Poetry Out Loud : Old Men Playing Basketball

Old Men Playing BasketballBy B. H. Fairchild

The heavy bodies lunge, the broken language   

of fake and drive, glamorous jump shot   

slowed to a stutter. Their gestures, in love   

again with the pure geometry of curves,

rise toward the ball, falter, and fall away.   

On the boards their hands and fingertips   

tremble in tense little prayers of reach   

and balance. Then, the grind of bone

and socket, the caught breath, the sigh,   

the grunt of the body laboring to give   

birth to itself. In their toiling and grand   

sweeps, I wonder, do they still make love

to their wives, kissing the undersides

of their wrists, dancing the old soft-shoe   

of desire? And on the long walk home   

from the VFW, do they still sing

to the drunken moon? Stands full, clock   

moving, the one in army fatigues

and houseshoes says to himself, pick and roll,   

and the phrase sounds musical as ever,

radio crooning songs of love after the game,   

the girl leaning back in the Chevy’s front seat   

as her raven hair flames in the shuddering   

light of the outdoor movie, and now he drives,

gliding toward the net. A glass wand

of autumn light breaks over the backboard.   

Boys rise up in old men, wings begin to sprout

at their backs. The ball turns in the darkening air.

When I imagine my poem I see old men trying to play a pick up game at a local park . I find this poem very interesting because its about basketball and I also play basketball. In my opinion  the best line in the poem is when he says "The heavy bodies lunge, the broken language of fake and drive, glamorous jump shot slowed to a stutter." This line is the best line because it is very funny to Imagine a group of old men trying to play basketball but they are really tired and short winded. Also them trying to shoot but cant really shoot because they can't really move. This poem also talks about how the old man want to relive there youth but they really can't because they are too old. The poet expresses this in the line when he says "the girl leaning back in the Chevy’s front seat as her raven hair flames in the shuddering light of the outdoor movie." I also find it amusing that the poet questions weather or not the old men can please there wives when he says, I wonder, do they still make love to their wives, kissing the undersides of their wrists, dancing the old soft-shoe of desire?" This poem was amusing because I have seen guys just as the poem explain.