Through Rough Ways to The Stars
Updated: Sep 25
New Balance
zig-zagging through
October leaves
on a Sunday morning
when the library
was empty of books
and I bussed a basketball
back from Kingston
on a double-decker red
Mrs Dalloway said
she would shoot baskets herself
out on the old court
abandoned netball hoops
posts still loyal
to cracked concrete
where nettles glory
in their split ends
and dandelions play
a zone defence
three-pointer rainbows
eyeing up
celestial chickweed.
Writing on Sport
Place Portrait: written from a memory of being a student at Hillcroft Women’s College in 2003-2004 . This is a reflection on making the most of the old, weed-strewn netball court. The title comes from the college motto, “ Per aspera ad astra - Through rough ways to the stars.”
Writing on sport, place, memory and belonging.