Icing my knees
through this cold machine
on this cold table thinking-
“I have to show out tonight for the fans and the scouts.”

So I take a deep breath
to focus a calm mind.
Relax my tense body,
leave my problems behind.
Begin to image myself scoring every play
with my enemy defeated by my hands.

Coach walks in- “You ready big time?”
I open my eyes facing him-
“We already won.”

I’ll never forget senior night
when I first noticed you
after our last home game of the season.

I was at the game table,
broadcasting on the radio
my plans after high school.

I notice you starring me down
Ms. Hazel eyes.
biting your lips, smiling.
waiting for me to finish.

Glancing at you, ending my interview quickly.
grabbing my full attention.

Walking over, to approach you, I said:
“I remember you love
from earlier in the season.
nice to see you again lol
here’s my number
come see me tonight.”

Draining sweat out of my mind on the black line
wondering how the hell did we get here???…

one minute it’s 5on5.
i’m on the JV squad beating varsity with ease.
intense energy arise.

next minute, coach is ******. has all of us on the line like soldiers. running in sections of groups of 3-4

varsity runs first
JV next
freshman third
whoever’s left just run last.

as we look at the scoreboard,
the death clock is set for one minute.
all we have to do is beat the clock
before time runs out,
otherwise we keep running.

a full-court “Kentucky Derby” sprint
and yet, we’ve been practicing for 7 hours
on a school night.
mentally exhausted
from homework due tomorrow.
physically in pain from the drills.

Coach yells: “NEXT GROUP!”

dam_. here we go.

Coach: “GO!”
**tick, tick, tick

Me-
“D” UP! “D” UP! put them hands up, hands up.
And I’m robbing folks on the pass if they slip up.
Don’t allow nobody to pass by you, move your feet.
Don’t go for every reach, just keep them in front of you my G.

They dealing with a team full of experts.
Juice & I will double-team, so squad be on high alert.
Make them work, cut off those passing lanes and
once they turn the ball over, we’ll be gone in an instant.


Juice-
Aye, look at these wanna be play makers.
Zay steal that, now pass that.
Cause I’m about to lob that to my boy Doug.
BOOM!!! I see you Doug with the 360 alley-oop dunk!

YOOO! Ball is thrown in, watch for the pass and skip!

Me-
No worries I got the ball my guy, don’t trip.
Here Juice! Run 54-hip.

Juice-
Aww snap! Time to ****!
I’m about to put the boys in their feels!

Cross-over stepper, step-back decker.
I’m a G.O.A.T. getter, nobody does it better.
Weak mismatches and easy pass dishes.
Pick & role to the pocket, they can’t stop this.

Zay-
Man, we about to hurt these fools on the other end too.
About to get tortured as we break their hearts in shambles.
And when we rock them and stop them at the rim, it’s straight blocking.
Even if they try to shoot, BLOCKA, BLOCKA, BLOCKA!

Juice-
It is what it is fam, to bad they about to lose.

Zay-
At the end of the day, what the hell they gonna do?

Juice-
Now this is epic. We got them looking pathetic.
I said what I said, ain’t no room to be apologetic.

The sky is beautiful tonight
Lavender, salmon, and pink like blushing when someone says they love you
But it's already gone
No one will ever see the colors I just saw
And I feel like blushing
Embarrassed due to long standing aversions to sincerity
5:26 PM

From where I sit at my desk at the gym
The sky is 2 different creatures
On one side
A blood orange backlight is cut and cracked by black naked trees
On the other side
The clouds shift and bubble like fresh squeezed blackberry soda
4 guys from the basketball team practice their 3 point shots
5:51 PM