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America’s Pastime: Cor van den Heuvel's Baseball Haiku
The smell of hot dogs and freshly cut grass, the sound of fans cheering and bats cracking, and the warm summer air rushing over your skin. Vendors are yelling out at you, “Popcorn! Peanuts! Ice cold beer!” Where else could you be but at America’s game, baseball. For many years now this great sport has been dubbed as America’s pastime, and indeed it is. Many have celebrated this great event in arts and literature of all kinds. Perhaps one of the more unique ways of working with baseball is through haiku. Not many people are familiar with this practice. However, one man, Cor van den Heuvel, is nothing short of a professional in this department. Van den Heuvel is incredibly gifted in his writings, not only in bringing out the baseball spirit, but also in encompassing the whole feeling of nature and season that surrounds it.
On March 6th of 1931, Cor van den Heuvel was born into this world (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). He grew up in the New England states of Maine and New Hampshire (van den Heuvel, 12). As a youngster, he was known as “Dutchy,” playing catcher a sandlot team nearby his home (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). Van den Heuvel first discovered haiku at the age of twenty-seven out in San Francisco, California (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). He took this new art back east with him and began writing and reading haiku locally (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). Van den Heuvel then moved to Boston where his career really got started (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). He became a house poet at a café and also read at a bar nightly (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). In New York a year later he continued these types of events and also wrote his first book of haiku (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). In 1974, The Haiku Anthology was published, which he was a proud editor of (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). One of his greatest accomplishments was receiving the Masaoka Shiki International Haiku Prize in 2002 (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12). His award was very fitting as it “included a medal decorated with a baseball and crossed baseball bats” (van den Heuvel and Tamura, 12).
As said before, van den Heuvel takes a powerful approach to writing baseball haiku. One may question to propensity to the aptitude to stick to the conventions of haiku while writing about a sport. However, van den Heuvel knocks this task out of the park. What caught my eye about his work is how each of his baseball haiku somehow brings in nature and definitely evokes a powerful response from the reader, one which can be looked into for deeper meaning. Let us take a look at several of his haiku and discuss his technique.
baseball cards
spread out on the bed
April rain
van den Heuvel, Baseball Haiku, 15
The first line of this haiku immediately screams childhood. Baseball cards were such a popular thing for so many young kids. They would collect hundreds and cherish them very closely. Immediately you call to mind being a child and the joy you would experience when spreading them out to see them all, laying them out on your bed. The third line throws the haiku for a bit of a loop. Thinking about baseball cards and having them on the bed was a great experience, but doesn’t necessarily have the essence of a great haiku. When van den Heuvel brings in that third line, “April rain,” you can feel the thickness of the air and smell that spring rain coming down. You can see the look in the child’s eyes as he must resort to playing with his baseball cards rather than being outside with a bat and ball. With this line he is able to pull in some emotion, some feelings, and form a more powerful atmosphere.
Perhaps the opposite of this haiku is the following:
biking to the field
under a cloudless sky
my glove on the handlebars
van den Heuvel, B.H., 16
Van den Heuvel uses this haiku to evoke an entirely different emotion and feeling. He opens up the haiku with “biking to the field.” Immediately you know that it is a nice day. You can feel the breeze blowing through your hair as you ride excitedly towards the field. These feelings are increased by adding the second line, now fully realizing just how beautiful of a day it is. The third line then assures you that the person is really going to play baseball. However, what is special about this haiku is van den Heuvel’s use of the word “my.” By doing so, he is connecting directly with the reader. He wants the bike rider to be the reader; they are experiencing this bike ride to play baseball. He wants you to really feel this great weather and the excitement of going to play baseball on a beautiful day. Successfully sticking to the haiku conventions, this is one of his best haiku.
This next haiku brings baseball in a different way:
hot day
listening to the ball game
while washing the car
van den Heuvel, B.H., 24
This haiku is slightly different from what we have seen so far. No one is playing baseball and really it’s not even necessarily from a childhood perspective as the others have seemed to be. In this one, nature is introduced right off the bat. “Hot day” immediately lets the reader know the situation. At this point we have no idea what the subject will be. The second line lets you know it’s summertime, and makes you feel relaxed, maybe even set back to older times since it is “listening.” The last line makes you feel even more summer-oriented. Car washing is something that has been done for years. It makes this haiku truly timeless, which is a powerful thing. This could be set in the early 1900’s, or even today. Either way, the reader can relate to it either directly or seeing their dad do it or something of the like. You feel that summer atmosphere and get a good, hardworking feeling inside along with the work of washing the car. Summer fun is in full swing.
In the following haiku, an almost romantic feeling is brought forth:
after the game
a full moon rises over
the left field fence
van den Heuvel, B.H., 27
Powerful imagery is one of the key concepts of good haiku. The reader’s senses should be alerted in some way, which van den Heuvel successfully does using this haiku. You get the feeling of a cool summer’s night, late after a baseball game. The full moon just rises up over the left field fence. This image is so powerful that you can’t help but close your eyes and feel it. Van den Heuvel introduces this image so peacefully that you can almost feel a romantic essence brought about sitting in an empty stadium under the moon. This vivid image makes the reader feel as if he is there, even if this has never been their actual experience.
This next haiku makes the reader really feel the nature that is happening:
downpour
windswept spray blows across
the outfield
van den Heuvel, B.H., 16
In this haiku, van den Heuvel really illustrates a weather event that is happening. He doesn’t really indicate as to the season, so the reader is left to interpret that part. However, he really wants the reader to feel that rain. He puts the reader there, whether being an outfielder feeling that crazy spray or being in the stands looking on. This haiku brings out the spirit of baseball, but not so much in a gung-ho, “let’s play ball!” kind of way. Rather van den Heuvel highlights the spirit of those who love the game, that they are willing to endure even these kinds of weather conditions to pursue the game they love.
The previous haiku have illustrated how broadly van den Heuvel is able to look at different aspects of the game as well as different aspects of the weather or nature to make the reader feel a certain way. The next three haiku will be grouped together as I will take a look at the transition of seasons that van den Heuvel progresses through in such a powerful way.
autumn leaves
scatter across the infield
the pitcher blows on his fingers
van den Heuvel, B.H., 29
a baseball
in the tied catcher’s mitt
snow deepens
van den Heuvel, B.H., 29
March thaw
the sounds of a game of catch
from the driveway
van den Heuvel, B.H., 29
I really love how these three haiku work together. Reading through, you can see the progression of the seasons. I like the theme of cold that runs through these. In the first one, the cold is just starting to set in. The leaves are dead, blowing on the field. The pitcher’s fingers are definitely cold, needing his warm breath to fire them up. You can feel the brisk wind of that autumn air. The second haiku has clearly made the progression from autumn to winter. The snow is deep. The air is chilled even more. The catcher’s mitt and ball are cold from nonuse. The overall feeling is a longing to be brought back to life, to play the game again. The third haiku brings back that joy. It is March now, springtime, baseball time. The ground is thawing out, no more snow, since the warmth has returned. Life has come back and the sounds of baseball are back in the atmosphere. The progression that van den Heuvel highlights through these three haiku really captures the essence of haiku. Overall one feels very strongly by these three changes. The scenery is powerfully pictured. The smells and feelings of the air are heavy and real. He truly speaks baseball and nature in these haiku as a whole.
Now I want to look at two haiku that are written with the same general feeling, one by van den Heuvel and one by another author. I want to look closely at the way that each author has written the haiku and the different feelings that are brought out.
summer afternoon
the long fly ball to center field
takes its time
van den Heuvel, B.H., 20
lost in the lights
the high fly ball that
never comes down
de Gruttola, B.H., 33
I believe this is a perfect match of two haiku. Each involves the ball being hit high in the sky and coming slowly back down. Despite this similar event, however, they each bring about completely different feelings. The first one invokes a more relaxed environment. It is a relaxing summer afternoon; kids are playing ball in the local sandlot and just enjoying themselves. That high fly ball is slowly making its way to centerfield. The kids laugh and have fun waiting for it. The second haiku has a completely different feeling. Although it still feels like summer, it is a different feeling, a more mature one. The fact that the lights are there immediately makes it feel like a major league game under the lights. The fans all wait in eager anticipation for the ball to come down, as it determines the winner or loser of the game. I really like how similar these haiku are, but at the same time how different they are too. It is interesting how they both bring about nature in a different way and by doing so make the reader feel something completely different.
All in all, van den Heuvel does a great job portraying nature and sticking to conventional haiku “rules.” Although his haiku are focused on baseball and celebrating it as America’s pastime, van den Heuvel really does make the reader feel more than just a dirty old sport. He brings to life the spirit of the game and the environment surrounding it. He makes an intense sport into beautiful haiku. Next time you step out on the field, order a tall beer, crack open a peanut, or do the wave, don’t just focus on the game at that moment. Instead, look at the situation through van den Heuvel’s eyes. See the beauty in the moment, the poetic bliss that is present. Then, and only then, may you sit back, relax, or play ball!
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Works Cited
Van den Heuvel, Cor and Nanae Tamura, eds. Baseball Haiku. New York: W.W. Norton, 2007.
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