Read Online The Crossover by Kwame Alexander - Free Book Online

slow motion:
    the ball, the player . . .
    Â 
    Coach calls time-out
    with only five seconds to go.
    Â 
    I wish the ref could stop
    the clock of my life.
    Â 
    Just one more game.
    I think my father is dying,
    Â 
    and now I am out of bounds
    when I see a familiar face
    Â 
    behind our bench. My brother,
    Jordan Bell, head buried
    Â 
    in Sweet Tea, his eyes
    welling with horror.
    Â 
    Before I know it, the whistle blows,
    the ball in my hand,
    Â 
    the clock running down,
    my tears running faster.

The Last Shot
    5
. . . A bolt of lightning on my kicks . . .
    The court is   SIZZLING
    My sweat is              DRIZZLING
    Stop all that
quivering
    Cuz tonight I’m
delivering
    I’m driving down
    the lane
    SLIDING
    Â 
    4
. . . Dribbling to the middle, gliding like a black eagle.
    The crowd is RUMBLING RUSTLING
    ROARING
    Take it to the hoop.
    TAKE      IT      TO      THE      HOOP
    Â 
    3
. . .
2
. . . Watch out, ’cuz I’m about to get D I R T Y
    with it
    about to pour FILTHY’S sauce all over you.
    Ohhhhh, did you see McNASTY cross over you?
    Now I’m taking you
    Ankle BREAKING you
    You’re on your knees.
    Screamin’ PLEASE, BABY, PLEASE
    Â 
    One
. . . It’s a bird, It’s a plane. No, it’s up up
    uppppppppppp.
    My shot is F L O W I N G, Flying, fLuTtErInG
    OHHHHHHHH, the chains are JINGALING
    ringaling and SWINGALING
    Swish.
    Game/ over.



Article #2 in the
Daily News
(January 14)
    Professional basketball player
    Charlie (Chuck) “Da Man” Bell
    collapsed in a game
    of one-on-one
    with his son Josh.
    After a complication,
    Bell died at St. Luke’s Hospital
    from a massive heart attack.
    Â 
    According to reports,
    Bell suffered
    from hypertension
    and had three fainting spells
    in the four months
    before his collapse.
    Autopsy results found
    Bell had a large,
    extensively scarred heart.
    Reports have surfaced
    that Bell refused to see a doctor.
    One of his former teammates
    stated, “He wasn’t a big fan of doctors
    and hospitals, that’s for sure.”
    Earlier in his life,
    Bell chose to end his promising basketball career
    rather than have surgery on his knee.
    Â 
    Known for his dazzling crossover,
    Chuck Bell was the captain
    of the Italian team
    that won back-to-back Euroleague championships
    in the late nineties.
    He is survived by his wife,
    Dr. Crystal Stanley-Bell, and
    his twin sons,
    Joshua and Jordan, who
    recently won their first
    county championship.
    Bell was thirty-nine.

Where Do We Go from Here?
    There are no coaches
    at funerals. No practice
    to get ready. No warm-up.
    There is no last-second shot, and
    we all wear its cruel
    midnight uniform, starless
    and unfriendly.
    Â 
    I am unprepared
    for death.
    This is a game
    I cannot play.
    It has no rules,
    no referees.
    You cannot win.
    Â 
    I listen
    to my father’s teammates
    tell funny stories
    about love
    and basketball.
    I hear the choir’s comfort songs.
    They almost drown out Mom’s sobs.
    Â 
    She will not look in the coffin.
    That is not my husband,
she says.
    Dad is gone,
    like the end of a good song.
    What remains is bone
    and muscle and cold skin.
    I grab Mom’s right hand.
    JB grabs her left.
    The preacher says,
    A great father, son, and
    husband has crossed
    over. Amen.
    Outside, a long charcoal limo
    pulls up to the curb
    to take us
    back.
    Â 
    If only.

star·less
    [ STAHR-LES ]
adjective
    Â 
    With no stars.
    Â 
    As in:If me and JB
    try out for JV
    next year,
    the Reggie Lewis Junior High School Wildcats
    will be
starless.
    Â 
    As in: Last night
    I felt like I was fading away
    as I watched the
starless
    Portland Trailblazers
    get stomped by Dad’s favorite team,
    the Lakers.
    Â 
    As in: My father
    was the light
    of my world,
    and now that he’s gone,
    each