Title Flight
Dribble, plant, leap, twist,
jam
a one-handed tomahawk!
Hot, in t-shirt and sweat pants
on this fifty-degree day,
we content for the playground world championship.
Paragons of athletic glory soar,
slam monster dunks—
One-and-a-half twists end with a reverse.
Two hands, from the shoulder blades,
as the eyes cross rim level,
throw down overhand with violence.
Lithe athletes strut,
dunk for the title
over crowd roars
in April
on schoolyard blacktop,
three friends
with a basketball
and an eight-foot hoop.
—Joe Chambers
12 April 2008
