Poetry Month, Day 5
Power to the People (and down goes Duke)
The protests that were held in cities all around the country today (more than 1,300 of them in all) proved what all of us should already know: that Trump and Musk are earning some well-deserved scorn from the people. And with good reason. They’re acting in ways that far exceed the Constitutionally-defined parameters of the executive branch, and bringing the nation into fascism and autocracy. And we simply can’t allow that to happen.
I was proud to be in the presence of so many people who love this country, and will not sit idly by as it is ripped away from us. The gatherings and marches were peaceful, as they must be, because the thinnest of pretexts will be enough to declare martial law and really set off some trouble in this country. But We the People stood tall today, and it was an amazing sight to see.
And just in case that wasn’t enough to make this a good day, Duke collapsed in the final few minutes of the second game in the Final Four tonight, keeping my one and only NCAA men’s tournament bracket alive going into Monday night’s championship game. I would have rooted against Duke on principle anyway, because they’ve had so much success over the years and that can be irritating for those of us who have no affiliation with Duke, but also having a (potential) financial stake in them losing to Houston made it seem just a bit less petty.
It was frustrating to see Houston shoot the ball well in the second half, especially on three-point shots, but Duke always seeming to have an answer on the other end of the court. And when Duke extended their lead to 14 points, with less than 10 minutes left in the game, I made a comment that things were about to get out of hand. I was tempted to turn off the TV and forget about the game altogether.
But Houston managed to stay in the game, and then went on a run that Duke wasn’t able to fend off. If I hadn’t watched it, I never would have believed it. Houston’s coach, in the post-game interview on-court with the CBS reporter, said “Don’t sleep on Houston” and Duke found that out the hard way. So now it’s on to Monday night, with a chance to pick my first winner in the tournament in over 20 years. I’m looking forward to it already.
As a final postscript, when I first filled out my bracket and went over it to make sure I hadn’t missed anything, I noticed I didn’t have a single #1 seed in the Final Four. I told myself that it didn’t seem too likely that none of them would get through, so I went back and changed my original pick from that region (perhaps it was Kentucky, but I really can’t remember now) and put Houston in, instead. And I’m glad to have made that change, because now Monday night’s game will be the equivalent of a horse race where I’ve got $2 on some horse that I liked the name of to win. And that horse is named the Houston Cougars.
So what does any of this have to do with poetry? Good question! The best I can do is offer up the first two stanzas of a poem I wrote about the Tulane football team, when they won the Cotton Bowl in dramatic fashion a couple of years ago. It was published in the school yearbook, and the non-Cotton Bowl section of it is as follows:
The word choices here maybe aren’t ideal, but holding a rhyme scheme isn’t always easy to do. I was frankly just happy to see it get published for posterity to remember. So now I think I’ll throw in a third and final stanza that applies to tonight’s basketball game. Here goes:
When Duke had the game well in hand And the Cougars seemed to be on the ropes The Big 12's champs made their stand and dashed Cooper Flagg's title hopes.
Maybe not the best I’ve ever done, but it’s close enough for now.