Tennis, our new summer thrill!
So much fun to leap around
And swat at the ball,
No matter how bad we are!
Our motto is:
Hit the ball over the net in one bounce, ten bounces,
On a silver platter,
Or heaving both ball and racket over together, like Nina,
Or absolutely any way you can get it over!
We play “family tennis” on one court or two.
Sometimes Nina and I against Nick and Jake.
No matter how seldom we manage to rally,
We’re having fun, and getting some exercise!
When good tennis players hit,
The ball makes a perfect “pop” sound;
A sound that has depth and a ring to it,
A rich sound, almost three-dimensional.
With bad players like us,
The sound is more like a belly flop.
The ball hitting wood rather than the “sweet spot.”
To know how good tennis players are,
All I have to do is listen to their game.
I overhear Nina telling Deborah
That she wants her to live with us forever,
And Deborah trying to demur.
I feel exactly the same way as Nina.
7/03
Daria Doering 
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