Self-Portrait with Mixed-up Sports References
I’m so good at missing calls that I’m perfect this year.
—EarthGang
I’m no Dr. James Naismith, but you could say
I stay checking myself. Like a ballerina
driven inward by perfection
& a sense of fair play. Fadeaway
punter of the Saturday night invite. Star
pinch hitter of the rain delay. When I envied
my team’s pennants, I was the penance.
Often off sides, the puck’s been in my inbox
like a Kingfish bucking an antique reel.
Call me Black Bobby Fischer. Southpaw
Journeyman, righting himself in the mirror
with a thorny left jab. I keep my Rookie
of the Year memorabilia mint. Sealed
in polyethylene sleeves. Convex binders
I thumb on any given Sunday. Hail Mary
full of suitcases. Hail Mary full of stagnant
airspace. You might say, I’ve mastered
the bounce pass with a catcher’s mask.
The give-love-&-go underground. I’ll call
back when the season’s over, could probably
stand a little more practice.
Dear Mothership,
‘Blue Flu’ Hit 171 Atlanta Cops After 2 Officers Charged in Rayshard Brooks Case
—Fox News
America— where sometimes 911 is small potatoes|fries
The Elements answer emergency signal at Wendy’s drive-thru
Black citizen dies killed Shots fired video Biggie headlines
Biggie headline: Black Citizen Inebriated Wrestles Element’s
Weapon Runs Fires Dies in Hospital Bed Biggie headline:
Power Drunk Element Back Shot Kills Black Citizen Retaliates
for Minor Resistance To be African American is to be transmogrified:
thru The Element’s glass eye kernels become popcorn corns
sizzle into popped blisters & sometimes a drunken public sleep
looks like a fryable emergency & sometimes less often given
video evidence The Elements answer for their crimes w/ in-
action Potatoes boiled couch-ridden they see brethren lashed on
video criminal Infectious this elemental view [Blackness as bacterial]
A paralytic sickness bias blue flame burning thru red & white cells