Even at Seventy-Four . . . June 30, 2026

Today, I learned that Cape Verde is an island

of 500,000, off the west coast of Africa and

the tiniest nation to ever play in a World Cup.

Also, that grilled cheese sandwiches cook

perfectly at five minutes per side. 

Six minutes and it’s scrape the char off,

and one more thing, put salt on watermelon,

and you’ll get a wonderfully zippy sweetness

which is out of this world.

You may think these are all unrelated,

except they came together with dinner,

dessert and a soccer match,

a beautiful game of underdog cheering

for that beautiful new country

and which felt like it was performed

on the slippery field of my heart