Dear Chancellor Ostriker,
I am writing to you because I love your writing style. Your intense imagery and specific details draw me in to your writing, especially in your poem “Pickup.” I can vividly picture the players moving “like neurons charging” (line 3) and can almost feel the “hard, pebbled, orange / and black” (8-9) basketball in my hands. The simplicity of the “hot asphalt and exhaust” (5) emphasizes the tactile nature of the game and the enjambed lines of the poem seem to run like the players themselves, building the energy and excitement of the game. In fact, only the twelfth and last line are not enjambed, and the twelfth line is further distinguished from the rest of the poem by its unique use of the “he” pronoun and contraction in the phrase “it’s all part of it” (12). I wonder, what is the significance of these aberrations? Is the contraction intended to highlight the variation between the twelfth line and the analogous opening phrase of “It is all about speed” (1)?
Throughout “Pickup,” the tone remains casual and conversational, with references to “you” and “man,” almost as if the player is starting a dialogue with the reader. Was this your intent when writing the poem, or is the speaker simply talking to an unnamed person? Either way, the “we” and “our” pronouns throughout the poem emphasize the strength of the relationship between the players, and overall, the voice of the pickup player communicates love and passion for the game. Sprinkled throughout the poem, dance metaphors-- from mentions of choreography to allusions to Nijinsky, a Polish ballet dancer-- reveal the beauty and grace of a pickup basketball game. To the players, the game is much more than a pastime; it is a form of art. The similes comparing the players to barn swallows and schools of fish reinforce the unity and natural finesse with which they form configurations on the court.
In my English class this year, we’ve focused a lot on Billy Collins’ question “How does this poem travel through itself in search of its own ending?” Personally, I love the idea that there is somewhere a poem is going, because it implies that the poem is destined to arrive somewhere. Sometimes it feels as though a lot in life drifts by without a sense of completion, but “Pickup” weaves its way through descriptions of the court, dancers, and nature to arrive at the conclusion of the player’s purpose: to convey a sense of understanding. Through simile, the speaker relates how “You could say // we slosh like waves in a bathtub,” (21-22), but reveals that regardless of its messy and chaotic appearance to outsiders, the game is more than about what “feels good” (23). The capitalization of the “you” reinforces the importance of the person whom the speaker is talking and the cruciality of their understanding. For the players, “there are no pauses in this game” (24) and the intensity of their game is matched only by the intensity of diction, loose sentences, and comma splices in the poem. The ending really resonated with me because I understand what it’s like to love something that some people seem to misunderstand. I play the violin and trombone, and I also like to write, and while I enjoy these activities in and of themselves, I often feel as though people do not comprehend the intensity or necessity of these pursuits. Like the players, “there are no pauses” when I’m practicing or sitting down to write a story. I write and make music because I need to express myself and be understood, not just because it “feels good.”
After having read many of your poems, I am most interested by your experimentation with various voices and points of view. In some poems, the differences are obvious, such as the second person point of view in your poem “Insomnia,” but many of your poems remain in a first person narrative where the understanding of the speaker unfolds through the course of the poem, as it does in “Pickup.” One of my favorite parts of writing is getting to explore and develop different characters, and I was wondering how much of yourself you put into the voices of the different speakers of your poems. Does the inspiration come mostly from within, from the people around you, or are they entirely fictional?
Lastly, I have one final question about “Pickup.” What is the significance of their ancestors being farmers? I understand that there is a connection between the barns and the barn swallows, but is it to emphasize the players and their ancestors’ mutual appreciation for formations or to illustrate that the players have the freedom to create the beauty that their relatives could previously only appreciate from a distance?
Thank you again for your time and for sharing your poems with the world.
Sincerely,
Elise
Grade 11
Edina, MNA
