Football Saturday Afernoons, Athens, Ohio, 1953-1956

Even in deep

Indian summer all wore hats.

Always before the end out they

stooped a rank at a time

to waiting buses.

Not a face dead

across could you read

close up. Once I grabbed

a freshman’s spyglasses the nearer

to observe for the science of the occasion.

a clicked pass or

first down

rush.

None stood or cheered.

None appeared

to move.

I knew then why

we used that word,

that time’s handle for

those like them brought be-

neath ticking toward Thanksgiving

dour squat suns in coal country gone sour

for an hour frozen in retreat

from the Athens State

Hospital, insane .