Works
Wasn’t Any Maybe So
Through the poetic voice of the Kansas City Monarchs’ Newt Allen, Wasn’t Any Maybe So transports us back to the raucous world of baseball, jazz, Kansas City, and the barnstorming road during the Roaring 1920s and beyond. This is not a history or a biography, but a book of poems in his voice—poems that can give him freedom to trace his world—a world of discrimination and Jim Crow, yet also vibrant and richly textured. Imagine the raucous world of baseball, of jazz, and of Kansas City during the Roaring 1920s through the Depression and into the War Years.
Joe DiMaggio Moves Like Liquid Light
“Why is home plate not called 4th base?”
–A Bartlett Giamotti
Joe DiMaggio Moves like Liquid Light is not a biography of Joe DiMaggio. The title, rather, is an attempt to tie together important themes of the book–DiMaggio, the favored player of a strong, proud black woman who loves and influences a child during 1940s America; grace, the way DiMaggio moves, even now in our collective memory, across outfield grass, or rounding third base on his way home; and light, both as a comfort in darkness, and as beacon by which to steer. The poems in this collection, in one way or another, touch on these thoughts of home, grace, and light.
Poems from the book
Click through to read selected poems from Joe DiMaggio Moves Like Liquid Light
Reviews
“Broaddus tells stories through his poems, stories about childhood and skinny legs running bases, neighborhood games played with as much focus and attention as any professional game, meeting ball players, how the game is played and how it must be played, what happened to those childhood friends who treasured their leather gloves, and how a baseball thrown awry breaks a shingle on a roof – and what happens as a result.”
— Glynn Young, Author
“Joe DiMaggio Moves Like Liquid Light," is my new favorite poetry anthology! Wow! I loved this collection of "baseball" poems that used the backdrop of America's favorite pastime to speak about the past 100 years of modernity and post-modern society in America.”
— Jason Muckley, Author
“Baseball, I don’t much care for — but poetry I love. Loren Broaddus writes verse that does so much more than just pay homage to sports. A lovely collection.”
— J.D. DeHart