Dear Basketball

“When I Consider How My Light Is Spent” by John Milton (1673)

The 17th-century English Christian poet takes up the theme of fate and destiny in his sonnet. Like Kobe Bryant, Milton’s speaker thinks about his life in the greater scheme of things. While Bryant discovers his destiny early on, Milton’s speaker remains unsure. Someone has to remind the speaker that people “who only stand and wait” (Line 14) also serve God. While basketball isn’t a god, Bryant gives it a godlike aura and serves it with his “heart” and “hustle” (Lines 20, 21) and by running up and down the basketball court and after loose basketballs. In Milton’s poem, the theme of love and destiny requires much less action. God doesn’t need “man’s work or his own gifts” (Line 11). Unlike Bryant speaking as Kobe, Milton’s speaker doesn’t have to pick out a specific vocation or work hard for the higher power.

“This Is Just to Say” by William Carlos Williams (1934)

The 20th-century American poet William Carlos Williams also turned letters into poems. While Bryant addresses basketball, Williams addresses someone (his wife, perhaps) to tell her that he ate the plums in the refrigerator. While Bryant’s basketball “you” (Line 8) selects him for stardom and demands much effort, the “you” (Line 6) in Williams’s poem doesn’t ask anything of the speaker. Yet the speaker in Williams’s poem is apologetic and asks the “you” for forgiveness. Williams’s speaker lacks the confidence of Bryant’s speaker. In Bryant’s letter/poem, he maintains a poised tone, but in Williams’s letter/poem, the speaker comes off as embarrassed (or perhaps a bit smug) for not controlling their craving for the cold plums.

“A Three Point Shot From Andromeda” by Paul Beatty (1995)

Paul Beatty is a contemporary author whose novels and poems routinely satirize and mock politically correct norms for race, identity, and trauma. Beatty is also a big basketball fan, and his poem puts basketball in a surreal context, turning it into an intergalactic, outer space experience. Though Beatty’s poem isn’t as straightforward as Bryant’s work, both poems present basketball as larger-than-life and capable of creating incredible sensations and moments.