An August Welcome …. and goodbye
Forgive me a little indulgence (see further below).
In August 2004, we welcome the following first time contributors to the Football Poets website (granted – some may be pseudonyms, there’s a certain familiarity about some of the styles!) :
Richard Vaughan, Sean Jamieson, Clive Robert, Laurie Hall, Paddy McMahon, Brendan O’Brien, Terry Kennedy, Samantha Brown, Kenneth Hoffman, Ray Kyte.
This month, I’ve selected :
Missed Penalty
Why won’t the ground open up
NOW
Bury me
Hide me
Right here
Leave me with the dust of my dreams
As the knives of the terrace
Pierce my shirt
And lie embedded between
The name and number
On the back.
© Paddy McMahon
My little indulgence?
Before today, I’d never heard of the 1980 Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Czeslaw Milosz.
But then I came across some of his poems (nothing whatsoever to do with football), but they moved me, with a passion.
And inspired the two following poems.
For anybody who may be interested;
Czeslaw Milosz was born in Lithuania, on 30th June 1911, into a Polish heritage.
He moved to Paris in 1931, then spent many years in Poland.
In 1960 he emigrated to the USA.
He died August 14th, 2004.
The following two poems were inspired by reading Czeslaw, but certainly don’t do justice to his genius .
Meaning
When I die
Will I find the meaning of life?
When I cross over to the other side
(No, not in that sense;
the Red Devils won’t get me, for I’ll always be a true Blue)
Will I be enlightened, as to the purpose of our existence?
Will there be a clarity, in what was a darkness of being?
Will there finally, be a comprehension of the new offside interpretation?
Will there be some sense, to the many years, of misguided loyalty
Of the devotion given over to, a bunch of under-achievers?
Will there be some grasp
As to why this fetid fixation
Could so move me and make me gasp?
Will it be proven, that this magnificent obsession
Was not a life wasted, or lost
But a mystical possession?
When I die
There’ll be another such as I?
note :
inspired by a poem called Meaning,
written by Czeslaw Milosz (1911 – 2004).
Jesus and football
He nailed it
Met the cross
And buried it
So that we might live
And breathe
And roar out his name
Blasphemy
Unbecoming
Of our Passion
note :
inspired by (but very different to),
a poem called ‘A Poem For The End Of The Century’ –
written by Czeslaw Milosz (1911 – 2004).
About This Site
Welcome to Football Poets -- a club for all football poets, lovers of football and lovers of (alternative) poetry. Discover poets in every league from respected internationals at the top of their game to young hopefuls in the school playground.
Publish your football poems here and then discuss them with your team mates and fans. We're archived by The British Library, so your masterpieces are in the safe hands of a world-class keeper. What a result!
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joe morris
17th April 2024
Clik The Mouse
15th April 2024
Mike Bartram
15th April 2024
joe morris
14th April 2024
Mike Bartram
11th April 2024
joe morris
11th April 2024
Alex Saynor
9th April 2024
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8th April 2024
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8th April 2024
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
19th March 2024 at 8:00 am
Hi Crispin. Chris Sutton on the radio has gone for a Chelsea v Coventry final. As we know anything can happen in the Cup, and I reckon we can go to the final.
We’re still in with a chance of the play offs too, so lots to go for.
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19th March 2024 at 7:41 am
Hey Kev
Let the masses drool over their odds on City v Unted Final, but who knows how pressure can hit.
Cov and Chels will be rightly labelled as having no chance..but hey …stranger things have happened..
so Chelsea v Coventry…that’s the Final for us!
Best
C
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29th January 2024 at 10:03 pm
Hi Crispin,
How are you doing mate? Yes, you’re probably right but hey football is all about emotion and passion and I just love writing about the game. I try to keep my poetry to a reasonable length but there’s so much to write about the game and its literature just lends itself naturally to poetry. Sometimes I just get completely carried and I do apologise for the length of my poetry but it’s a great thrill to be associated with Football Poets.
Cheers mate
Joe
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10th January 2024 at 7:52 pm
You’re right of course Joe but…..it’s actually more of a big welcome break for everyone who is not into Premier League ..I’m talking fans of EFL National League and below…..
Btw …is this actually your longest poem ever !?
Best
Crispin
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8th January 2024 at 4:45 pm
Thanks!
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8th January 2024 at 10:42 am
There’s something so evocative and nostalgic for football fans the world over, in ‘revisiting’ old lost grounds.
Occasionally some remnants remain, with perhaps part of a wall or part or a stand or thre shape of a terrace, but often they are only still there in faded images and in our heads..
Great stuff Graham
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4th January 2024 at 10:13 am
A great idea and well executed. Thanks Graham.
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19th November 2023 at 1:45 pm
Thanks Gacina, glad you liked it, and I have just posted a new one about our points deduction…
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7th November 2023 at 6:34 pm
Today B.B.C post on F.B was titled:Premier League reduced to 18 clubs? I really think it may be interesting to see if this would be Everton’s nightmare and this poem is well suited for this concern.If there would be more difficult battle to stay if there were 18 teams.Great poem and somehow true.
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6th November 2023 at 4:43 pm
Ashington FC have launched a £50,000 Crowdfunder appeal to meet the increased costs of winning promotion last season, to pay for urgent stadium improvements, travel costs and equipment
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