No Competition
by Paul J. Willis
The high-strung net behind home plate
is softened by some wisps of lichen.
Year by year the tufts grow deeper,
filamenting, elfin beards that strand
our view. Eventually, all we’ll see
is the double play of algae and fungi,
a gray-green wall that separates
us from the field but joins us
to the long surprises of this world.