Gunnar has a unique life where he exceeds at multiple things and can choose between them to figure out what he really wants to do. He has amazing basketball skills and is a famous poet by the time he is in college. This situation is very peculiar as it gives Gunnar the ability to abandon either of these when he wants to or is not enjoying it, and pursue the other. This is not the case for most people with some talent. Usually people are only really good at one thing, and especially if they are poor they have to pursue that to have a chance to get out of the cycle of poverty. Its Gunnar's talent at both that allows him to not really care much about basketball and allows him to pursue poetry as well.
This situation gives us an interesting dynamic where Gunnar doesn't need to focus solely basketball, and where he doesn't really enjoy it even though he is good because he doesn't need to force himself into liking basketball. Although Gunnar's character is defined by his basketball talent, he doesn't actually buy into the sport that much. The fact that he feels like he is performing shows this to a great extent. Gunnar knows he is just being used for entertainment, and so he plays along with that aspect, but Gunnar never really wants to play basketball for others.
This is opposed in his poetry as he write only for himself for the most part. Gunnar is able to express his true thoughts about issues that he thinks are relevant and he doesn't really need to worry about a public image or audience.
Overall, if Gunnar only had talent for basketball, he probably would have needed to care more about his public appearance as basketball would have been able to give him a good life. If Gunnar was only good at poetry a similar dynamic may have existed, but the fact that he is good at both allows him to express his true self.
This situation gives us an interesting dynamic where Gunnar doesn't need to focus solely basketball, and where he doesn't really enjoy it even though he is good because he doesn't need to force himself into liking basketball. Although Gunnar's character is defined by his basketball talent, he doesn't actually buy into the sport that much. The fact that he feels like he is performing shows this to a great extent. Gunnar knows he is just being used for entertainment, and so he plays along with that aspect, but Gunnar never really wants to play basketball for others.
This is opposed in his poetry as he write only for himself for the most part. Gunnar is able to express his true thoughts about issues that he thinks are relevant and he doesn't really need to worry about a public image or audience.
Overall, if Gunnar only had talent for basketball, he probably would have needed to care more about his public appearance as basketball would have been able to give him a good life. If Gunnar was only good at poetry a similar dynamic may have existed, but the fact that he is good at both allows him to express his true self.
I think it is interesting that Gunnar is publishing his own book by the end of the novel. Its the book he mentioned both in the prologue and the BU class scene, Watermelanin, and it will be filled with poetry for everyone to see. Poetry is something that he eenjoys on his own just for the sake of writing it, as you mentioned. However, since his work is becoming available to the public there is a parallel bring drawn between the art of poetry and pleasure of basketball. Basketball was something Gunnar used to enjoy as well, but the performance aspect took that away. And Gunnar's book points to the same thing happening for poetry.
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