Slam, Dunk, & Hook

The poem opens with the rapid, start-stop-start of two basketball terms: “Fast break. Lay ups.” (Line 1). In this, Komunyakaa generates a sports-commentary style excitement and announces his speaker as someone immersed in basketball rather than a casual observer. This is continued in the reference to “Mercury’s Insignia on our sneakers” (Line 2), suggesting the importance that young players sensitive to fashion iconography might attach to their footwear. Mercury is the winged messenger god of classical Roman mythology, and like the more famous shoe brand Nike (also named after a Roman god) it evokes the players’ naive belief that style and branding may help them reach a god-like level of sporting prowess. This grandiose idea of basketball as a contest in the realm of immortal heroes continues in Lines 3-4, with the speaker emerging victorious against “bad angels” (Line 4).

Lines 4-6 offer a comparison between music, eroticism, and sporting prowess: “Nothing but a hot / Swish of strings like silk / Ten feet out.” Komunyakaa uses the line break after the erotically charged “hot” to mimic the pause as players watch to see if the ball will find its target, then combines the onomatopoeic “swish” with