FAST BREAK

In this collection, Ken Lauter recounts a personal history in pickup basketball and examines the sport as a social phenomenon. He vividly describes games he’s competed in, the courts, cities, and states where they were played, and many players he has known. “It’s been,” he says, “a wonderful ride,” but also admits that playing full court until nearly 70 has had some severe consequences.

Above all, Ken’s poems and essays strive to demonstrate that pick-up ball is a unique sports animal. He agrees with Ross Gay that it is a place of “radical socialization” in contrast to mainstream American athletics which drains much of the joy out of ‘the game,’ with a focus on money and celebrity, and an obsession with winning.