Spotlight by Jasen Sousa

Spotlight

The one Somerville streetlight

shined on me while

I bounced my ball

deep into the night.

Basketball is a game

of rhythm, repetition

and discipline.

My dirt-covered fingertips

painted from a court that was swept

by me years before when I stole my father’s broom

to sweep puddles that stood in the way of progress.

I tried to find seams on the ball where the leather

started to peel off.

Basketball saved me

when my friends were

putting drugs in their hands.

I held my own rock

and flung it towards the sky,

and it would always come back.

I would sit on my ball on the free throw line

and watch my friends with thumping systems drive by,

going to places they thought would make them happy.

First Published

Somewhere Lost

Library of Congress

Cataloging in Publication Data

ISBN 978-0-9714926-7-7

Jasen SousaJune 11, 2014Comment