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Rack 'em up.
To Play for time, Time is called
For the cranky hall manager
To scribble the start as to time begun.
At the soft break kiss of nine ball
The call is Safe.
It's elegant.
The balls clack like

The clacking sounds of trains

Rolling over the rails,— then progressing,

Drop into pockets, (the best

Are the pockets woven with

Intertwined strips of real leather)

And after the first ball drops, the others

Clack inside the pockets too.

Reaching up with the cue,

Tapping the tip to the long wire track

Threading the beads with the count
Of the drops and running them

Down with a swish!

This is not done with deference.

This is done with an arrogant attitude.

At play on the slate, one stays within oneself.

But when the cue-tip’s tapped at the wire of the beads

And pushes the beads down the wire with a swish,—

Well, like the sound of the train rolling

Over the rails to reach its destination,—

That’s music to the ears.