Nothing We Lose Can Be Replaced

by Tom Meschery

Poetry by a former NBA basketball star and now a teacher. What emerges from this three part collection is a remarkable history. Beginning in revolutionary Russia, these poems chronicle political abuses, social turmoil, and the saga of Mescherys family, struggling through Siberian cold and two world wars, to land in America. Mescherys basketball career in the National Basketball Association takes shape in part two, as the son of Russian immigrants becomes a hard-nosed NBA big man. The poems show the game changing over generations, as Meschery gives voice to greats like West, Chamberlain, Bird, and Jordan, along with those fame left behind, like Maurice Stokes, paralyzed by an on-court accident. Finally, we follow Meschery into the high school classroom, where a new generation struggles through victories and defeats. In all their arenas, Mescherys poems celebrate rare moments of human excellence, witness all-too-frequent shortcomings, and maintain a textured focus on the detail of individual lives set in larger social and politica! l contexts.

Mass Market Paperback

Published September 15, 1999