They got the kid
For pacing up and down the sideline
When the ball was nowhere near —
Technical foul, one shot for the other team.
.
The kid was in a long-sleeve t-shirt
And it was his first time being
On cable TV in his entire life.
.
I thought of the man in uniform,
How it might be a slug-like metamorphosis
Into the impetus to cage,
To trap heat and light,
To kill it,
And my mind filled with rage.
.
Then they showed the kid sitting on the bench
With his teammates,
Face plastered in a 16-tooth smile
And loud, quick chatter all around
As the ball
On the other side of the court
Graced front iron,
Then back iron,
Then ejected out the front of the cylinder
To bounce on the floor.
.
And the phone companies
And departments of treasury
And skin machine
Might still win
But that was pretty fu**ing cool.