Introduction: Bodies Built for Game
Natalie Diaz
In Defense of Allen Iverson
Hanif Abdurraqib
Bolting into Throat
Patricia Smith
last summer of innocence
Danez Smith
American Pharoah
Ada Limón
Takes Enemy
Shann Ray
Professional Wrestling Holds
Ashaki Jackson
He takes me
Paul Tran
The Hit Man
Stacey Waite
Psych Ward Visitation Hour
b: william bearhart
The Wars
Louise Erdrich
After Simone Manuel’s Olympic Victory in the Women’s 100m Freestyle
Lauren Espinoza
In the outfield, daydreaming
francine j. harris
The Meaning of Serena Williams: On Tennis and Black Excellence
Claudia Rankine
Serena Williams Walks
Kwame Dawes
Boxing Out
Adrian Matejka
Summertime
Joel Salcido
Aaron Hernandez is my brother
Randall J. Tyrone
The Church of Michael Jordan
Jeffrey McDaniel
Built For It
Lisa Olstein
Federer as Irreligious Experience
Porochista Khakpour
prayer when knees give
Nate Marshall
Days of ’95 II
Shane Lake
Baseball
Izzy Wasserstein
To Prevent Hypothermia
Fatimah Asghar
Give and Go
Toni Jensen
Perfect Form
Kamilah Aisha Moon
Black Boxers: A Brief History
Benjamin Krusling
The Cock Fight Place
Alberto Ríos
A Note on Process
Meghan O’Rourke
How Are You Feeling
Ana Božičević
The Wrestler
Kazim Ali
War Training: An Athletics
Nomi Stone
A Boy & His Mother Play Dead at Dawn
Michael Wasson
As If We Were Called
Reginald Dwayne Betts
Run
Gary Jackson
From Heaven, My Father Sends His Regrets
Cornelius Eady
Russian Sport
Vera Pavlova, translated by Ilya Kaminsky and Valzhyna Mort
Feel for the Water
Christian Campbell
I reckon, a latitude
Asiya Wadud
A Perfect Game
Yesenia Montilla
Dennis
Kaveh Akbar
At Eighty-Two My Father Is Learning to Walk Again
Esther Lin
Clank
Tomás Q. Morin
Liquid
Aaron Smith
Losing the 440-Yard Dash
Afaa M. Weaver
Sports Analogy
David Tomas Martinez
Why to Run Racks
Lisa Fay Coutley
El Barril
James Thomas Stevens
Who Got This Far
Marissa Johnson-Valenzuela
Project Artifacts: Through the Banks of the Red Cedar
Maya Washington
La Llorona Runs Alone
Claudia D. Hernández
Alone in the Schoolyard at Dusk
Dorianne Laux
why i can’t play basketball anymore
Richard Vargas
The Condition of Being a Sports Fan
Sue Hyon Bae
Take Me Out
Iliana Rocha
Parking Lot Poem with Fernando Valenzuela
Matthew Lippman
Strike Indicator
Pamela Hart
Minor League Legend
Matthew Olzmann
Losing to the Invisible: An Ars Poetica
Traci Brimhall
High School Yoga
Kat Page
Southpaw Skin the Gloves
Alicia Mountain
Playbook
Hannah Oberman-Breindel
Games
L. Lamar Wilson
Mudita World Peace
Hannah Ensor
At the gym, moments after I failed a squat attempt that would have been easy pre-sitting-induced pinched nerve
Candace Williams
Inside the City Walls
Norman Dubie
Diana Nyad as J. M. W. Turner
BK Fischer
game recognizes game
t’ai freedom ford
Off Sides
Susan Briante
The Chain
Elyse Fenton
Young Woman Wrestler
Tria Blu Wakpa
Self-Portrait with Ghost, Rising
Dean Rader
Infield Contrapuntal
Meg Day
Shots Missed
Celeste Adame
Sports History
Brett Fletcher Lauer
The Yo-Yo Heir’s Lament
Eugene Gloria
Stadium Mocs
Chip Livingston
Bad Love Affair
Joseph Millar
Ode to the Dream Shake
Ben Purkert
Catch
Trevino Brings Plenty
The Sum of Our Doing
Holly M. Wendt
Who Holds the Stag’s Head Gets to Speak
Gabrielle Calvocoressi
Polaroid: Links
Stacey Lynn Brown
Of Competition or “And the sheeted dead did squeak and gibber in the Roman streets”
Brendan Constantine
Darkening the Belt
Anders Carlson-Wee
from Farewell to Soccer: Ninety-Minute-Long Stories
Valerio Magrelli translated from the Italian by Will Schutt
¡Sangre! ¡Sangre! ¡Sangre!
Nandi Comer
This Is Not an Essay about Wrestling, or If David Markson Loved the WWF Like I Did When I Was 12
John Findura
The Curtain
Ryan Black
Ladies’ Arm Wrestling Match at the Blue Moon Diner
Jenny Johnson
Scorekeep
Tommy Orange
Ghazal at the End of Hogpen Road
J. Scott Brownlee
Can We Have Our Ball Back?
Matthew Dickman
untitled
Kevin Goodan
Productive Antagonisms
Saretta Morgan interviews Christina Olivares
The Rookie
January Gill O’Neil
Cross Country
Roger Reeves
Another Kind of Faith
Joaquín Zihuatanejo
Why Pam Hates Sprite and Sunflower Seeds
Alison Rollins
The Tribes
Chee Brossy
All the Flesh, Singing
Shivanee Ramlochan
Between Practice
Terrance Hayes
Source Acknowledgments
List of Contributors
