We block their shots and bungle their passes
all season Coach said it doesn’t matter
who’s faster, has longer legs, it matters
who’s got hands up on D and out on
offense, it matters who’s got the heart
knowing the ball shows up when our bodies
are at the line of scrimmage, it matters
that the ball shows up where
there’s no party nor parentage nor pigment.
coach leans over the sideline
hands overhead, fingers spread, heels up,
armpits damp and exposed
She’s telling the team:
all we have to do is step in,
step up,
keep those arms in the air.
Tonya McKenna Trabant drafted this piece in Angela Voras-Hill's Busting Out of the Rut class Spring 2018. She participated online from Opunake, New Zealand where she and her family are living for 2018. Her northcentral Wisconsin home base is a swimmable lake shared with her partner, two near perfect children, a rescued dog, and some old now-non-laying hens.