A Tragedy in Shakespeare…Bats Cleanup

“I wonder if I’m thinking about Mom more

because I lost my place in the starting

lineup” (67).

Kevin, the main character in Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, is lamenting the tragedy of losing his mom and his identity. He makes the connection later in the story that his loss of his position in the starting lineup could be causing him to think about the loss of his mom. He uses the poems as a structured way to address painful memories and feelings. Loss is a strong theme throughout this novel and Kevin uses his poetry to come to terms with it.

Since Kevin is in bed so much he spends a lot of time thinking about the past and about his mom (20). He writes “Pantoum for Mom” and it brings up a lot of memories that are painful for him to remember but writing the poem kept him from breaking down.

"You know what kept me from leaking

all over the page? Sticking to the rules

about what rhymes with what and how

two lines from one stanza turn into

two lines in the next" (30).

He also mentions that writing in poem form made his writing better because if he had just let himself go and wrote about his mom getting sick it would have sounded like he was wining. “Pantoum for Mom” was quite heartbreaking to read and in the poem following it you could see that he really struggles with the fact that she is not with him anymore.

              

"Well, nobody’ll see this pantoum, but it

               means the same thing: You’re a great mom.

               Were. You were a great mom" (30).

I think once he comes to that realization that she is gone and never coming back he begins to write about what a great mom she was and the poems still show loss but yet it is more lighthearted and celebrating what he did have instead of what he doesn’t have now. His poem about Halloween and his mom in a monster suit was not sad it was humorous and light. He uses a very difficult poem, the sestina, to remember a fun time he had with his mother.

              

"Well, it was worth it to remember Mom

in her monster suit at Safeway.

Man, she was fun" (51).

               Kevin starts to bring his mom and baseball together when he writes “Mom’s Car”. He talks about washing his uniform to look nice, even if he wasn’t going to play. The laundry room is right next to the garage. He remember sitting in his mom’s car right after she died (58). I think the realization that he won’t play in the game causes some pain and then he remembers the death of his mom, another time when he felt a lot of pain. After sitting on the bench the whole game he is pretty depressed and writes “Ollie, Ollie, All in Free”. Writing this poem makes him realize that maybe losing his position made him remember losing something bigger.

              

"Did losing that little thing make me

remember losing something big, like one

little match can start a whole forest fire" (67)?

After making this realization things begin to look up for him. He becomes more positive because I think he realizes that losing his position isn’t a big deal. He can always get it back. After making this realization he is able to move on and doesn’t write anymore poems about his mom or depressing poems about losing his position on the team.

Shakespheare Bats Cleanup

It is clear to see that baseball is a huge part of this read by Ron Koertge. The book Shakespeare Bats Cleanup is a about a 14 year-old boy who comes down with mono and makes the decision to start writing poetry in a notepad his father gave him. We see him express his feelings as Kevin gives us a crack of what his life is like. Kevin's real passion is baseball as he plays first base for one of the local teams. Kevin has ate, slept, and breathed baseball for the longest time and now this is the first time that he has it taken away from him. He can't even watch other people playing it because it is so hard for him to see where he once was. To deal with his pain of giving up the game, he decides to write poetry. He learns the different types of poetry, for there are several.
Although Kevin explores other aspects in his life, he always reverts back to baseball. Baseball is the main theme of this book. In the structure of the read, it is all poems, sweet and to the point, just like the game of baseball. In writing poetry, it has to be natural and writing great poems don't require hard thinking, just instinct. Baseball is the same way and I believe that's why the book is written the way it is. A lot of people say baseball is "poetry in motion" and Kevin's past in baseball might have actually helped him in his attempts to become a poet.No matter the situation, Kevin is always talking about baseball. The situations with girls, his mother, and his past experiences.
Kevin becomes a better poet throughout with all the practice writing. At the beginning, the book is rather choppy but once he becomes better at writing it's easy to read. With repetition of writing these poems, he becomes a great poet. Same can be said for baseball players. With every rep at the ball and watching your every move, you become better at the game. Kevin claimed that he couldn't live without baseball before writing and after he got better and started playing ball again, he couldn't live without writing. Baseball and poetry really go hand in hand.

Grieving a Mothers Loss

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge is unlike any other style of book I have ever read.  Koertge, through his main character, Kevin, writes the entire story in poems.  Although the style is different, the storyline is similar.  Many of the themes are the same as the other books this class has explored throughout the semester.  The types of poems are explained by Kevin to make the book educational.  Grief is the theme I would like to discuss. 

             The first time Kevin grieves is when he is home in bed and missing baseball.  Up until now Kevin has been breathing and sleeping baseball.  Kevin is unsure what he is supposed to do now, that is in between times he is not sleeping, since it feels like that is all he does lately. He calls himself an invalid on page 6, so readers know he is grieving.  On page 8, Kevin recalls how good he used to be at baseball, showing no confidence of a strong return.  Not only is he grieving about baseball, but because of mono he is finally grieving his mom’s passing as well. 

Kevin’s mom brings him the most grief.  At first, Kevin is just recalling how his mom used to bring him toast, juice, and books when he was not feeling well (20).  Children often want to be pampered when they are not feeling well, so this is a time when Kevin would probably really like to have his mom.  He also notices his dad’s feelings, but they both act like they are okay.  Pg 29 is when we start to really think about Kevin’s mom.  The words ‘dark, angry blood’ paint a picture that gives readers a heavy heart.  The tone is angry and Kevin seems to be blaming himself for making her life harder by tramping in mud, but not on purpose.  He even includes a countdown of his mothers last few months, weeks and days giving readers a lump in their throats.  By the end of page 30 Kevin has reminisced and thanked his mom for being great and realizes he had praised her for being a great mom by the mug he made for her at the YMCA camp. 

After the funeral Kevin’s dad got thinner and thinner even though neighbors continued to bring meals for him and his dad.  It seemed to pain Kevin to see his dad stare blankly at the TV and cry randomly.  He did not know what to do or how to act without Kevin’s mom and Kevin did not know how to help his dad in the slightest (37).  I think writing poems is the first time Kevin is really dealing with his feelings of losing his mom. According to the ‘After the Funeral’ poem, Kevin had to be strong to help his dad through the loss and did not grieve right away. 

Kevin wonders why some of the neighbors continue to bring casseroles.  He wonders if they think he is hot or someone nice they could marry, because he believes his dad is really nice.  The fact that Kevin can think of his dad marring someone besides his mom shows he is healing and understands his mom is not coming back.  He also wants his dad to be happy again and that may mean his dad marrying another woman now that his mom has passed away (49).  Kevin is able to remember good memories, like when his mom went to the store dressed as a monster (50).  He also is able to look at his mom’s car and remember her.  He thinks of his mom’s one-armed hugs, which make him miss her, but also remember how caring she always was (65).  It is expected that just because he has grieved and dealt with the pain of losing his mom he will have memories that will elicit happy and sad feelings.  His dad also deals with the loss of Kevin’s mom by practicing his Spanish because Kevin’s mom would like that (94).  By the end of the book, both Kevin and his dad have worked through their feelings and are able to better handle what life throws at them with the help of one another and the good memories of Kevin’s mom. 

Shakespeare Identity

Kevin is really striving for identity in the Shakespeare Bats Cleanup.  In the beginning his identity is strictly about baseball, in the middle it is a mixture of baseball athlete/boyfriend/maybe a poet, then lastly I think he just does a salute to poetry and goes back to baseball.  I don't know if he ever really feels like he finds his identity, it seems like at the of the book he still hasn't quite gotten his identity.
By the beginning of the book Kevin is a baseball athlete that has come down with mono. After his father hands him a journal he begins to write poetry.  He is constantly upset that he cannot play, even by 3/4 of the book, he is complaining about the fact that he is no longer part of the starting lineup, and denying his poetry to Mira.
In the middle with the book he is beginning to escalate in his poetry.  He is becoming more rounded, moving from haikus to elegy and a fantastic free-verse.  He really discovers himself as a poet but when it comes to everyone else he denies his ability as a poet to his dad and Mira. He still has strong desires to be a baseball player.
By the end of the book he is back at baseball and often times his poems are about him getting back in shape or the way he is swinging and has the pitcher figured out.  I have this strong feeling that once he gets back into baseball his desire to write poetry will fall away.  So even though he has created an identity to the reader as a poet, he still feels more for the identity as an athlete.
Although he says that he hopes that poetry and him will be friends for a long time, the ending line that it is almost as cool as poetry leaves me with the feeling that if he had to choose he would still pick poetry. But maybe he is just throwing up a "tough-guy" guard.

Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

                 In Shakespeare Bats Cleanup by Ron Koertge, a fourteen year old boy named Kevin is sick with mono and cannot play baseball. He is trying to find is identity without the game of baseball in his life due to his friends not accepting him because of his mono. He writes in poetry about his difficulty situations he is dealing with. 

                First, Kevin explains to us about what he used to be. On page 8, he writes a poetry named “I Used to Be”. In this poem, he discusses what type of baseball player he was and how his practices were.

For example, Kevin writes:

A pretty good first baseman, I’m tall and

Limber. With one foot on the bag, I can

Really stretch. Somebody hits one right

Back to the pitcher, he can just about

Hand it to me.

Man, a good double play is beautiful.

That’s mostly what I miss, being part of

Something beautiful. I know, I know. Guys

Don’t’ talk about stuff like that. But his is

Between me and my journal.

Due to his mono, he cannot play. He misses the game; therefore writing about it is the next best thing. He believes he is losing his identity of being a baseball player since he cannot participate in playing.

Throughout the story, Kevin discoveries himself by writing in different forms of poetry. When he had mono he did not associate himself as a baseball player; he was a sick kid. After his mono is gone, he identifies himself as a baseball player again. Kevin writes:

So I’m not the Kevin I used to be. I’m just

glad to be back - - my heart beating

baseball, my nose sniffing baseball.

No more ghosting around my own house.

No more living secondhand. No more

postponing things. Just standing in my

cleats again, a clean uniform on my

unremarkable arms and legs, all of me

just ecstatic to be out there under the invisible stars, playing baseball again. 

Throughout the story, we learn Kevin goes through a sort of depression without baseball in this life. Baseball is a huge part of his life and being his inspiration to begin writing poetry to keep his mind off of the loss of baseball in his life. He realizes being sick was one of the best things that happened to him because he was able to write about stuff that he has trouble talking about such as: love, friendship, loss of his mother. Through poetry, Kevin found himself as a writer. He compares poetry to baseball as he stated “Almost as cool as baseball.” He will always be a baseball player; however, his new identity involves being a poetry writer also.

Love in Shakespeare Bats Cleanup

Kevin oh Kevin just a boy of 14

Lost his spot in the line up

Gave up his baseball dream

All because of this disease

Trying to recover with no energy

He sits day after day

Watching the shows on TV

Oh Kevin oh Kevin it’s going to be ok

He learns about love

From the guys on TV

He thinks about his mom high above

And boy does he feel weak

He remembers Goldie and the times in Bamboo

Thinking of what went wrong

What was a young boy to do

Heartbreak is hard but he carried on

 Coach can’t keep one around

He says away from those women

Dad’s hurting that Mom is in the ground

No one to talk to you feel so alone

Mira oh Mira you’re something so sweet

You love my poems you encourage me

We fit together so well, I feel so complete

I pray that you will forever stay with me

Functional Family

I see the theme of a functional family it stands out to me because two books we have read, Diary and Speak, have such dysfunctional families, families that cannot work together to accomplish a goal.  In Bats, the goal is for father and son to finish mourning the loss of their mother and wife and move on with living life.  We read on page one Kevin's father gives him a notebook and tells him, "You're gonna have a lot of time on your hands. Maybe you'll like writing something down." It is on page four, we are first introduced to the idea something is unusual with his mother when he writes, "When I was little and got sick, Mom used to read to me. Thinking about that's not going to help." Later in the book we learn his mother died much faster than predicted. The unexpected death of a parent is something a child should write about. Kevin's father is a writer himself so he makes the correct assumption in thinking that while Kevin is home sick with momo, he will have time to think about his mother and it is best to write those thoughts down. I don't think Kevin's father was expecting Kevin to develop into a poet. The poems "Mom's Car" (p58) and "And a Half-Order of Sestina, Please," (p50) both bring tears to my eyes every time I read them. They both have happy but difficult memories for a boy who has lost his mother. Kevin's father figures out he has been writing poetry and he suggests they go to a poetry reading (p80) and in the end of the book suggests Kevin read his poetry at an open reading (p112). Father and son have similar traits and accomplish the goal of healing the pain of loosing a member of their small family in similar ways; by writing away the pain of loss.