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FOLLOWING THE BAGGIES IN SWITZERLAND

Andrew Detheridge

Friday, July 14th, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Sometimes,
work send you on exotic trips
to the furthest depths in the back of beyond-
like Smethwick.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Occasionally,
you get sent on a free weekend
to mountains and lakes;
to shops selling army knives
(complete with fork, spoon
and satellite dish);
to cheese with bigger holes
than the Wanderer’s defence;
to snow-capped peaks as shrouded
in illusion as play-off hopes.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The only downside is:
Albion vs. Blues, Sunday lunchtime,
a thousand miles away
from the park bench in Interlaken
shared with a Bluenose
(and his mobile phone).

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Two minutes gone:
Yodelling ‘Super Bobby Taylor’ down the main street
to the bemusement of dog-walkers.
Midway through the second half:
head in hands as Dave
pirouettes around the adjacent field
like Julie Andrews in ‘The Sound of Music’.
Blues equaliser.. no doubt against the run of play.
Full Time:
Honours even; friendship resumed.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Two days later,
seated aboard a cramped minibus
heading north fom Heathrow
in the pouring rain,
Dave sets his phone on vibrate:

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 In the darkness I whisper,
Buzz once for Derby,
twice for Albion.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Somehow, on the other side,
they heard me and obliged.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/following-the-baggies-in-switzerland/