I heard a rumor he punched an Astros fan.
I heard a rumor he was beefing with said Astros fan
the whole game, sad Astros fan
poured beer all over mad Dodgers fan
before the long wait to
see

the way 10 cops take him out, 
the way I just created a rumor from the back of my mouth, 
the way both our mouths dropped after
the way both our mouths—
no, it wasn’t a replay: 
another home run 

put our conversation on 
pause— I heard a rumor 
the same Astros fan with the beer caught this one, 
I heard a rumor the same Dodgers fan is 
safe, heard a rumor two Cali kids start 
rumors, stare at screens,

don’t dispel the rumor 
that we’re friends. 

Cameron Haramia is a California-born Hoosier, who heard a rumor that Indiana will house an MLB team with a mascot that is out of this world. Haramia’s poems have appeared in Construction Literary Magazine, TL;DR, Leopardskin & Limes, Rabid Oak, and elsewhere.