I revisit high school in my dreams

My subconscious provides a kind of behind-the-scenes

20-years -ago when basketball and cross country, grades were everything

In basketball practice in the afternoon, sunlight used to filter in

How the hardwood floors and backboards would glisten

At 14 I had every hope

My parents and my friends’ parents, my coaches, and classmates would all bet on me

By my senior year I realized that playing college basketball was like walking a tightrope

The next four years of my life sailed away

Now in reality I see people from high school days

They don’t even stop to wave or remember my name

In my dreams they do

What’s that mean?

The ones I used to eat lunch with every day

The ones with whom I used to play

Don’t have time

They’re busy living their lives

Am I still living in the past

I play pick-up basketball every chance I get – and it’s a blast

There’s no trophy cases

I picture my old teammates’ faces

The ones I see in my dreams

There they have time for me

There my mid-30s are a tightrope, the great unknown

I wake to sunlight filtering in

It’s another day without my friends

But I put one foot in front of the other like I’m walking a tightrope

All my high school dreams are a kaleidoscope

Like one day my mid-30s will be