Football Poets

The poetry in motion
Upon a football pitch
Whence a Dalglish turn punctuates
The essential wisdom
And simplicity of a game
Thus spake Shankly, Busby, Stein
A Nation’s pride immortalised
Crave rhyme and […]

The Gaza strip
Should be a football shirt
Of neutral colours
With a size for all

Splattered with sweat
Not bloodied sanctimonious lessons not learnt
From history

Worn with peace
Not pieces of bodies

Played […]

In 1930 the World Cup was born
And its birth pangs sang its joy
Jules Rimet the guardian and maker
The victors Uruguay

The strength of Meazza and Monti shone free
1934 in the glory that was Rome
Zamora and […]

The magician di Stefano
White arrow silver string
From the burning bow
That is the Madrilenos
And Gento his flamboyant colours
Brave as Picasso and passionate as Lorca

Kopa came out from the mines a miracle made […]

The early heroes left the factories
Forged from coalfields all the same
Took the bus with fans on Saturdays
When football was the people’s game

The standing terrace packed to stanchions
Flatcaps and rattles, […]

The breath of the terrace crystallizes
The songs paint pictures alive and vibrant
The moon peeps from behind the clouds
Fully gowned she sails in silence

Closer closer dipping down
And if it rains who cares
There […]

It breaks your heart this football game
Left chasing shadows in the dark
But lace your boots and grab the shirt
Pick shattered dreams up off the park

Your toes are frozen to the concrete
Your voice is hoarse and […]

In broken ruins
Rouse the football ghosts
Their noises rattle
Round the shadows
Of this ground
And shuffle in empty corners
Rusted jewels that barely stand
The Irwell waters
Slap over rocks
Indifferent stones […]

How you rose up like a Scouse salmon
To claim the crown in Rome
30, 000 Kopites shook their heads
With disbelief and then took off
For the moon
Singin’ your name like a hymn
And there you were
Suspended immo […]

Hamlet planning in defence
The best way to attack
Macbeth with blood and thunder
And his missus on his back
King Lear he blames the weather
Whilst his girls they just swap sides
Hal scores 4 for Hotspur
As John […]

I dreamt last night that Shakespeare’s Ghost
Went for an English teaching post
The English paper for that year
Had several questions on King Lear
But Shakespeare answered less than three
Too bad he failed GCSE […]

When I was in high school all those years ago
In English I was taught Keats’ “Ode To A Grecian Urn”
And whilst I loved this bright star’s resilient rebellions
Not one single word other than those in the title did […]

Welcome back
to the familiar merry-go-round
bets being taken on the sack race
the league being over by Christmas
who is leaving who for who
transfer speculation
myopic refs
and wind up merchants
wine into […]

I wrote my poem
On the studs of his football boots
No one would read my words
But they would be as springs
Hidden invisible
Strong for he who would leap
As salmon leap into rainbows

I wrote my poem
On the back […]

We throw our hopes out like nets out to sea
For 90 minutes of “if only”
Love, despair the recipe the same… it is all,
Do we hear the heartstrings snap
As our world hangs over the abyss
Of a goalpost
By the skin […]

What poetry would pour
From gilded boots
Flashing like blades
Vibrant the pulse thudding
With a slow moving seduction of senses
Betwixt steaming pies and mushy peas
Whilst the doppelgängers of football
Gather i […]

We’ve got a new striker
He’s fast and he’s fleet
He’s got lightning for boots
And thunder for feet!

We paid out in millions
For his first touch is sweet
He’s quicker than sugar
Dissolving in tea!

His passes […]

Not for me Ronaldo beauty
Henry’s chic with me won’t score
Stevie Gerrard all red passion
But Stan Ternent Je t’adore

David Beckham in his undies
Leaves me cold I simply yawn
Lionel Messi completely boring
Oh […]

The football season beckons now
And hearts begin to stir
New signings V the long goodbyes
Buying new home shirts

The past mistakes forgiven now
A blank page upon to verse
The slip ups all forgotten sure
In […]

The Beautiful Game
Eating itself
Gorged with contracts
Three-person’d deals
It’s blattered heart
All played out.