In that eternal tennis center
where immortals and unknowns,
injury and age wiped away,
white supremacy and patriarchy recalled and transcended,
gather to play forever, amid
churning legs and blurring rackets,
thundering serves and crackling backhands,
all matches scheduled for
what we know as September 11, 2021
4:00 pm Eastern Daylight Savings Time
are cancelled
so everyone may gather
round the Jumbotrons to view
Leylah Fernandez
and Emma Raducanu
and marvel
and rejoice
and remember
it is never,
never,
just about the tennis.
10 September 2021
Louisville, Kentucky
Along the Graybeard Trail 