Edward Harkness: Left-handed Set Shot

~Troy Wolff, 1967-2013

It all depends on how you plant yourself.
Forget the goal. Focus on your alignment
to the goal, as he did, in class, in the gym,
pick-up hoops after a day’s teaching.

Not tall. Quick, though. Quick hands, quick wit,
feints left and right, inside and out. “Dangerous
from the perimeter,” said one, who, like me,
loved his smile, the lone clue he might surprise you,

stutter-step and drive the lane. Smile and he’s gone,
catching you frozen flat, wondering
what the smile meant. Or you’re hypnotized
for that instant he nonchalantly smiles,

takes two steps back, surveys the set-up,
scans for the open man, he’s thinking pass,
he’s out of range, but by then he’s finger-
tipped the ball into flight for the trey.

Poems, stories, travel tales: he taught intelligence.
His art was life, how to dance with it, how to play,
how to take or not take the shot. How to plant.
I picture him alone in the bleachers

of an empty stadium at night. He waves,
delighted by the hometown win. Banks of floodlights
switch off, their filaments glow for just enough time
over his darkening form. Smile and he’s gone.

~~

Author’s note: This poem came about after the utterly senseless, motiveless murder of one of my dear teaching colleagues back in 2013. He and his girlfriend were among the crowd leaving a stadium following a victorious Seattle Sounders soccer match when a man jumped from behind a bush to snatch Troy’s girlfriend’s purse. Troy stepped between her and the attacker and was stabbed to death.

Copyright 2024 Edward Harkness

The Law of the Unforeseen, Edward Harkness’ third full-length collection of poems was published by Pleasure Boat Studio. He lives with his wife, Linda, in Shoreline, Washington.