WEBVTT

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Now I want to read a
poem about basketball,

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I want to read that poem,
the Magic Johnson poem.

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A couple of poems
about basketball,

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then I'll read a
couple of other things.

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Then I'll be through.

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I wrote this poem because
I was a basketball player,

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and I've only been able to write
two poems about basketball,

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really, and I wrote this
part for Magic Johnson

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because I love
the way he played.

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And he always came to win,
and he always came to win.

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He would do anything to win.

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If the coach said he hit 45
points, he hit 45 points.

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He said get two points and
25 rebounds in 15 minutes.

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He'd go out there and do that.

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Whatever the coach told
him to do, he would do.

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I found that amazing, you know.

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I found that just incredible.

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He was just a great
player, so I'd always

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try to write a poem
for a basketball player

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at the speed of basketball.

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I told Van Hirsch
one time, your poem

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is too slow about basketball.

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Too slow, too slow.

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So I wrote this one.

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He said well then
you ought to do one.

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I said, yeah, that's right.

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"Poem For Magic".

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"Take it to the
hoop, Magic Johnson.

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Take the ball dazzling
down the lane.

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Herk and jerk and raise
your six feet nine inch

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frame into the air spraying
screams of your neon

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name, Magic Johnson, nickname
Windex way back in high school

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because you wipe glass
backboard so clean.

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Where you first juked
and shook, wiled your way

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to glory, a new style fusion
of shake and bake energy

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using everything possible.

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You create your own space
to apply it through.

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Any moment now we
expect your wings

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to spread feathers for that
spooky takeoff of yours,

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then shake and glide and ride
up in space till you hammer home

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a clotheslining
deuce off glass now.

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Come back down with a reverse
hoodoo gem off the spin

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and stick it in
sweet, popping nets

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clean from 20 feet, right side.

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Put the ball on the
floor again Magic.

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Slide the dribble
behind your back.

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Ease it deftly between
your bony, stark legs, head

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bobbing everwhichway,
up and down.

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You see everything on the
court, off the high yo-yo patter

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stop-and-go dribble.

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You thread a needle, rope
pass sweet home to Kareem

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cutting through the lane,
his skyhook pops the cords.

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Now, lead the fast break.

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Hit worthy on the fly.

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Now, blindside a pinpoint behind
the back pass for two more

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off the fake, looking the
other way you raise off balance

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into electric space sweating
chants of your name.

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Turn 180 degrees off the move.

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Your lane scissoring space,
like a swimmer's yo-yoing motion

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in deep water.

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Stretching out now
toward free flight,

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you double pump
through human trees.

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Hang in place.

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Slip the ball into
your left hand.

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Then deal it like a Las
Vegas card dealer off

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squared glass into nets.

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Living up to your
singular nickname so bad

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you cartwheel the
crowd toward frenzy,

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wearing now your electric
smile neon as your name.

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In victory, we suddenly
sense your glorious uplift,

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your urgent need to be champion,
and so we cheer with you,

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rejoice with you for this
quicksilver, quicksilver,

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quicksilver moment of fame.

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So put the ball on the
floor again, Magic.

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Juke and dazzle.

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Shake and bake down the lane.

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Take the sucker to the
hoop, Magic Johnson.

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Recreate reverse hoodoo
gems off the spin.

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Deal alley oop dunkathon
magician passes now.

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Double pump, scissor, vamp
through space, hang in place,

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and put it all up in the
sucker's face, Magic Johnson.

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Deal the round ball,
like the juju man

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that you am, like the sho-nuff
shaman man that you am.

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Magic, like the sho-nuff
spaceman you am.

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