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A Liminal Evening

John Gilbert Ellis

Tuesday, October 17th, 2023

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 A spring evening,
bats flit the warm twilight.
Enjoying the swarm,
feeding on the excitement,
chants echo under the floodlights.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 A ravenous crowd, and
the biggest gathering ever.
Roosted to the rafters, some
hanging off the trees,
been there, queued up for hours.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Bats back in my essay!
I should be there, not you.
Stadium bound, and
feasting on the spectacle,
instead, I’m writing tepid, about you.

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Phylum, class, and order,
your Yinps, and your Yangs.
Mammals who fly
with the wisdom of birds,
found in warm, across every land.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 I could paint you positive,
or associate you with the dark.
Protector from disease,
or mythic purveyor
of a well-known deathly trademark.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Here’s a deal, if the football goes my way,
I’ll write you up as symbols
of rebirth, luck, and long life,
not unhappy birds,
who prayed to be like mankind.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Until then, I write liminal,
sitting on the fence.
Darkness, light, doom
and hope equally reign,
unless we win the game.

Notes

On May 11 1979 Crystal Palace won promotion by beating Burnley 2-0 in front of more than 51,000, so, my bat essay was finished on elation, getting me a credible B, but forever an evening of lost emotion. Mates told me I missed the game of a lifetime.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/a-liminal-evening/