Football Poets

the goals that hurt –
the ones you concede
they stain and sully
and make you bleed

the goals that hurt –
the ones so jammy
underserved and so offside –
a double whammy

the goals that hurt –
that lose the […]

There is no poetry
in purgatory;
Thierry Henry took a dagger
to the Beautiful game
plunged it deep into the heart
and desecrated the soul

This fallen angel
descends
into the fires of damnation
and joins […]

is about
a one on one…

will the striker con the keeper?
or will the goalie bring him down?
will the imperil’d net stay minded
or will the striker don the crown?

Brinksmanship…

is about
the last day of the […]

In all my life I never once dreamed
about the bittersweet, drag-you-through-the-mud
punch-you-in-the-belly, stab-you-in-the-back
travesty of relegation.
Instead my dreams were full
of blue cotton kit
and fancy […]

the sands of depression
were sifted daily
with training
and matchdays

but football
is not always
24×7

the sands of time
accumulated
in the mind
of Robert Enke

when football
was out of mind
so was he

on the […]

Dear Archie Baird
you were the Laird
at Dons & Jons

we knew you not –
in your prime
before our time

but you’ll be honoured
by the fans
who’ll clasp their hands

and they’ll admire
all your fire
in club attire

thy father’s prowess
from ocean depths to Sky screen
trumpets your name

24th & 25th October 2009

Looking at the wrong faces…

just because they’re holding the mic
doesn’t mean they’re always right
occasionally these orators
come out with something trite

as Ngog nets …
“Look at […]

breaking news –
brought with a smile
Ribery’s out
and for a while

now it wasn’t malicious
and the grin was wry
delivered akin
tae a skittish spy

long in the tooth
and an experienced pro
but every break […]

Roy Keane
used to be part of a team
that was implored
by boss and fans
to “Put ’em under Pressure!”

now the ball
is firmly on the other foot
and there’ll be a certain sense
of schadenfreude
from many back in Cheshire

They attack purposefully
then up another gear
I like their approach –
they play without fear

The crowd get right behind them
they love to clap and cheer
urging on their favourites
those who play without […]

I wandered lonely as a vapour trail
this Larkin’d child of the night
through a field of daffy ducks
raging unto God’s goodly light

If I so similarly squandered my soccer similes
I’d be as conciliatory as Roy […]

We’re the TV generation –
those of us of a certain age, hold it in veneration;
it was our sitter, our tutor
our comfort blanket
our fortifier;
it was our jedi, our buddha
our saint, our scholar
our diablo;

And […]

no surprise really
everyone homogenised in the mire of reduced expectation

and ultimately
no-one disappointed

unfortunately

dive, dive, dive!
U boat Commander barks
fans echo

I write…

you’re like a panther
elusive, sharp, stealthy
my stuttering stanzas neither do you justice
nor capture the imagination
in the same way that your lithe, lissom, lunging kill does
or rather did
heaven […]

our window
shuttered
and bordered up;

no light
shall enter
for 18 months;

our punishment
heavy handed
and officious;

meted out, methinks
by the asinine
and capricious

from the room next door
the tv pumps out multi pixels

I see flashes of colour
when all I really want to see
are flashes of brilliance

the naughty step just doesn’t have
the right angle to the screen

and so my […]

Dial me to the moon …
for he must have seen it all
and we need a wacky soundbite
that’s slightly off the wall

and can we get a close-up
of him sitting upon that crescent?
yes I know that’s being cheeky
but I […]

” …. I must borrow every changing
shape to find expression …”

TS Eliot

a wonder TS didn’t espouse
on 4-4-2
becoming de facto formation
after the era of 2-3-5;
on wingless wonders
taking over
from a […]