DRIVEWAY BASKETBALL

Four of Cups

FIRST HOOPS

The first time, I shoved the ball toward the hoop
with all my might, missing by two or three feet.
The second time, the ball hovered on the rim
and dropped in. My brother punched me in the arm

as my father cheered. I dashed into the house
to tell my uncle I had made a basket. On TV,
a cross-legged man in an orange robe was on fire,
motionless as traffic swirled around him. Sobbing,

I flung myself outside. “Why would a man
light himself on fire?” I bleated. My uncle
stepped into the doorway: “The boy just needs
to get used to it.” (My Dad told me later

that in WWII my uncle’s plane was shot down 
and that my uncle was still having nightmares
about it.) My brother kept bouncing the ball.
My Dad put his arm around me for a moment,

then sauntered over to my uncle to ask
what had happened. Soon they went inside.
I paced the driveway for awhile, then grabbed
the ball, shooting again and again until I made it in.

TETHERBALL AT RECESS

Eight of Swords

TETHERBALL AT RECESS, 1968

As the tetherball chains chimed, we hung out
under the monkey bars. I was the disputed
tetherball champion of my class, but he refused
at the beginning of recess to play against me. 

When I asked him why, he told me about his cousin:
As he was riding his bike through the park, near
the rioting, a policeman pulled him down and beat him.
“He’s only twelve years old. He wasn’t hurting anyone:

Why would they do that?” “I don’t know,” I mourned--
“C’mon, let’s play tetherball!” He turned away, “I can’t. 
My family says I can’t be with white people anymore
because you just can’t trust them.” “But I

didn’t do anything!” I shouted over the ringing chains.
Squinting and sweating, he just shook his head
at everything I said as fists were thudding and balls
kept whirling. I didn’t play tetherball ever again.

COWBOYS AND INDIANS

Fiddleneck in House Pits near Pounding Stone

POUNDING STONE NEAR CAMPGROUND

Throwing a pine cone at my brother, 
I reeled through brittle needles to hide
behind a short, flat stone in the middle
of the forest:  I was the cowboy 

and he was the Indian. As I jumped up 
to toss a dirt clod, I saw smooth cups
brimming with humus in the stone. 
Standing transfixed as he charged,  “Stop!”

I yelled, as he pelted me with pebbles.
“You’re dead!” he shouted, “Told you--
I’m the cowboy!” Dizzy, I felt 
I was about to remember something,

Pestles in Pounding Stone

falling into some other life that I once 
had known. “Boys!” Dad shouted, “Time 
to go to the lake!” But I couldn’t move
from the stone in the middle of the woods. 

Finally, Dad ambled over. “What 
is this?” I asked. “Mud people 
lived here,” he sneered. “Let’s go!”
“Where are the mud people? Where

did they go?” I wondered aloud, but he
didn’t answer. For a moment I
was afraid, as he walked farther
and farther ahead of me, that I

could be like one of the mud people
who had vanished, so I paused,
alone between the strange stone
and the tiny boat by the shore.

PAPER BALL AND BROOMSTICK BAT

Toad in Tree Root

(Note: If you would like to hear a "concept album," click on the title below.)

BACKYARD  BASEBALL

One of us poised near tree roots,
grasping a ball of twisted, wet paper
wrapped in rubber bands, the other, in front
of the shed door, waving a broken broom handle.

The ball flew like thought
from mound to shed, and both of us           Open a door.
connected, four or five times, whacking
it over the leafed-out fruitless mulberry

to plop in the neighbor’s yard. Like
super stars in a world series game,
for an afternoon we were sometimes one 
with bat and ball, clearly reading

the opposition. Then Dad died,
and you soon moved away. The tree 
rotted from within, a stump where
two toads made their home                       Open door #2. 

in the hollow roots, the eaves
of the shed dangling a long beehive,
the house finally abandoned. 
In the shed thick with webs, 

I found the broom handle
and stepped up to the plate.  As 
I swung the bat, I recalled
how you smacked the ball so sweetly

that it sailed high over
the tree, over the fence,
and kept flying to where                          Open door # 3.
we could never find it again.

CHRISTMAS IDEAS

Bad Fairies

CHRISTMAS PRESENTS

My brother blew me a booger,

my sister boxed up a roach,                      Find some coins.

Jack wrapped a moldy burger,

Sally pinched till I screamed “Ouch.”

A bully gave me a wedgie,

the pastor put coal in my sock,

teacher awarded dried algae,                         Take a different path.

my best friend forked over a rock.

But I gave the best presents ever

to throw one and all for a loop.                             Open a door.

They’ll think me and doggie so clever

when they unwrap their gifts stuffed with poop.

PLAYING IN A FAIRY GARDEN

Gnome and Fairies with Tiger Lilies

FAIRY GARDEN

The moment Mom allowed a fairy into her garden, 
I glimpsed the skulking shadow of a troll.
Before I could even say, "I beg your pardon,”          Take a different path.
It commanded me to pay a toll.

“I just want to sniff the handsome roses,”
I whimpered as I backed away in fright.                     
“I only want to chew your little toeseees”--
A gremlin lunged to take a tiny bite.

I screamed and started flying toward a door
blocked by mocking elves whom I abhor.                     
Swarms of sylphs lifted from the hellebore,
finding hair, ears, and nostrils to explore.

Goblins beat on drums of water                              Find a strange room.
while a gnome cut loose a raucous snore.
The troll jumped on the teeter-totter
and made a phoenix soar.

If Mom won’t make the beasties leave,
I might begin to twitch--                                           
I’m tempted to make them all behave                    
by changing into a witch.