Sports Poems
Slam, Dunk, & Hook
by Yusef Komunyakaa
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury's
Insignia on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered to footwork
Of bad angels. Nothing but a hot
Swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out. In the roundhouse
Labyrinth our bodies
Created, we could almost
Last forever, poised in midair
Like storybook sea monsters.
......
Drowning in my Own Success
by AP Writes
From the outside, I looked great:
honors student and self-taught musician,
college bound, made for success.
”Athletic and academic” they said.
On the outside, I looked great.
But if you looked any deeper than my high school transcript,
you would find disorders and medications,
turmoil, self-hatred.
Who was I without excellence?
Every A+ solidified my fear:
......
Brief History of Sport
by Glyn Maxwell
Granted that your guess is as good as mine
Here's mine. It happened like this in a vale in sunshine
Or moonshine. What it was was one was gone
Over the star- or sun-lit same horizon
Gone, one gone whom we fear, we being some
Who bide with our sheep and our sons in a land of some.
There was one long gone whom we fear, so a son we love
Went off in pursuit as fast and not fast enough
As he could, to the far horizon, was seen there
......
To Swim, To Believe
by Maxine Kumin
The beautiful excess of Jesus on the waters
is with me now in the Boles Natatorium.
This bud of me exults, giving witness:
these flippers that rose up to be arms.
These strings drawn to be fingers.
Legs plumped to make my useful fork.
Each time I tear this seam to enter,
all that I carry is taken from me,
shucked in the dive.
Lovers, children, even words go under.
......
All Ireland Final
by Theo Dorgan
We stand for the anthem, buoyant and tribal, heart beating with heart,
our colours brave, our faces turned towards the uncertain sun.
The man beside me takes my hand: good luck to yours, he says;
I squeeze his calloused palm and then - he's gone.
A shadow socket where he was, the one beside him vanishes
and another before me; all around Croke Park
one by one we wink out of existence: tens, hundreds, then
thousands, the great arena emptying out, the wind curling in
from the open world to gather us all away. Each single one of us.
I could feel myself fail at the end, but then maybe everyone thought that,
......
Drowning in my Own Success
by AP Writes
From the outside, I looked great:
honors student and self-taught musician,
college bound, made for success.
”Athletic and academic” they said.
On the outside, I looked great.
But if you looked any deeper than my high school transcript,
you would find disorders and medications,
turmoil, self-hatred.
Who was I without excellence?
Every A+ solidified my fear:
......
My Brother, John
by Evelyn Judy Buehler
My brother, John, was older than me; and I had ever looked up to him,
As a golden sun seems always with you, but comes and goes at whim.
My brother, John, taught me to roller skate, and how to fly a green kite.
We rode bikes and red wagons, in mauve, swift days of summer delight.
My brother, John, was very smart. Nonetheless, he was frequently tardy,
Like faint stars, yet visible come dawn, having twinkling, confetti parties!
We had fast friends in the neighborhood, of fluttering ruby leaves, fallen,
......
AssLetes
by Jeffrey Pipes Guice
We used to praise you as our heroes
On the fields and on the courts...
We cheered you on so feverishly
In the world of professional sports...
We were proud to wear your jerseys
And memorized all your stats...
We were fiercely proud of you
We even called ourselves the Who Dats...
......
Wimbeldon
by Prabhakar Belavadi
june 20th arriving
players warm up in full swing
glittering trophies
What are Golfers not telling us?
by Dr. Robert Ippaso
There’s a part of me that say’s I’m jealous
Another thinks my golfing friends just zealous,
Whilst I crave fresh air and healthy motion
They’re busy slathering on the lotion
Before they mount some little cart
That with intent they simply point to dart
At breakneck speed from hole to hole
The putting of that little ball the goal.
Then there’s the clubs, that myriad bunch
......
