ALLEGORY Poem: SHE SHOOTS–HE SCORES?, by Monica Davis

You balance a basketball on your index finger.

I can see that he is mesmerized,

BY YOU,

He is spinning just like the ball—

Pinned in place;

A spherical vortex of need,

Held fixed by

Centrifugal force.

With a smile on your lips,

You surrender the ball to

G
R
A
V
I
T
Y

Then by feint, pass, layup,

YOU SHOOT,

And effortlessly release it to kiss

The backboard, where it balances,

TEMPTING, TEASING,

Before, with a swish,

It flirtingly slips its way

Through a skirt of net.

He is mesmerized.

He hopes to SCORE.