Sawdust and Whiskey

I can still recall the names of the players from those mid-‘80s Dallas Mavericks teams: Brad Davis, Derek Harper, Rolando Blackman, Mark Aguirre, Detlef Schrempf, Sam Perkins, James Donaldson. They are all right there beneath the surface, each name prompting another, all connected in their own way to another name—Doug Myers, my uncle.

He died of brain cancer during COVID. A few years later, a package arrived with some of his belongings that absolutely undid me. I wrote a poem, and the Under Review just published it in their winter 2025 issue. You can read it here.

I loved that quiet, lonely man. He probably wouldn’t have liked the attention, but this poem was my own best way to honor the singularity of his life.