Analysis of Slam, Dunk, & Hook
YUSEF KOMUNYAKAA 1941
Fast breaks. Lay ups. With Mercury's
Insignia on our sneakers,
We outmaneuvered the 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.
Scheme | ABCDEFAGHBHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXIYZ1 U2 3 4 5 6 DR7 |
---|---|
Poetic Form | Etheree (33%) Tetractys (20%) |
Metre | 11111100 010011010 1001001 111010101 11111 111001 101010 010111 10101011 110110 01111 01101 0111 1111010 01111 0101011 110 10010011 1101 1010010 1000110 101010101 11101 1101101 1111111 10110 10011 11011 101010 111001 011101 1011001 110101 1111 1111101 1110101 110111 10101 111110 100100 |
Closest metre | Iambic trimeter |
Characters | 1,076 |
Words | 203 |
Sentences | 20 |
Stanzas | 1 |
Stanza Lengths | 40 |
Lines Amount | 40 |
Letters per line (avg) | 21 |
Words per line (avg) | 5 |
Letters per stanza (avg) | 843 |
Words per stanza (avg) | 189 |
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Written on 2001
Submitted by Drone232 on May 09, 2022
Modified on April 04, 2023
- 1:02 min read
- 265 Views
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"Slam, Dunk, & Hook" Poetry.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 2 Jun 2024. <https://www.poetry.com/poem-analysis/126835/slam%2C-dunk%2C-%26-hook>.
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