Bill Meissner (Books)

Bill Meissner Books

Bill Meissner delves into themes that touch the core of the American experience, often weaving the past into the present and uncovering hidden layers of history within the landscape. His prose and poetry explore the collision of cultures and the quiet echoes of indigenous peoples, evident in his debut novel that unearths an ancient burial ground beneath a seemingly ordinary baseball field. Meissner's literary style is marked by a profound contemplation of how personal narratives intersect with broader societal and historical currents. His works serve as an invitation to reflect on the places we inhabit and the stories that lie dormant within them.

Circling Toward Home: Grassroots Baseball Prose, Meditations, and Images

124 pages
5 hours of reading

A collection of 100 artistic photographs accompanied by prose meditations about the game of baseball. a collection of 100 unique photographs of small-town or amateur baseball fields accompanied by short prose. The themes range from the joys and struggles of growing up and growing old, to romance relationships (a section entitled "Love and Baseball"), to meditations about the game and the way it becomes a metaphor for our lives. One section ("In Another League") focuses on baseball in the Caribbean, featuring the players and rustic fields in Mexico and St. Thomas. One prose piece is a tribute to the late great Hank Aaron, and the racial discrimination he had to overcome. The ballfields themselves have their say, too, and there are whimsical pieces written from the point of view of the backstop, a line drive, the scoreboard, a light pole, and even the clouds that hover over a game.