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This is not just poetry…

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 He would have rather been

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 a footballer than a poet.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 In his school you got battered

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 just for knowing what a sonnet was,

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 and your sexuality was called into question

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 if you used any kind of metaphor other than

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 ‘D***head.’

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Understanding iambic pentameters

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 wasn’t quite the same

10 Leave a comment on verse 10 0 as knowing what the offside rules were.

11 Leave a comment on verse 11 0 He just knew that he was offside –

12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 outside!

13 Leave a comment on verse 13 0 Relegated from their team

14 Leave a comment on verse 14 0 just for knowing a rhyme scheme.

15 Leave a comment on verse 15 0 When he walked through a storm,

16 Leave a comment on verse 16 0 he’d get drenched wet through.

17 Leave a comment on verse 17 0 He was generally on his own

18 Leave a comment on verse 18 0 and holding his head up high

19 Leave a comment on verse 19 0 was highly unlikely,

20 Leave a comment on verse 20 0 unless somebody else’s hand was around his neck,

21 Leave a comment on verse 21 0 ramming his head up against a changing room door

22 Leave a comment on verse 22 0 that was locked from the inside

23 Leave a comment on verse 23 0 and crammed full

24 Leave a comment on verse 24 0 of testosterone fueled spectators

25 Leave a comment on verse 25 0 Speculating

26 Leave a comment on verse 26 0 that someone

27 Leave a comment on verse 27 0 would be getting a good kick in.

28 Leave a comment on verse 28 0 Foul play

29 Leave a comment on verse 29 0 Every day.

30 Leave a comment on verse 30 0 But the noise from The Kop

31 Leave a comment on verse 31 0 made it all just stop

32 Leave a comment on verse 32 0 as the rhythm of Shankly’s

33 Leave a comment on verse 33 0 “Pass move receive the ball

34 Leave a comment on verse 34 0 Pass move receive the ball”

35 Leave a comment on verse 35 0 brought him poetic justice

36 Leave a comment on verse 36 0 with a four three three formation,

37 Leave a comment on verse 37 0 and for a ninety minute duration

38 Leave a comment on verse 38 0 was enough to allow him to close his eyes

39 Leave a comment on verse 39 0 and play keepy uppy –

40 Leave a comment on verse 40 0 with words.

41 Leave a comment on verse 41 0 Tackling alliteration

42 Leave a comment on verse 42 0 Ducking

43 Leave a comment on verse 43 0 Diving dangerously

44 Leave a comment on verse 44 0 Defending then driving forward

45 Leave a comment on verse 45 0 Dribbling down

46 Leave a comment on verse 46 0 towards the opponents goal.

47 Leave a comment on verse 47 0 Out of his area he didn’t care,

48 Leave a comment on verse 48 0 realistically he knew that his chances of scoring were

49 Leave a comment on verse 49 0 nil.

50 Leave a comment on verse 50 0 But the sound of The Kop

51 Leave a comment on verse 51 0 Raised him up,

52 Leave a comment on verse 52 0 Made him want to sing at the top of his poetic lungs

53 Leave a comment on verse 53 0 Stanza

54 Leave a comment on verse 54 0 Sta anza

55 Leave a comment on verse 55 0 Stanza

56 Leave a comment on verse 56 0 Stanza.

57 Leave a comment on verse 57 0 And chant at the teenage lads on the opposing side

58 Leave a comment on verse 58 0 “Come and write a poem if you think you’re bard enough!”

59 Leave a comment on verse 59 0 But they wouldn’t know what a bard was,

60 Leave a comment on verse 60 0 unless he had a number on the back of his shirt,

61 Leave a comment on verse 61 0 and it was a well known fact

62 Leave a comment on verse 62 0 that Shakespeare was rubbish at team games.

63 Leave a comment on verse 63 0 He would have rather been a footballer than a poet.

64 Leave a comment on verse 64 0 As he grow older he would come to accept

65 Leave a comment on verse 65 0 that he would never be in their league,

66 Leave a comment on verse 66 0 that he was more Keats than Keegan.

67 Leave a comment on verse 67 0 But back then it haunted him –

68 Leave a comment on verse 68 0 like an own goal.

69 Leave a comment on verse 69 0 Back when it wasn’t just a matter of life and death

70 Leave a comment on verse 70 0 It was more important than that.

Notes

I work a lot with young people that are maybe struggling to find their place. I use this poem with them. I live in Liverpool,and a lot of my poet/actor/writer friends all wanted to play footie professionally as young people. 🙂
Shankly is an on-going inspiration.

Editor Note: Football Poets on Facebook Poem of The Week.
A really powerful poem on all things football, poetry and bullying with a fine nod to Shanks too. We don’t ever use asterisks for dodgy words here but this poem broke the mould and has a fine meaning.

Welcome to Football Poets Alison. More please.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/this-is-not-just-poetry/