Al Ortolani

Al Ortolani is a winner of the Rattle Chapbook Prize and has been featured in Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac and Ted Kooser’s American Life in Poetry. He is a two-time recipient of the Kansas Notable Book Award. Bull in the Ring a novel was recently published by Meadow Lark Books. His most recent collection of poetry, Controlled Burn, was just released by Spartan Press. Ortolani is a husband, father, and grandfather, currently entertaining the idea of becoming a hermit. However, his wife prefers the company of the neighborhood feminists, and his dog Stanley refuses to live without Milkbone.

Hot Dog

Watching another old western
after chemo, we talk
about his back surgery years ago,
the bitch-of-it, compared
to his knee, also years ago,
and the shoulder, that too,
years ago, the moving parts
in rehab, the bitch-of-it,
avoiding today’s pancreatic thing,
the little treatment available,
his refusal to ask how long
he had left, better
he claimed to laugh
at the old stories,
the screwups from showing off,
the old coach
hot dogging at seventy-two
to jump the white fence
around the practice field,
the team on water break
thinking what the hell
is the old coach doing now
hurdling like a track star
above the August grass,
only to catch his toe
on the rail and go all-accordion
into a full facial, the boys
open mouthed like birds,
rushing to his side
unsure whether
to laugh or cry
so, doing neither.
Sometimes it’s hard
to hot dog a fall,
especially now with cancer,
the bitch-of-it.