First published 2001
This anthology brings together contemporary American poets who find inspiration in athletic competition. The collection moves beyond celebrity culture and commercial sports to examine both champions and those who fall short. Competitors and fans appear in verses that capture brief but significant moments. The poems draw from sport's fundamental components: energy, movement, and rhythm. Traditional sports like baseball, boxing, football, and basketball share space with less common activities including surfing, skateboarding, tennis, soccer, karate, rock climbing, bowling, and curling. The contributing poets represent diverse backgrounds in age, race, and gender. They write about sport as metaphor and as personal struggle. Athletic fields become stages where mythic figures and neighborhood heroes compete. The anthology reveals how sports and poetry share the concept of transcendence. These verses celebrate anyone who participates in the physical intensity and communal experience of athletic competition.
Genres: anthologies, contemporary, sports, poetry
Vibes: emotional, lyrical, thought-provoking
Tropes: metaphor, personal-struggle
Period: Contemporary
256 pages · Paperback · University Of Iowa Press