Dear Basketball

The poem is in free verse. As the name indicates, Kobe Bryant is free to give his poem the form he wants. The lines don’t have to contain a set amount of beats (pairs of unstressed and stressed syllables), and the lines don’t have to rhyme. The open form allows Bryant to be open not only with the reader but also his subject, basketball. In free verse, he can express himself freely. He can follow his emotions instead of a predetermined template. While the breakup is relatively straightforward, the emotions behind the split—the feelings that define Bryant’s deep love for basketball—can be messy. By mixing short lines with long lines and creating stanzas of various lengths, Bryant remains true to his feelings. He doesn’t have to circumscribe them.

Basketball makes Bryant run, and the form mimics the act of running. For longer lines (Line 40), Bryant runs bigger distances. With shorter lines (Lines 1, 17, 37), Bryant runs smaller distances. The absence of a predetermined meter furthers the running symbolism. Bryant runs without a specific destination—he just has to keep running on the court and after loose balls.