Amy Casey, Swirlsnap, 2016, Acrylic on Panel, 48″ X 48″
When LeBron Returned to Cleveland,
I Lived in Los Angeles Wanting to Come Home
All these quiet prayers
from two thousand miles away
to impact the spin of the ball—
hope that could travel
far enough to land
in the temporary nestle of a net.
_______________________
James Croal Jackson
Review by Jared Pearce
While I’m not much of a basketball fan myself, I love how this poem captures the drive of faith, hope, prayer, desire, all that stuff, even for a temporary result, just as a ball, spinning through the air, is hoped and prayed and desired to hit that net. The succinctness here and the precise language allows for the larger theme to come through wonderfully.
Review by Alan Gold
“Nestle” is almost as apt an onomatopoeia as “swish” to describe the sound of a ball moving through a basketball net. And the alliteration with net is lovely. But it is the word “temporary” that gives this poem gravitas, that foreshadows LeBron moving on again, and the transience of whatever and wherever is home. The ball goes through the net, then hits the floor, and the game goes on.