Get your racket back, keep your eyes on it

For Stephanie Reid, Member MLK Tennis Buffs

clay pebble court reserved
hit the ball against the wall
by the web of this hand, I serve 

concrete to black skin culled
from forearm to wrist to racket
hit the ball against the wall 

Charleston sun, practiced
hallow, heaved charging
from forearm to wrist to racket 

wrinkled they packed, starching
sidewalk and private lawn
hallowed, heaved charging 

play the ball, not the person
front porches to churches
sidewalk and private lawn 

this racket, a body, lurches
clay pebble court reserved
front porches to churches
by the web of this hand, I serve 

On hot summer days, and still-hot Minnesota nights from the early 1970s onward, the MLK Tennis Buffs became a home for African American tennis enthusiasts. Not welcome at all-white courts in the Twin Cities, the group was founded to provide instruction and friendly competition, eventually taking residence at the Martin Luther King Recreation Center housed at Hallie Q. Brown Community Center in St. Paul, MN. Many were transplants from the American south who found themselves in Minnesota to complete their education or for work. The earliest members and founders are the children, grandchildren, and descendants of civil rights activists and martyrs, famous American artists, educators, politicians, and innovators in science, medicine, and technology.

Maya Washington is an award-winning multidisciplinary writer and artist. Her documentary film Through the Banks of the Red Cedar, and podcast Light & Shadow illuminate inspirational sports stories worldwide. Her recent work documenting the St. Paul MLK Tennis Buffs Oral History project with the Minnesota Historical Society merges both art and history, one of Maya’s favorite intersections. www.themayawashington.com