Every Good Boy Does Fine

I practiced my cornet in a cold garage Where I could blast it till the oil in drums Boomed back; tossed free throws till I couldn't move my thumbs; Sprinted through tires, tackling a headless dummy. In my first contest, playing a wobbly solo, I blew up in the coda, alone on stage, And twisting like my hand-tied necktie, saw the judge Letting my silence dwindle down his scale. At my first basketball game, gangling away from home A hundred miles by bus to a dressing room, Under the showering voice of the coach, I stood in a towel, Having forgotten shoes, socks, uniform. In my first football game, the first play under the lights I intercepted a pass. For seventy yards, I ran Through music and squeals, surging, lifting my cleats, Only to be brought down by the safety man. I took my second chances with less care, but in dreams I saw the bald judge slumped in the front row, The coach and team at the doorway, the safety man Galloping loud at my heels. They watch me now. You who have always homed your way through passages, Sat safe on the bench while some came naked to court, Slipped out of arms to win in the long run, Consider this poem a failure, sprawling flat on a page.