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LeBron James alias King of Hoops

Clear out of the blue
an idea struck me
though you know me not from Sam Hill,
a motive to compliment thee

for being altruistic, communalistic,
and deterministic, to mention a few key words
that end with the letter aye esse tee aye see
impressed me immensely after reading
about your up from the bootstraps,
achieving success and advancing in life
entirely through your own efforts,
without relying on external help,
financial backing, or advantages
essentially a metaphor
for extreme self-reliance
which top notch athlete of the century
published, mentioned and distributed
courtesy most recent TIME Magazine
latest issue and main story.

While cosmic rays stream

thru the dome of the Wells Fargo Center.

where organized chaos runs amuck,

and an anonymous philanthropist
granted two free tickets
(one for myself and the missus)

accessing the closest thing to paradise

just to witness the thunder of applause

as thee ever so graceful gentle giant -

at least contrasted against
my measly seventy two inches

who felt like he scored big time,

I possess utter ignorance
of your favorite sport

and as an aside interject a comment

briefly hashtag history

with invention in 1891
in Springfield, Massachusetts,
by Canadian physical education instructor
James Naismith
as a less injury-prone sport than football
Naismith a 31-year-old graduate student
created the indoor sport
to keep athletes indoors
during the winters

without a shadow of a doubt,

(nor one from Punxatawney Phil),

nevertheless I would quickly assimilate

among the numberless, and countless fans
(including yours truly id est - me)
would still be willing to crawl
(even during a tempest)
on their hands and knees to catch
a glimpse of thee he/she, him/her, his/hers...
even when time travel becomes so passé
Saint Vincent DePaul
(1581–1660) a French Catholic priest
would bless the arena,
he who dedicated his life
to serve the impoverished and marginalized,
would be among the madding crowd
shrilly shrieking despite shrinkflation
one long haired pencil necked
baby boomer subsequently not needing

to scrape every last red cent

to experience transcendent state

and join the human league,
where most people exhibit adulation

toward a gifted globe trotter from Akron, Ohio
with once in a lifetime opportunity
(able, eager, ready
and willing to pay top dollar
for merchandise and hopeful
for a signature experience)
prior to commencement of the game,
the stadium so silent
one could hear a pin drop,
where collective emotion to enthrall
even babes at the bosom
suddenly stopped suckling,
but that moment to forestall
and suspend indefinitely spiritually
blessed infinitesimal nirvana
within the sports stadium

instantaneously erupted deafening sound
analogous to a guildhall

when the rumpus starts

after preliminary measure
for measure taken
to commence dramatic action on the court
where all's well that ends well,
especially when LeBron
James the starring player
cause the opposition better watch out
as he blithely pulls tricks
from out of his sleeve
to treat the spectators
more capable to outwit
single handedly and intimidate
the self important potent
trumpeting reigning wizard

donning a MAGA cap

and holding Lady Liberty

hostage in the hall
of the Mountain King
trapped in a mountain kingdom,
where she, though
blessed with magic powers,

nevertheless found
her ways and means disabled

to escape futile endeavor

an impossible mission
to make a getaway

cause breakout thwarted
surrounded by trolls, gnomes,

goblins, and the Troll King,

but they're no match for the hunk
of muscle bound titanic powerhouse
standing 6 feet 8.5 inches (2.04 meters)
even rivaling Peter the Great in height
barefoot during the NBA's
standardized height measurements,
but long after he hangs up his uniform
no less than a century will elapse
before a mega-star

of his stature will arise again.

— Jane A. Rug, Jun 16, 2026

About This Poem

Style/Type: Free verse

Review Request Direction: What did you think of my title?
How was my language use?
What did you think of the rhythm or pattern or pacing?
How does this theme appeal to you?
How was the beginning/ending of the poem?
Is the internal logic consistent?

Review Request Intensity: I want the raw truth, feel free to knock me on my back

Editing Stage: Final polish

About the Author

Region, Country: PA, USA

Favorite Poets: Robert Burns, Charles Dickens, Robert Frost, Matthew Scott Harris, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Sylvia Plath, Gary Snyder, Henry David Thoreau, Walt Whitman

More from this author

Critiques

neopoet

neopoet

1 month ago

Neopoet AI [2026-06]

The below is a computer-generated response from Neo, Neopoet’s AI:

The poem has genuine energy and an affectionate subject, and a few moments land with real charm — the aside about James Naismith reads as a kind of delightful digression, and the image of cosmic rays streaming through the arena dome has an unexpectedly vivid quality. The speaker's self-deprecating admission of knowing nothing about basketball while attending the game creates a promising persona that could carry a whole poem on its own.

The central challenge is structural and syntactic: the poem reads as a single, sprawling accumulation that rarely pauses to let any one image or idea fully develop before the next arrives. Sentences extend across many lines without arriving at a clear grammatical or emotional destination, and the reader loses the thread. The shift into the Hall of the Mountain King / Lady Liberty / MAGA cap sequence arrives so abruptly that it feels like a different poem grafted on, and the political reference, whether intended as satirical or metaphorical, does not connect clearly enough to LeBron James or the arena setting to feel purposeful rather than incidental. A productive revision might involve choosing one governing conceit — the ignorant fan discovering transcendence, or the folkloric giant-hero, or the political allegory — and building the poem around that single spine, pruning the others away or finding a cleaner transition between them.

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