“Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch
In Memory of Dennis Turner, 1946-1984
A hook shot kisses the rim and
hangs there, helplessly, but doesn’t drop,
and for once our gangly starting center
boxes out his man and times his jump
perfectly, gathering the orange leather
from the air like a cherished possession
and spinning around to throw a strike
to the outlet who is already shoveling
an underhand pass toward the other guard
scissoring past a flat-footed defender
who looks stunned and nailed to the floor
in the wrong direction, trying to catch sight
of a high, gliding dribble and a man
letting the play develop in front of him
in slow motion, almost exactly
like a coach’s drawing on the blackboard,
both forwards racing down the court
the way that forwards should, fanning out
and filling the lanes in tandem, moving
together as brothers passing the ball
between them without a dribble, without
a single bounce hitting the hardwood
until the guard finally lunges out
and commits to the wrong man
while the power-forward explodes past them
in a fury, taking the ball into the air
by himself now and laying it gently
against the glass for a lay-up,
but losing his balance in the process,
inexplicably falling, hitting the floor
with a wild, headlong motion
for the game he loved like a country
and swiveling back to see an orange blur
floating perfectly through the net.
Edward Hirsch, “Fast Break” from Wild Gratitude. Copyright © 1985
by Edward Hirsch. Used by permission of Alfred A. Knopf, a division
of Random House, Inc.
“Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury's
Insignia on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered to footwork
Of bad angels. Nothing but a hot
Swish of strings like silk
Ten feet out. In the roundhouse
Labyrinth our bodies
Created, we could almost
Last forever, poised in midair
Like storybook sea monsters.
A high note hung there
A long second. Off
The rim. We'd corkscrew
Up & dunk balls that exploded
The skullcap of hope & good
Intention. Lanky, all hands
& feet...sprung rhythm.
We were metaphysical when girls
Cheered on the sidelines.
Tangled up in a falling,
Muscles were a bright motor
Double-flashing to the metal hoop
Nailed to our oak.
When Sonny Boy's mama died
He played nonstop all day, so hard
Our backboard splintered.
Glistening with sweat,
We rolled the ball off
Our fingertips. Trouble
Was there slapping a blackjack
Against an open palm.
Dribble, drive to the inside,
& glide like a sparrow hawk.
Lay ups. Fast breaks.
We had moves we didn't know
We had. Our bodies spun
On swivels of bone & faith,
Through a lyric slipknot
Of joy, & we knew we were
Beautiful & dangerous.
Yusef Komunyakaa, "Slam, Dunk, & Hook" from Pleasure Dome:
New and Collected Poems. Copyright © 2001 by Yusef Komunyakaa.
Reprinted with the permission of Wesleyan University Press.
Compare/ Contrast Response Example
Sample Student
Ms. Schonhar
English I
14 April 2014
Basketball’s Glory: A Comparison of Two Poems
The poems “Fast Break” by Edward Hirsch and “Slam, Dunk, & Hook” by Yusef Komunyakaa are
similar in speaker, tone, and topic. The speakers knowledgably narrate the actions of basketball players
as they move successfully around the court. These voices display a tone of praise and idolization
towards the athletes. In Hirsch’s poem, the speaker describes the successful layup of a player after a fast
break as the player “[swivels] back to see an orange blur/ floating perfectly through the net” (ll. 33-34).
Komunyakaa’s poem also focuses on the expert movements of the players, although he does not truly
focus on making baskets or winning. His speaker claims that the athletes are “poised in midair/ like
storybook sea monsters” (ll. 9-10), and one of them can “glide like a sparrow hawk” (l. 33). The tone
also creates a sense of beauty in the topic of the poem, basketball. Hirsch uses positive words such as
“kisses” (l. 1), “cherished” (l. 6), and “gently” (l. 27) to create a sense of grace and beauty in the sport’s
movements. Komunyakaa’s word choices also have a positive connotation, but with an edgier side to
them. He uses first person to describe himself and other athletes as “bad angels” (l. 4) who are
“beautiful and dangerous” (l. 40). While Hirsch’s poem is more removed with third person point of view
and Komunyakaa’s is personal with first person, they both applaud the grace of basketball, the topic of
their poems.