Beginning of a dialog window, including tabbed navigation to register an account or sign in to an existing account. Learn how to write a poem about basketball and share it. I found this story to be very inspirational as i travel through the different stages of my life, meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones in the same train after so many years saying goodbyes to those who are leaving us, sharing our dreams, hopes, sorrows and. Kwame alexander is an awardwinning poet and childrens book author. Lebron could get easy layups, putbacks, and dunks when his jump shot was not falling or opposing players were daring him to shoot. This poem has not been translated into any other language yet. In the end and in summation the goal of playing basketball and reading great free basketball poems is to have fun and win. We are basketball players people dont play basketball because its fun. Regardless of missing multiple shots, you must keep shooting, get up when you fall down, and move on because one day you will make it. Pump faking your shots as you pretend with your real feelings. The poem the exbasketball player by john updike dramatizes the conflict between dreams and reality in the case of flick webb.
It was a mothers day poem for my, uh, mother, and it was horrible, but she liked it a lot. Looking around i look hard, i find opening to the point gaurd. I found this story to be very inspirational as i travel through the different stages of my life, meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones in the same train after so many years saying goodbyes to those who are. Life is like a basketball, you dribble your way through the court as you dribble your way through situations. If school were more like baseball wed only have to play. Being a hot poet and a hot basketball player in an essay for sports blog nation, pulitzer prizewinning poet stephen dunn reflects on his path from college basketball player to poet. The ex basketball player poem ex basketball player by john updike john updike pearl avenue runs past the highschool lot, bends with the trolley tracks, and stops, cut off before it has a chance to go two blocks, at colonel mccomsky plaza. We had a literary expert analyze kobe bryants basketball poem. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The train of life author unknown a few years ago i received an email from a friend with this story, the author is unknown.
Ultimately this is a book about basketball, but its really about so much more. His mother loved poetry and storytelling and his father was a book publisher, writer and professor. This is one of those basketball poems that needs to be in every players notebook. Life is like playing basketball dribble, run, walk, jump and shoot. This book is about the feelings and sensations when you are playing basketball. Kobe bryant announced his retirement from basketball with a poem, so we asked a poetry expert and literature professor at nyu to break it down for us. My heart races as i step on the court basketball my favorite sport the whistle blows to start the game its a feeling i cant explain my team is my family when we work together theres no boundaries pass, shoot, score everyone wants more time for defense no one gets by shot goes up the ball is mine. And so, my love of literature it was gone around fifth, sixth grade. Also, the playbook, which is a collection of basketball rules for life, like if you miss. Ive failed over and over and over again in my life. Cheer on twelve top basketball pros with a dynamic collection of verse by charles r.
John updikes exbasketball player, a poem of five stanzas each containing six lines and written in blank verse, describes the life of flick webb, once a highschool basketball star but. Poetry about great players, unusual teams, and flashy moves. Flick shows such promise in his teenage years, but he ends up in the pathetic reality of helping out at a garage and playing pinball in a luncheonette. This basketball poet just might get your kid excited about verse. Always pay attention and enjoy life, because just like the game of baseball, life ends eventually and we never know when that time will come.
Regardless of missing multiple shots, you must keep shooting, get up when you fall down, and move on because one day you will make it as the buzzer ticks so does your time on earth, shoot wisely as if it. I like this book because i can relate to the feelings and sensations because i. Transcript from an interview with kwame alexander reading rockets. He grew up in nigeria and didnt even pick up a basketball until he.
Complete with odes to patrick ewing, magic johnson, and michael jordan, the sport and its stars are celebrated by such varied writers as jerry spinelli, jack prelutsky, walter dean myers, and myra cohn livingston. In basketball never lose hope, when there is a problem, learn to cope. Take your shots with confidence, never with incompetence, jump up for a rebound with all your might, dont ever do it in a state of fright. Poet and memoirist mary karr was born in 1955 and raised in texas. Basketball poems modern awardwinning basketball poetry. We must cherish the moments we have on this earth with our family and friends by our side. We are basketball players, a poem by alizabeth tyson, usa. Kevin garnett makes his newandimproved moves in 3d. Subscribe every day we have plenty of opportunities to get angry, stressed or offended. I was reading up to four books a night with my daughter and became. It is where all my thoughts and emotions are erased from my mind and all i can think about is the basketball and the hoop. If you want something you can achieve it all you have to do is believe it several can. Basketball is a team sport in which two teams of five players try to score points by throwing or shooting a ball through the top of a basketball hoop while following a set of rules.
Basketball is an inspirational game to play and the sport itself continues to not only fascinate by the billions but also create lastly memories to all that bounce the rock. I showed this book to my gifted 4th graders and the boys who previously. Alexander said the first poem he remembers writing was for a mothers day gift when he was 12 or. Hoops by robert burleigh is a great and easy read and i recommend this book to people who like basketball and poetry books.
But what youre doing when you indulge these negative emotions is giving something outside yourself power over your happiness. Please click on one of the following links for permissions and reprint rights information. I played everything, particularly basketball, and spent many afternoons on the court, perfecting my jump shot. Life is like playing basketball poem by champs ulysses cabinatan.
I like this book because i can relate to the feelings and sensations because i play basketball. Exbasketball player analysis sports flashcards quizlet. What is the poem exbasketball player by john updike. I drew a bell, a student sitting at a desk dreaming about basketball, and math, science, and history books on the desk.
He wanted to get deep into the life of charles, and share his backstory. Kwame alexander will be one of two guest judges for the 2014 kidsposts poetry contest. Mar 01, 2008 worshiped by younger basketball players, just like they looked up to the older players when they were in elementary and middle school. Life is like playing basketball poem by champs ulysses. See more ideas about poems, basketball and basketball quotes. Newberywinning poet kwame alexander comes to houston to talk his. New basketball book the crossover puts poetry in motion.
Its not every day that im blown away by a book about a sports figure. Wed hang out in the sunshine and run around all day. Similar in scope to lillian morrisons at the crack of the bat hyperion, 1992, this volume concentrates on basketball. Oct 01, 1997 hoops by robert burleigh is a great and easy read and i recommend this book to people who like basketball and poetry books. Poetry and basketball by inua ellams the latter half of my youth revolved around hoops, orbiting wide rings, listening out for the nets swish, attempting to make more fluid, more instinctive, mo butter the complex body geometry of knowing instinctively how far you are from the ring at any time, how much palmthrust and fingertip is.
Explore our collection of motivational and famous quotes by authors you know and love. The crossover, by kwame alexander the new york times. The exbasketball player by john updike free essay example. He says poetry is one key to keeping kids invested in what theyre reading. For example i do pray about going to the nba every night and i always.
Lebron could get easy layups, putbacks, and dunks when his jump shot was not falling or. Jack ridls poems view life through basketball hoop. Dribble, fake, shoot, miss, dribble, fake, shoot, swish the basketball poetry of kwame alexander. So i spent the first 10 years of my writerly life writing love poems and sort of. Poems about basketball at the worlds largest poetry site. I also drew on some things i wished had gone on in my household, like having a.
Alexanders poems vary from the pulsing, aggressive beats of a basketball game my. I wonder what i could be like playing with my full potential. Tim duncan cashes in doubledigit points by banking it off the backboard. Point gaurd catches perfect pass, now much closer to backboard. Get an answer for what is the poem exbasketball player by john updike trying to say. This poem relates to my life because i used to play basketball when i was in elementary school and i have went to plenty of indiana university basketball games. There is no story here, just poems about playing basketball or knowing someone who plays jump ball. If you are among those who shy away from poetry when choosing your pleasure reading, jack ridls new collection might be just the book to. Basketball is my life and the court is where my life. Would you like permission to reprint, record, recite or broadcast this poem, or set it to music. Getting closer then stopped short, im surrounded at midcourt. Then you realize that the book is giving you snapshot views into one season of basketball, a season that ends in a shocking event. Powered by create your own unique website with customizable templates. Basketball is the sport of kings, from the toss of the jump ball to when the buzzer rings.
Lebron james however did not have a limited scoring package like lonzo. As you read each poem in this book, you get a feel for what each of the characters are feeling about the game of basketball and the other things they have going on in their lives. She is the author of several critically acclaimed books of poetry, including abacus 1987. Kwame alexander writes books that bend genres novels about middle school. Just like lebron, lonzo slipped through the basketball cracks into nba spotlight without a reliable jump shot. Jan 01, 2004 reading books filled with stories and poems inspired me to write my own, he says. Most guys on my team wouldnt even consider writing a poem in their spare time, but this morning our coach gave a speech that really said something to me. His most recent book, the crossover, is a story told through poems and basketball. Sunshine, warmth and light making my life a pleasure and real delight adding sunny happy hours and filling all my days with warm hot rays of summer sunshine and showers of love and friendship divine i want you in my life always. The exbasketball player poem exbasketball player by john updike john updike pearl avenue runs past the highschool lot, bends with the trolley tracks, and stops, cut off before it has a chance to go two blocks, at colonel mccomsky plaza. And if i wasnt reading a book, i was playing a sport. Basketballplaying twins find challenges to their relationship on and off. Every single poem is told from a different member of the tower high school tigers team, a community member, a fan, a parent, a studenti dont know, i think even the garbage man has a line or two. Basketball is one of the most popular and widely viewed sports in the world.
The newbery awardwinning poet and author is back with a new book, rebound. The hero of the crossover is a tall 12yearold named josh bell, who offers up the story of his life in a series of poems that are sometimes fresh and funny, sometimes sad and painful, but. Life is like playing basketballdribble run walk jump and shoot. The road aheadan inspirational poem about taking personal responsibility. Girls basketball prayer, basketball prayer poem, short athletes poem, athletic poetry, poem for girls basketball, pregame basketball poem the background image of this basketball prayer is a picture of my daughter when she was a high school freshman. To all my oldfogy colleagues,who seem to think thatbasketball has assumed someinordinate celestial weightin the educational firmament,i have a simple message. Short basketball poem i bounce,i dribble on parquet, headed for net far away. So i decided to write, and this is what i came up with. The court is a place that i can focus, a place where i can put all of my thoughts and feelings into the things that are important to me. New basketball book the crossover puts poetry in motion the. I fake left then spin right, i release ball its in flight. Some of the technologies we use are necessary for critical functions like security and site integrity, account authentication, security and privacy preferences, internal site usage and maintenance data, and to make the site work correctly for browsing and transactions.
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