Mixing poetry, memoir, short fiction, and photography, Smith pays a fast-break tribute to the pleasures and pains of b-ball, from being benched (“ ‘Please Put Me In, Coach!!’ “); to playing “Hot Like Fire,” on the way to scoring 65 points; remembering “the time when my dad could no longer play one on one; or how a new kid, “Meek,” proved himself on the court, once he was given a chance. Figures in the photos are blurred, clipped, or shot from behind, giving the illustrations an arty look, and the author is fond to excess of text in multiple colors and typefaces, but for range of experience and immediacy of feeling, this blows past Robert Burleigh’s Hoops (1997). Smith closes with another tribute, to the African-American athletes, musicians, and artists who have meant the most to him. (Poetry. 8-11)
