D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 4
CHEAP SEATS, THE CINCINNATI GARDENS, PROFESSIONAL BASKETBALL, 1959
by William MatthewsHear William Matthews read this poem (in RealAudio):
(For help, see a note about the audio.)
Also by William Matthews:
Dire Cure (1997)
The Shooting (1996)
The Blues (1989)
Homer's Seeing-Eye Dog (1988)
On the Porch at the Frost Place, Franconia, N.H. (1982)
New (1980)
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The less we paid, the more we climbed. Tendrils
of smoke lazed just as high and hung there, blue,
particulate, the opposite of dew.
We saw the whole court from up there. Few girls
had come, few wives, numerous boys in molt
like me. Our heroes leapt and surged and looped
and two nights out of three, like us, they'd lose.
But "like us" is wrong: we had no result
three nights out of three: so we had heroes.
And "we" is wrong, for I knew none by name
among that hazy company unless
I brought her with me. This was loneliness
with noise, unlike the kind I had at home
with no clock running down, and mirrors.
Copyright © 1994 by The Atlantic Monthly Company. All rights reserved.
The Atlantic Monthly; December 1994; Cheap Seats, The Cincinnati Gardens, Professional Basketball, 1959; Volume 274, No. 6; page 119.
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