And she batted her coy deep eyes unwittingly
At the friend captain girl whose height seemed
To almost double her own. Inwardly, Marlena
Joked with herself, her kangaroo-hopping
Laughing self, Marlena the Shrimp, not tall
Enough to play basketball, ostracized but
Playing anyway, trying to get the attention
Of her querulous mother, whose drunken
Reeling scared her, but it was too hard. Undaunted
She went after her basketball dream, victorious,
If only on the junior college team, wiser now to be
A college woman on her own, no more dumb
Xeroxing jobs, just you and your classmates on Zoom.
