It's a vivid memory that kids who grew up playing basketball in the Kobe Bryant era know.
They have the ball in their hands, ready to shoot, they take a step back and exclaim, "Kobe!" Fans of the NBA legend know it well, but how many of them have written about this moment?
Probably not too many, until now.
Meet Cole Lowman. He's a 12-year-old student from St. Augustine, Florida, who took his poetry assignment to the next level with a poem titled "Basketball," in which he perfectly describes the moment just mentioned.
the face behind the #kobepoem #BlackMamba #FarewellKobe @kobebryant pic.twitter.com/7N1CyPnp0u
— maia (@maiaraee) April 14, 2016
It reads:
"I'm at half court
I look at the board
2 seconds left am I gonna score
I look at the basket I look at me
I pull back my arm and yell
Kobe"
The sixth-grader's poem may have given Kobe's retirement letter a run for its money, with a handful of meme accounts sharing it all over the internet.
Cole's older sister, Maia, told ESPN that his teacher had him redo the poem because it didn't meet the assignment expectations. Something tells us The Black Mamba would disagree.