On the left of Lorna Simpson’s Poets, floating black dots on silver rectangles suggest a hidden logic or code. On the right, one finds they correspond to the locations of basketballs held by players in historic newspaper photographs.Simpson emphasized the photographs’ original crop marks, overlaying editorial notations with acrylic and oil stick, to remind us that images—like history—are always the result of choices and context. With some hung upright and others turned sideways, the improvisational placements underscore the fast pace of the game’s players, the quick mark-making of the editors, and the topsy-turvy nature of history.