Fireflies gone a-gleaming before we can fasten the cap,
All Chinese-checkerboarded with air holes, onto the jar.
So forgive me, then, for not extolling the virtues
Of your laugh, your smile, a certain set of jaw or wrinkle of nose,
For those are fleeting morsels of time,
Mere snapshots, flat and obsolete at the click of the shutter,
Like the crimson-iris inducing Instamatic images of long ago.
Let me, then, dwell upon the aftermath of these glimmers in time, in your eyes
Those crevices of memory and apprehension
Where the momentary acquires its shading and gradation,
Its context and concreteness, its niche in ones cosmology
Of those things which roil the primordial pools of sleep,
Be that for better or for worse.
W.k. kortas--mediocre means "better than some". 
Absolutely beautiful piece of work. I do believe this is one of your finest yet.
Awww, go on wit’ you, I’m blushing for heaven’s sake. I was going to stick an Ed Halicki reference in here, but our mutual friend Steve beat me to it.
Ah, yes, Ed Halicki. I actually watched the entire game on WOR-TV Channel 9 when he tossed his no-hitter against the Mets in 1975 on a Sunday afternoon. Not one of my fondest memories.
Bill, any talk of no no’s reminds me of the one Dontrelle Willis pitched against me in strat-o-matic. I think it was from his 2006 season which wasn’t that great; Strat-o kind of mirroring the reality of a no hitter in that on any day, just about anyone can pitch one. Cripes, even the perfecto happened for Philip Humber and Len Barker. Remember Barker’s at old municipal stadium in Cleveland? That place was enormous. I think it seated close to 100,000 people; probably no more than 4,000 to see Barker.
Yeah, I think Barker’s was even a perfect game. If you go through the list of guys who’ve thrown no-hitters, there are a lot of pitchers who had otherwise very mediocre careers.
Humber and Dallas Braden are the two that really stick for me in terms of perfect games. I guess every no hitter or perfecto is witnessed by accident in that no one predicts them. I’ve seen two; the one by Ryan in the astrodome against the dodgers on the NBC game of the week and Juan Nieves in 1987 during the Brewers nutty 13 game winning streak to start the season. Both games exciting as can be. I think the Padres are currently the only team in baseball without at least one not hitter in franchise history.
Ahh, now I understand the Ed Halicki to New York connection. I had no idea he tossed one against the Mets.