Ode to Ronaldinho After Making the Bernabéu Applaud

Ode to Ronaldinho After Making the Bernabéu Applaud Jonathan Rowe (bio) he is a centaur galloping across the pitch, a current, bright & live. his sleek, sable ponytail & blaugrana stripes move so swift the commentator repeats his name like a chant. those feet are blessed. the backline tears back, their cleats & arms parting way with his feints & turn of pace. no defense could block the net disturbed by the ball's low roll past the post. the crowd's defiant cries turn to silence, then applause, a clapping chorus 80,000 strong, exulting what they can't describe. // i have never made opponents fold at my feet like that night in Madrid. [End Page 96] i viewed his brace again & again on my computer screen, seeking the secret of his technique: how he kept close control over the ball & needed one turn to beat a man. in my backyard, i made phantom foes sway with my dribbling & pace, winning praise with each shot i ricocheted off tree trunks & walls, until my last attempt cracked a window & my mother handed me an indefinite outdoor ban. [End Page 97] Click for larger view View full resolution Hank Willis Thomas. "Perseverance" (2017). Fiberglass, chameleon auto paint finish. 39 3/8 × 31 7/8 × 8 1/8 inches. © Hank Willis Thomas. Courtesy of the artist and Jack Shainman Gallery, New York. [End Page 98] Jonathan Rowe JONATHAN ROWE is a writer, copyeditor, and MLIS student at Simmons University raised between Boston, Massachusetts, and Johannesburg, South Africa. His work is published or forthcoming in Boston Art Review, Good Cop/Bad Cop: An Anthology by FlowerSong Press, Harvard Divinity Bulletin, and elsewhere. His poem "Osmia Avosetta" was nominated by perhappend for a 2022 Pushcart Prize. Copyright © 2022 Johns Hopkins University Press

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