If you can make it here you can make it
anywhere; the lights are a little brighter
the air a little thicker, not quite a mile high
but the pressure has suffocated
the many and the several who have come
and later gone—a name not a jersey
a memory not a story
Here they will give you the energy to feed off of
the spirit to uplift, fight through and conquer with
cheer you when you’re up and let you hear it when you’re
down—but fair warning don’t be down for long
or else you’ll sink like dead weight, quicksand in the
hardwood, like the trains around the corner
a cemetery underneath filled with graves
The stars align courtside like camera constellations
champions of a team with few rings to show
for years they’ve fielded incomplete squads
dysfunctional hooligans, bums, and delinquents
“unheard ofs” with no talent, veterans with no knees;
there’s a petition going around to rename themselves
the New York Diamond Districts
Perpetuity is a saving grace like 1970 and ’73
but consequently serves as a daily suffering
to blind loyalists and inherent aficionados;
so many jerseys that hang like festering reminders
of how many years its been since Larry O Brien
preceded the home town team—
so close in ’94, so far in ’99…and now further than ever
Seasons change in extremity, more nowadays,
but make no mistake the weather here is fair-weather
case in point:
twenty point lead—young misfits vs the king
and the crowd goes wild (crowd going wild)
jumping up out of their seats, most spilling their drinks
but lest we forget: the game isn’t won in the second quarter
23 down, but 23 is Crown—opposing team mounts
a steady flurry of 2 for 1s and 3s for 2s
culminating in a sell out crowd standing at attention
90 seconds left, size up in motion
unicorn floating, step back practice
space him out like a mathematical equation;
GAME
Shelton J. has seen enough,
sick to his stomach he throws his hoodie on
and leaves a sinking feeling at MSG
as moments later the once exalted arms of the
hopeful crowd are body language limbs
fallen limp at the wayside;
an empty Mecca awaiting its next Hajj to come