Monday, February 13, 2012

Poem for Monday and Terrapins Basketball

The Bus through Jonesboro, Arkansas
By Matthew Henriksen

Inanimate intimacy in the plural
Couples under their dark covers

The distance between one body and another
An echo chamber against every stone

The distance between lovers in a rock-lashing wave
The solitude of two together under the waters of night

Or the flattened space between two people on a bus
Talking above the low beams of a few lost trucks

Seeking their destruction or their portion elsewhere
A road imagined as a slick for words in a discrete stream

Flawless enamel the tongue slides along
Or skates off into a future illumined within a highway sign

At the lip of revelation comes denouement or slow torturous sleep
Because traveling does not follow music

Only music brings the body down from the sky
The solid body in its partial form

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Forgive any disjointedness -- I'm watching the Grammy Awards and keep getting upset during Whitney Houston tributes (yesterday I was too angry at her for not getting help in time like too damn many other celebrities to mourn properly, today I heard them play her music during a sports halftime show and just felt sad). Other than that, I spent a delightful day with my family and in-laws in College Park, where the women's basketball team was playing their annual Play4Kay game in support of breast cancer research -- to that end, all non-reserved seats were $1 and breast cancer survivors could attend for free, so the stadium food cost much more than admission and the Comcast Center was decently full, which it sadly isn't always for women's games. The Hurricanes (ranked 6th to the Terps' 8th) unfortunately won by two -- it was a very close game throughout and really enjoyable.


The Terrapins warmed up in the pink uniforms they wore for breast cancer awareness.


A student sang the Star Spangled Banner.


The players were introduced with a light show and cheerleading display worthy of a professional team.


The Terps got the opening tip and scored the first several points.


They didn't shoot free throws too badly either.


The cheerleaders did gymnastics during time outs.


Unfortunately for Maryland, Miami's #3, Stefanie Yderstrom, scored a career-high 26 points including a couple of breathtaking three-pointers.

After the game we went to Noodles & Company to take Paul's father out for a birthday dinner (I had the Japanese pan noodles with tofu, which is great). Then we went to Daniel's dorm room, which he has rearranged now that his roommate has moved out to give himself more floor space, and had chocolate chip cookie cake made by Paul. Adam forgot his coat in Daniel's room despite below-freezing temperatures so we had to turn around and go back to get it, meaning we walked through the door literally as the Grammy Awards were starting. My opinions in most categories are pretty halfhearted (glad Adele did so well, like Taylor Swift's style even if her music is light, think Lady Antebellum is completely overrated) but my favorite awards moment of the night took place hours earlier across the pond: Colin Firth playing Prince Charming to Meryl Streep's Cinderella.

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