r           r

  u      e

     b b

pavement 

 

cassette tape beat

don’t chase the ball into the street 

l            r

  e       e

    a th

hardwood 

 

scoreboard screams

television bleacher dreams 

 

he and i memorize the lines

— on the court

on the ball —

— in our pronouns 

 

sweat and contact and equipment closet-

ed

after practice 

 

one on one 

 

a timeout stolen from the game with no final buzzer

in which every move is a statistic

and on the line is

out

Written By: Matt Luedke

Matt Luedke is a former editor of Forum who continues to be inspired by the writing community he’s found through CCSF. He has also been published in Prairie Light Review and Ripples in Space. Links to his published works are at mattluedke.com.