a few words for darryl dawkins

rip brother

Perhaps i'll know next time. when another life comes by me again;

what is quiet about chocolate

or thusly blissful about thunder.

I will argue my gaze and sue for memory,

hold my hands before the burning transformed

as if warming myself

that in some oblong way, we gamble on the respite of our sports  heroes

wanting them forever soft spoken like Maris,

incredibly ugly like Rodman or

permanently injured like Sweetness. Somehow we would rather

not have the legend be the legend

in the same way we would

rather not know the songs of Liberace or Don Ho

just remember them by the jackets they wore. Remember

how they were the cover for sleep

like vipers, the cover for evil spirits. Yet

it's all so very simple now Darryl:

Here's the ball.

There is the backboard. Then the mightiest of strikes

we've ever known.

Then that most beautiful

shatter.

Reviews

[jacob erin-cilberto]

very cool tribute...he was fun to watch...some of the best dunks in history...he hit the boards so hard.

sad he died so young...only 58...

yes, Maris was so soft spoken, and media shy...and Sweetness...mmm Walter Payton...what a beautiful runner he was...

your poem is a slam dunk!

[John Destalo]

Awesome! I remember when he came to the sixers. He was energy. And simplicity. And beauty. Great tribute.

[Johnson Bobby]

absolutly invigorating deep of seconcious a point in refected
simple touching loving not sweet but sweeter not soft but softer
your words are wonders charles in charge of our lives a dream
staying refreshing a river that flows in mind after reading your
portrait of words thank you for flowers of syllables

[h d e rushin]

thank you so much Johnson Bobby for stopping by to visit and for those kind words....dana

[W.k.kortas]

A friend was telling me about the time Daryl came into his barbershop, and how big the man was in every sense of the word. I think you have, especially in the final stanzas, how wonderfully visceral the man's appeal was--the big wide-eyed child smile, the outrageously named dunks, the obliteration of backboards. Gone too soon, indeed.

[h d e rushin]

I saw him live and yes, he was a very large human being. Just offering a few lines to his
greatness. And yes, he was GREAT.. thanks wk....dana