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Monday, March 21, 2022

Aethlon: uh, Greek for, uh, Sports Literature


Sports literature? Like a poem about baseball? Is that a thing? Aethlon is a widely respected journal of sports literature, poems and stories (and nonfiction) about all sports: baseball, boxing, racing, rugby, play. I studied play in education as a grad at San Francisco State, a program ahead of its time in 1978. Children/people grow in so many ways while playing together. It's essential.

The poem I have in the latest issue of Aethlon is called "King of the Hill." It includes a note about the true story origin of something I only saw once on television back in the no replay days. The poem seems to glorify violence, I hope it doesn't. However, baseball is a game of unwritten rules, and they include when a pitcher can intentionally hit a batter and what his reaction should be.

Does violence in American sports lead to violence in American society or reflect it? I think so. Americans often don't realize how violent their culture is compared to others. Maybe we should all go abroad for a year or two to see how peaceful people live. We could make that a trade-off for free college, volunteer like the Peace Corps. I'll propose that. After the baseball season gets underway.

My thanks to editors, Joyce Duncan and Ron Smith, and the Sport Literature Association (though headquartered in Tennessee, they use the British singular) for this publication which to me is an honor.

Join the Association and get the journal. Or try Amazon -- Aethlon: the Journal of Sport Literature XXXVIII: 1 Fall 2020/Winter 2021, page 75.

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