American Life in Poetry: ‘Long Distance to My Old Coach’ by William Trowbridge

A friend told me recently that he tries to keep in touch with people he’s known even though they don’t put any effort into doing that themselves. Here’s William Trowbridge, who lives in Missouri, making an effort. His most recent book is “Put This On, Please” (Red Hen Press, 2014).

Long Distance to My Old Coach

The reception’s not bad, across 50 years,

though his voice has lost its boot-camp timbre.

He’s in his 80’s now and, in a recent photo,

looks it, so bald and pale and hard to see behind

the tallowing of flesh. Posing with friends,

he’s the only one who has to sit—the man

three of us couldn’t pin. “The Hugger,”

they christened him before my class arrived—

for his bearlike shape and his first name, Hugh.

He fostered even us, the lowly track squad.

“Mr. Morrison,” I still call him. “You were

the speedster on the team, a flash,” he recalls

with a chuckle. That’s where his memory of me

fades. And what have I retained of him beyond

the nickname, voice, and burly shape? The rest

could be invention: memory and desire’s

sleight-of-hand as we call up those we think

we’ve known, to chat about the old days

and the weather, bum hips and cholesterol,

our small talk numbing as a dial tone,

serious as prayer.

Poem copyright 2015 by William Trowbridge from South Dakota Review (Vol. 15, nos. 3 & 4, 2015). American Life in Poetry is supported by The Poetry Foundation and the English department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. We do not accept unsolicited submissions.