I’ve seen many poems about the atomic bomb drills that schoolchildren were put through during the Cold War, but this one reaches beyond that experience. John Philip Johnson lives and writes in Nebraska, and has an illustrated book of poems, Stairs Appear in a Hole Outside of Town.

There Have Come Soft Rains

In kindergarten during the Cold War,
mid-day late bells jolted us,
sending us single file into the hallway,
where we sat, pressing our heads
between our knees, waiting.

During one of the bomb drills,
Annette was standing.
My mother said I would talk on and on
about her, about how pretty she was.
I still remember her that day,
curly hair and pretty dress,
looking perturbed the way
little children do.
Why Annette? There’s nothing
to be upset about—
The bombs won’t get us,
I’ve seen what’s to come—
it is the days, the steady
pounding of days, like gentle rain,
that will be our undoing.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright 2014 by John Philip Johnson, “There Have Come Soft Rains,” from Rattle, (No. 45, Fall 2014). Poem reprinted by permission of John Philip Johnson and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

Will Ferrell’s fake baseball documentary about the sport’s oldest rookie trying to play every position during Cactus League spring training games over the course of a single day is the sum total of HBO’s “Ferrell Takes the Field.”

The driving force of this one-hour special, aside from the comic actor playing out a grown man’s sports fantasy, is the worthy cause of HBO and Major League Baseball collaborating to raise money for organizations fighting cancer.

Ferrell’s fraternity brother at University of Southern California, Greg Pollard, suffered the devastating curse of cancer during his collegiate days when the promise of his athletic prowess on the baseball field was so unfortunately cut short before he could go pro.

Pollard makes a fairly brief appearance in “Ferrell Takes the Field,” as do a number of baseball luminaries. At least, Pollard gets to make a pitch for his charitable College for Cancer, which supports cancer survivors with college scholarships.

The HBO special has great intentions with its benevolent purpose, but the focus is almost exclusively on the comedic actor, even when he’s not trying to play all nine positions, plus the designated hitter.

As a fan of comedy, I may not be alone in thinking that Ferrell is not the funniest guy in America by any stretch of the imagination. In this special, it often appears that he’s striking a pose for what he may believe is comedic gold.

Others may disagree, but I would argue that, since “Old School” and the first “Anchorman,” many of his more recent films are not exactly stellar, or even all that funny. I mean, think of “Get Hard,” for one.

As a baseball fan of longstanding, I am actually a prime candidate to be interested in “Ferrell Takes the Field.” The reason for this is that I have attended spring training in Arizona for the past couple of decades, since the late 1980’s when only 8 teams played in the desert.

This annual trek to the desert during the month of March has allowed me to become intimately familiar with every single ballpark, of which there are now ten complexes that are the spring homes to a total of fifteen major league teams.

Therefore, I was curious as to how Ferrell would manage the logistics of visiting five ballparks in order to play on ten teams, allowing the opportunity to play at least for one complete inning per game.

By the way, Bert Campaneris, who makes an appearance in this special, was the real-life inspiration for the actor’s gambit to play every position.

On Sept. 8, 1965, Campaneris, in only his second major league season, went 0-for-3 playing all nine positions for the Kansas City Athletics in a game against the California Angels. 

Nearly fifty years later, on March 12, 2015, Ferrell was aiming for the same feat, though doing it with ten teams on a rotation basis with little rhyme or reason. The first game was hosted by the Oakland Athletics, playing the Seattle Mariners.

Taking the field for Oakland, wearing a team jersey with the number 19, Ferrell managed to survive a half-inning before being traded mid-game to the Mariners. This was the pattern established for the remainder of the day.

One of the funnier things that happened is how Ferrell didn’t take it very well when he was cut by Oakland, and as a result, he engaged general manager Billy Beane, famous for “Moneyball,” in some nasty conversation, with an observation that serves as a nice gag during the roll of the end credits.

What’s a bit askew with Ferrell’s attempt to ingratiate himself, even if only for a brief moment, with his teammates is the palpable sense that many of the ballplayers were either not in on the joke, as many of them appear baffled, or maybe they were slightly bothered by this vanity project that detracts from the game.

That “Ferrell Takes the Field” is really about Ferrell and not the game itself is made obvious when the actor is schlepped from one ballpark to the next in a van full of crew members who have really nothing to say while Ferrell rambles on about his improbable journey.

You may wonder how he made it to five ballparks in a day. Well, for starters, the three day games are within easy driving distance, as the home for the Athletics, Angels and Diamondbacks are all located on the east side of the greater Phoenix area.

Meanwhile, the two night games, with Ferrell landing by helicopter on the field of the White Sox at Camelback Ranch, are held on the west side.  

A nice touch in his final game with the San Diego Padres is when Ferrell dons a uniform with the number 20. The reason for this is a sign of respect for the late, great Padre Tony Gwynn, a Hall of Famer who, like Bert Campaneris, wore the number 19 during his career.

Unless you’re in the know about the Cactus League or just happen to be a not very selective Ferrell fan, “Ferrell Takes the Field” is not really a major league entertainment worthy of an hour of your precious time and could be easily skipped. 

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – On Sunday Sept. 13, members of the Lake County Symphony Association as well as the general public will once again have the chance to hear and see the orchestra’s chamber group in a free concert to be held in conjunction with the Association’s annual meeting.

It will take place at 3 p.m. at Lakeport’s Soper Reese Theatre, 275 S. Main St., which also serves as the concert hall for the symphony.

The theater waives its normal fees to accommodate the meeting.

John Parkinson, longtime music director and conductor of the symphony, has selected music from the baroque and classical periods including one movement of Overture No. 2 by English composer William Boyce as well as a Bach composition written originally as a sonata for just flute and harpsichord but which has been expanded to include string orchestra with some solo parts.

Entitled “Konzert in C Major,” it will feature symphony lead flutist Patricia Jekel as flute soloist, accompanied by other soloists in the string sections.

Another selection, “Concerto Op. 6, No. 7, for string orchestra,” is by Arcangelo Corelli, which also has solos that play along with the orchestral group. Among those soloists in both the Bach and Corelli pieces will be violinists Andi Skelton, Jeff Ives, and Marta Fuller, violist Jenness Hartley and cellist John Weeks.

The orchestra will also play the first movement of “Divertimento No. 10” by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart who remains one of the most enduringly popular composers of the classical period.

The last selection is also from Mozart. It is the first movement of a very familiar chamber work entitled “Serenade for Strings in G,” also known by the familiar name of “Eine Kleine Nachtmusik,” or “A Little Night Music.”

Along with the free concert there will be free refreshments for those attending.

There also will be a few mandatory business items to be conducted, mainly the confirmation of selection of officers to the LCSA board of directors.

The meeting will start promptly at 3 p.m. This concert is open to the general public who might be interested in joining or who want more information about the LCSA – and remember, you are encouraged to bring prospective new members, too.

LAKEPORT, Calif. – Plan on attending the Rita Hosking concert this Saturday night at the Soper Reese Theatre.

Prepare for an enjoyable evening of music and fun while supporting Anderson Marsh State Historic Park.

The concert is sponsored by the Anderson Marsh Interpretive Association and features the Rita Hosking Trio, InVoice, the Contreras Brothers and the Johnsen Family Band.

Tickets are $25 per person and available at the Soper Reese box office the night of the concert or can be purchased online via the Soper Reese Web site, www.soperreesetheatre.com .

Refreshments will be available in the lobby, including Petaluma Creamery cheeses and Thorn Hill Winery will be pouring their excellent wine.

Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and Hosking will play at 8:30 p.m.

Rita Hosking’s style of country-folk has been lauded for story and sense of place, and her performances praised for capturing the audience.

Honors include winner of the 2008 Dave Carter Memorial Songwriting Contest at the sisters Folk Festival, finalist in the 2009 Telluride Troubadour Contest and more.

A descendant of Cornish miners who sang in the mines, Hosking grew up with deep regard for folk music and the power of the voice.

They say that when undergoing cancer treatment, the patient's attitude is all-important.

Here Robert King, a poet now living in Colorado, looks with wit and bemusement at his chemotherapy. His most recent book is Some of These Days, (Conundrum Press, 2013).

Embedding the Cancer Port

It's called a port, a harbor, haven, home,
a city on the coast of my chest opened
for a passage into my heart—which we say
is where emotions live—and it's embedded,

slipped into a shallow nest of flesh, a bump,
a lump under the skin on the right so
the narrow street can reach the marketplace
of the aorta, receptive to any

incoming ship, needle, boat, barge, unloading
its spices, crates of dates, barrels of poisons,
Etoposide phosphate, amethyst, amaranth,
Cisplatin, amphorae of wine and olives.

I carry it secretly under my skin
because it is easier. I carry
everything under my skin, so lightly
I barely notice, watching from the ramparts

the dangerous rocky anchorage below
where goods and evils, bundled together
and tied, arrive, waiting to be unloaded
and poured out into a welcoming country.

American Life in Poetry is made possible by The Poetry Foundation ( www.poetryfoundation.org ), publisher of Poetry magazine. It is also supported by the Department of English at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. They do not accept unsolicited submissions. Poem copyright 2015 by Robert W. King, “Embedding the Cancer Port,” from Nimrod International Journal, (58.2, 2015). Poem reprinted by permission of Robert W. King and the publisher. Introduction copyright 2015 by The Poetry Foundation. The introduction's author, Ted Kooser, served as United States Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 2004-2006.

The final season of “American Idol” looms on the horizon, and the FOX Television network is at the very beginning stages of planning auditions.

A question on the mind of TV critics at the summer press tour was what kind of send-off to expect.

Dana Walden, chair and CEO of the Fox Television Network, said the upcoming season of “American Idol” would be a “farewell of a great performing act,” and observed that the producers of the show were committed to finding the 15th American Idol, and to end on a high note.

The network is still struggling from last year, when the longtime head of FOX’s entertainment, Kevin Reilly, abruptly departed his position, creating a vacuum in the stability of FOX’s leadership.

Walden, joined by Gary Newman in sharing the top positions of executive management, have been in charge since last year’s summer press tour.

The good news for them is that “Empire,” a series that made its debut on their watch, rocketed to the position of the top-rated show on network television.

While FOX is still mired in last place among the four major networks, the success of “Empire” does not allow for a victory lap, but Walden had no problem sharing her belief that this show “sent a shock of enthusiasm and excitement through the halls of our company.”

Another question that comes to mind for critics is whether the broadcast network model is endangered by the ever constant emergence of various new media platforms, from streaming video to Netflix and Amazon jumping at full gallop into the programming business.

If there is conversation about the relevance of the broadcast network, Walden soothed the concerns of all by noting, in reference to “Empire,” that the “most talked about and biggest show of the past season was launched on a traditional broadcast network, so we feel great about that.”

So now the even bigger question is how does a struggling network, which by the way still has excellent returning series like “Gotham” and “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” find its way back to a competitive posture?

One has to wonder if resurrecting relatively old stars of the past will do the trick. The still-handsome John Stamos, trading on his good looks in middle age, is returning to a series that has some parallels to “Full House.”

As the titular character in “Grandfathered,” Stamos’ Jimmy Martino is a successful restaurateur and man-about-town stunned to learn that he not only has an adult son (Josh Peck), but is a grandfather to a baby daughter.

The comedy premise is that this handsome and suave bachelor has to unlearn a lifetime of blissful selfishness and grapple with his new-found status of having sudden parental duties.

While John Stamos has the charisma to carry out this rather predictable comedic role, two other veteran TV actors may well fare better. Those would be Rob Lowe and Fred Savage, the latter best-known for “The Wonder Years.”

Together, Lowe and Savage star as brothers on different career paths, which come full circle back to the family legal business in “The Grinder,” a comedy that posits that you can succeed in the courtroom with the right amount of theatrics.

Lowe’s Dean Sanderson returns to his hometown of Boise, Idaho, having played the title on his hit TV legal drama “The Grinder.” His brother Stewart (Savage) is poised to take of the family law firm from their father (William Devane).

Despite having no law degree, Dean thinks his TV experience qualifies him to practice in an actual courtroom.

Much to the chagrin of his sibling, Dean shows that his flair for the dramatic leads to some very funny situations in and out of court.

When I hear “Scream Queens,” the thought immediately goes to those sexy B-movie actresses who have made a career in horror films. They would be right for a Quentin Tarantino grindhouse film.

On the FOX network this fall, “Scream Queens,” starring the pretty and talented Emma Roberts, has its horror element, but it is decidedly a black comedy about the girls of a sorority dying for new pledges.

Well, it’s also partially a murder mystery, because Roberts’ Chanel Oberlin, leader of Kappa House, ends up in a showdown with the school dean (Jamie Lee Curtis) about opening the pledging to all students, not just the elites.

When all hell breaks loose on campus with a killer wreaking havoc, the satirical “Scream Queens” takes on the aspects of slasher flick and classic whodunit.

Steven Spielberg is the executive producer of a new series based on one of his futuristic films. “Minority Report” the series picks up 10 years after the demise of Precrime, a law enforcement agency tasked with identifying and eliminating criminals.

Now in 2065, Megan Good’s police detective Lara Vega tams up with Stark Sands’ Dash, a man haunted by fragmented visions, to attempt to stop the murders he predicts. “Minority Report” is a drama of crime and conspiracy, but a timeless story of friendship, purpose and redemption.

Miami is always a great location for crime stories. Set in this sunny coastal Florida city, “Rosewood” has a different take on crime by teaming Morris Chestnut’s Dr. Rosewood, a private pathologist, with tough detective Annalise Villa (Jaina Lee Ortiz).

Together, they uncover clues to help the Miami police department to solve the most challenging cases.

This sounds like the premise of “Quincy, M.E.,” but the late, great Jack Klugman would be no match for Chestnut’s Rosewood in the charisma and looks department.

For a sure sign that a network has no problem trading on former glory for its programming, look no further than the return of “The X-Files” this winter for a six-episode event series reuniting David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson as the iconic FBI agents Fox Mulder and Dana Scully.

Tim Riley writes film and television reviews for Lake County News.