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.