Michael Ceraolo- Three Poems

Steal

This one was no great feat
of top-notch athleticism,
nor
was it the product
of extensive film study
of players' tendencies;
no,
you just had to remain awake
One player waved the trigger man away
in order to take it out himself,
and
then motioned
the first player
to the low post,
the better to take advantage of a height advantage
Like a cliched plot
I saw the pass coming a mile away
and deflected it to one of my teammates



Drive

It was a textbook demonstration
of the principle of Three Ds,
given
in the live action of 3-D:
Drive
through the lane
Draw
the defense to you
and
Dish
the ball,
turning
your body away from the basket,
bringing the ball over your head with two hands,
and
tossing the ball to the spot-up shooter
who then knocks down the open three



Buzzer Beater

He gets a short pass from the rebounder
with six seconds left,
his team down two
He dribbles downcourt on the left wing,
crosses over to the middle of the court,
stumbles
rather than glides moving right,
nearly losing the dribble,
then,
grace on the play low, drama high,
launches a fadeaway three-pointer for the win