Manny’s poetry has lately taken a darker, more existential twist. A brief selection from the “Enough is Enough” collection:

Tired and Silent

I don’t want to talk to them
about contracts right now. So what?
I know they got me,
but enough
is enough.
I’m tired of them,
they’re tired of me.

Contents of a Letter…Or Whatever.

After 2008, just send me a letter
Or whatever.
You don’t even got to call my agent
Or whatever.
‘Hey, thank you for everything.
‘You’re going to
Become a free agent.
We’re not going to
Pick up your option in ‘09.’
I’m happy,
But enough is enough.
You know?
That’s it.

Trade Deadline Assessment

They’re not going to
Pull the trigger, because they
Know what they’ve got here.

2009

Don’t worry about
It. Enough is enough. In
Oh-Nine, I move on.

How Much is Enough? [They Know]

They know.
You got to ask Theo and John Henry.
They know.
I gotta go hit guys.

My Job is to Play Baseball

I don’t care where I
Play, I can even play in
Iraq if need be.

For Manny’s previous works, see here, here, and here.

Manny Ramirez is continuing to issue prophetic statements in the guise of media interviews. Adding to our collection, we now present the latest quotations, taken directly from the lips of His Mannyness and arranged by yours truly into a series of short poems and haiku:

Pimp Jobs

I am trying to
get a hit against you. You
show me up, that’s good.

The Rivalry (Come On)

That’s the game.
People like to compete.
Just because you play
For the Red Sox
And they play
For the Yankees,
You’re going to go and kill each other?
Come on.

I Haven’t Thought About 500

I just love the game.
I just like to compete.That’s
it. To be honest.

Plate Discipline

Wait.
Wait.
Wait.

All I Want (or Whatever)

After all this is over
All I want
Is for my kids to go to college
And to be their best friend.
That’s all I want.
I don’t care about home runs
Or whatever.

It Can Only Hurt the Ballclub

I don’t think much.
I love my job.
I love to compete.

Causation

He gave me a good pitch to drive.
So I drove it.

Mantra: Hitting Well in Yankee Stadium

I don’t care.
I don’t play here.
I can’t tell you why.
I wish I knew.

First Stolen Base Since 2005 (Why?)

Contract year…I thought
I was out. I was going,
‘Yeah, I got a break.’

If you want to see
The car, sometimes you have got
To let the car go.

It made me feel like
I was back in high school…Yes,
I went on my own.

For the last few years, Manny Ramirez had been something of a recluse in Red Sox nation. He stopped doing commercials. He never spoke to the papers. He didn’t go on television. But late last season, Manny emerged from his hermetic seclusion like a prophet returned from the wilderness. Nowadays, as befitting his new meditating, The Secret-reading lifestyle, he’s got the dreadlocks of a Bob Marley and the ‘stache of a Kahlil Gibran. And this week he offered some wisdom in haiku/poetic form:

Focus
It’s not hard to play.
It’s easy. It depends on
What you focus on.

Home Run Ball (Right There)
I was looking
For a good pitch–
Something that I like.
It was right there.
Like a fastball–
It was something like eighty–
Or a change.
It was right there.

Even When You Do Not Come Back
Even when you do
Not come back, we love this job
We love to compete.

All the Way
We never give up,
Man.
We just play
Hard.
All the way.

162
David’s gonna hit.
That’s why this is a hundred
And sixty two-games.

Hitting for him
He’s fine. It’s only
Fourteen games. If he doesn’t
Hit, I’ll hit for him.

Good Things
There are things you aren’t
Gonna like, but you have to
Look at the good things.

What I’m Not
Don’t know, I’m not a
Pitching coach. You got to talk
To the pitching coach.

Contract Extension (To Work Out)
Why isn’t it going
To work out?
Of course it’s going
To work out.
Everybody knows it’s going
To work out.

A Player Like Me
I
changed everything.
Boston never had a player
Like me.
They had Mo Vaughn
In the ’90s
But after that,
Nothing
Like me.
I went there,
And my attitude
Changed everything.

Booed
I can’t control that.
I just like to come and play
The game and go home.

For your Sunday morning pleasure, via Slate.com, the poetry of Roger Clemens, excerpted from his deposition and his Congressional testimony:

“Offensive Haiku”

I am offended.
I will be honest with you.
I am offended.

—Feb. 5, 2008, deposition

“Ghost Andy”

He looked at me,
Wringing his hands,
White as a ghost

And asked me
What are you going
To tell them?

And I told him
I’m going out there
To tell the truth.

—Feb. 13, 2008, hearing

“Glute”

I have strained my glute
On a couple occasions.
I wish I could tell you
How many occasions.

—Feb. 5, 2008, deposition