FreezeRay:  Poetry With A Pop
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Yalie Kamara

Kyrie Irving Explains the Flat Earth
 
I said the earth is flat and I mean it.
Sometimes, I run so fast that I feel like I could fall from this world.
When I say “earth,” I’m talking about this universe compressing in my chest.
I sometimes walk off the home court of my own heart.
 
Sometimes, I run so fast that I feel like I could fall from this world.
In this fever dream, there’s no difference between the girl and the basketball.
I sometimes walk off the home court of my own heart.
Did you know that Kehlani means heaven in Hawaiian?
 
In this fever dream, there’s no difference between the girl and the basketball.
The earth no longer holds shape. Every living thing becomes a blues song.
Did you know that Kehlani means heaven in Hawaiian?
Foul.
 
The earth no longer holds shape. Every living thing becomes a blues song.
The last time I was in Oakland, I dunked on her city like she rebounded on me.
Foul.
Nothing effervesces anymore—even bubbles hate the air these days.
 
The last time I was in Oakland, I dunked on her city like she rebounded on me.
After we won the ‘16 finals, the champagne I poured over concrete turned to water.
Nothing effervesces anymore—even bubbles hate the air these days.
A little strange that you still can’t see that.
 
After we won the ‘16 finals, the champagne I poured over concrete turned to water.
I said the earth is flat and I mean it’s
A little strange that you still can’t see that
When I say “earth,” I’m talking about this universe compressing in my chest. 



Yalie Kamara is a Sierra Leonean-American writer and native of Oakland, California. She is the author of When The Living Sing (Ledge Mule Press, 2017) and A Brief Autobiography of My Name (Akashic Books/African Poetry Book Fund) to be included in the 2018 New-Generation African Poets chapbook set. Her poetry, fiction, and translations have been/will be published by Vinyl Poetry and Prose, Pop-Up Magazine, Puerto del Sol and Indiana University Press. She was a 2017 Brunel International African Poetry Prize finalist and is a Callaloo Fellow. She holds BA degrees in Languages and Creative Writing from UC Riverside and an MA in French from Middlebury College. She is currently an MFA candidate at Indiana University. For more: www.yaylala.com 
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