Litany
A television plays in the background
while a housemate sits on the couch.
The sun through the window
promises another day.
My basketball team lost in the round
of the Sweet Sixteen, a disappointment.
Afterwards I nursed a drink and sang
a Paul McCartney song.
This morning when I walk barefoot
in my office space words stir inside my head.
When in high school I told my dad
writing was all I wanted to do.
Then I laughed when reading Walter Mitty
while sitting on my parents’ couch. Mitty
was a quiet man who wanted life
to be something more.
Now the cat leaps onto my desk
as I write. Is it so crazy to have another
life, I ask. He blinks his eyes.
Today, a day off from a part-time job
after working four-years traveling
for a flagger job for construction crews.
People in writers’ groups know me
for roads I travelled.
Trees at the end of the street
reach for wispy clouds.
I saw a friend last night as she sat
at an art walk and displayed
the stickers she made.
In college, I studied hard
to become a psychotherapist
but through a litany of poems
and songs my life is found.
The Gilas basketball team
Has derailed the SoKor's dream
As Philippines reigns supreme.
LAKERS
Lakers, a basketball team where fighting for honor begin.
A friend who is brave as lion extinct.
The death of a famous basketballer,
Brings rain in this sunny weather.
Everything in life,
Keeps getting sharp as knife
But their intention to win,
Is the best thing that I imagined.
Lakers is hard as stone,
But heart who’s beautiful as moon.
The faces who captured everyone’s intention,
Like diamond who shines among.
I will forever remember this game,
Because for me, this is the best thing which one on a lifetime happened.
Lakers will be my forever love,
Love who fly like a dove.
Sex 101
by Michael R. Burch
That day the late spring heat
steamed through the windows of a Crayola-yellow schoolbus
crawling its way up the backwards slopes
of Nowheresville, North Carolina...
Where we sat exhausted
from the day’s skulldrudgery
and the unexpected waves of muggy,
summer-like humidity...
Giggly first graders sat two abreast
behind senior high students
sprouting their first sparse beards,
their implausible bosoms, their stranger affections...
The most unlikely coupling—
Lambert, 18, the only college prospect
on the varsity basketball team,
the proverbial talldarkhandsome
swashbuckling cocksman, grinning...
Beside him, Wanda, 13,
bespectacled, in her primproper attire
and pigtails, staring up at him,
fawneyed, disbelieving...
And as the bus filled with the improbable musk of her,
as she twitched impaled on his finger
like a dead frog jarred to life by electrodes,
I knew...
that love is a forlorn enterprise,
that I would never understand it.
Keywords/Tags: first love, sex, sexy, lust, passion, desire, school, student, teen, teenage, learning, bus, foreplay, fingering, odor, musk, romance, romantic, humiliation
Bridge requires a square table
With a player on each side.
Exchange your greenback dollars
For slot machine quarters to provide.
A basketball team that hoops it up well
May make March Madness semis for a spell.
Pro golfers hit the greens in two pairs
Driving and putting to crowds gaping stares.
Mom and pop and two wee tots
All enjoying fresh pop tarts.
Brilliant fireworks adorn the sky
On Independence Day in July.
Football games divide in fifteen-minute parts
Broken up by uneven stops and starts.
By now you need read no more
Count the quatrains to sum the title score.
The former home of the Brooklyn Dodgers lives on!
Some of my loved ones still live there
Brooklyn has some things going for it
Such as the great Brooklyn Museum
and the Botanical Gardens
Coney Island is unique
And the borough has the Brooklyn Cyclones team
and the Brooklyn Nets
basketball team
Famous people have called the place home
millions of many different
backgrouds who now call the borough
home
There has been strife there
but the future looks
sunny
for those whose eyes, minds and hearts
experience the ambiance of the place
Brooklyn faces the futue
with great anticipation
"Clean up your toys and come down for dinner, young man"
came Mom's call from the kitchen
The little boy had a job to do, but he didn't want to do it
"Make your bed, straighten up your room and get ready for school"
called Mom from the foot of the stairwell
The schoolboy had a job to do, but he didn't want to do it
"Finish packing your suitcase and get down here on the double. It's time to leave for the airport"
yelled Dad from his easy chair in the living room
The college freshman had a job to do, but he didn't want to do it
"Write that thank-you note and mail it before 5:00 p.m. without fail"
instructed the candidate's super-agent after his interview for his dream job
But he was too busy cleaning up his toys, making his bed, straightening up his room and packing his suitcase to get the note written and mailed in time
So he didn't get the job as head coach of the Chicago Bulls professional basketball team... A pity, that...
'Cos this time he'd really wanted to do it
Below are the majority views of students about to vote
for their next high school head-captain:
Nelson:
He is tall and handsome,
plays for our basketball team,
knows the best bars in town,
hates maths, just like us.
Pitt:
He's shy,
hates proms and games,
he's a nerd,
he wears heavy glasses
Charlie:
He's a perv and a chain smoker,
heavy metal is his friend,
never talks much,
but rocks in raving!
Kelvin:
An "A" material, and spends more time
in the library than in bed.
He believes in extraterrestrials.
We think he should visit a shrink or something....
Hosea:
He's very smart and funny,
active in spoken word,
hates politicking,
certain for a scholarship,
very good with skateboards....
................................................................................
Hosea made the cut,
but forcefully. Majority
of students threatened
that they would steal his
skateboards, if he didn't
stand for the coveted position
as the head-captain......
Gregg is greatly revered by his younger brother,
For his basketball shooting, skill and dexterity,
He was born Nov. 1996 in Leigh in Lancashire,
And is a 2.0 player with much junior activity.
In 2010 at Lord Taverners Nat. Junior Champs,
He was the most improved Under 15 player,
And at the GB Junior Summer Camp, amps,
He was also the most greatly improved player.
He became a part of the England North team,
In 2012, and they won Sainsbury’s School gold,
And at the Under 22 European Champs mean,
He helped to collect the bronze with his hold.
In Japan at the Kitakyushu Cup, Junior Men’s,
2014, his basketball team won the silver medal,
And in Rio they won the bronze, had gold pens:
Gregg enjoys playing drums for his twaddle.
At the age of 17 Ian broke his back,
In a motorbike accident, had rehab,
He then worked for a w/c company,
Who showed him w/c basketball fab.
For 3 years he played in the club,
Of the Sheffield Steelers, and then,
He transferred to the Tameside Owls,
To join the British team of deft men.
In 2009 at the European Champs,
Ian and team won the bronze, Turkey,
And then in Israel at more Europeans,
,2011, the team collected gold monkey.
In 2013 at the Europeans in Frankfurt,
The basketball team won the lush gold,
Then in 2015 in Worcester, East Sussex,
He rolled his team into another gold.
So when Rio came they were ready,
And took the bronze from Turkey, 82-76,
Ian was born in Barnsley a 3 pointer,
On the 29th March 1982, quick sticks.
Phil is a Welshman from Cardiff, basketball,
Who plays for the club the Sheffield Steelers,
On the 2nd February 1994 he was born tall,
And wears vest 11 for TeamGB, has feelers.
His classification is 3.0, he’s experienced,
‘Cos he was a junior before being a senior,
He first played as a senior very balanced,
2012, Standard Life Continental Clash leer.
In 2015 TeamGB won the European gold,
In Worcester in England’s West Midlands,
So in Rio in 2016 the basketball team bold,
Beat Turkey to win bronze, third strands,
Ade is a 2.5 wheelchair basketball player,
Who was born in Lagos in Nigeria in 1978,
His home town is Liverpool, a Mersey sayer,
In Spain club BSR Amiab Albacete is a date.
He lives partly in London, joined the Bullets,
And he’s travelled with the sport worldwide,
German, Italian, Israeli and South Korean sets,
Sunshine is his normality to love and abide.
In 2003 at the Europeans in Sassari in Italy,
Ade and his basketball team won the bronze,
And in 2005 at more Europeans, Paris’s sway,
The GB squad came second with silver cons.
Then in 2007 at the World Champs, Germany,
A silver was wrought, and in Beijing in 2008,
TeamGB won a bronze to the podium occupy,
And in 2011 a gold fell, Isreali Euro freight.
2013 and TeamGB won the Euros, Frankfurt,
2015 they won another Euro gold, Worcester,
So in 2016 at Rio Ade contributed to support,
His team to add a bronze to this large cluster.
Ade was jailed by Liverpool Crown Court,
For claiming over £33000 of state benefits:
Housing, council tax benefit, income support,
In 2009 he spent six months with jail slits.
Simon has been to 7 Paralympic games,
Starting with Barcelona and including Rio,
He has a silver from Atlanta - 1992 planes,
A bronze Athens 2004, a bronze 2008 trio.
After a night out on his way home, shortcut,
He tripped and fell onto a live railway track,
The driver could not stop in time, it strut,
But a nurse by-passer saved his life back.
He is a large, tall man at 6 ft 5, amputee,
And says “I didn't get picked because I’m
a fantastic player but ‘cos I was big [see].
The disability’s secondary.“ You have dime.
He’s won 2 World Championship silvers,
And 11 European Championship medals,
With 4 golds, 4 silvers, 3 bronze slivers:
He captained teamGB in 2011 in capitals.
In Rio the basketball team finished third,
Taking home a bronze with total dignity;
He’s a 4.0 player, has travelled the world,
Enjoying playing for Italian clubs infinitely.
Born on 31 January 1968, amputated 22,
He lives in Peacehaven in East Sussex,
But flips between there and Italy so beaux,
To train, although Milton Keynes is apex.
Terry was born in Redcar, Middlesborough,
On the 28th day of June in the year 1983,
And he flips between Worcester and Spain,
To train for his basketball matches actively.
In 2008 at the Worlds Terry won the silver,
2004 and the Athens Paralympics, a bronze,
A bronze in 2008 at the Beijing Paralympics,
And fourth place at the 2012 London dons.
In Rio de Janeiro in South America, 2016,
The GBR basketball team came in third,
Collecting the bronze to win over Turkey,
When they won the overtime final word.
In games as in life, we cannot always win; and sometimes we even get injuries that force us to sit out the game. When in the 8th grade, I made the basketball team. I recall two memorable games, the first of which we lost, and I even remember the score. It was 52 to 12. But later on in the season, we played another team; and that time, we won.
In that game, I helped my team to win by scoring just 4 little points.
But those points came at a time when my team needed a big lift.
On two successive possessions, I scored long shots that would count as 3-pointers today, and the crowd cheered.
45 years ago, game one brought shame,
but game two brought me a little fame.
Once we experience the life of balance,
we will never remain the same.
On our parade, it takes a little rain.
In the game of life, it takes a little pain.
It’s the only way to experience any gain.
09032007
Sub Categories
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.