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Poems tagged ‘Covid’

Virus claims football before Christmas

joe morris

Saturday, December 18th, 2021

Oh surely not
Again, history
Repeats itself
Agonisingly so
Football brought
To a grinding halt
By viruses, and
A week before
The festive jollities
Today football
Gazes into the hollow
Emptiness of Covid 19
Or the moronic anagram
Stricken down by global
Despondency, sickening
For somebody to wrap
A sympathetic shoulder
Around its egos, the vanity
Project of TV exposure
But football downed by
Aching illness, postponed
For a while but how long
Before the supporters
Begin to wail and groan
Their understandable displeasure
At bronchial or respiratory
Wheezes, but this time
It’s Omicron, oh those
Anti bodies have blocked
Goal scoring opportunities
Penalty box skirmishes
The rough and tumble
Only Leeds and Arsenal left
But this is a nostalgic
Leap back to the 1972
Cup Final when Alan
Clarke launched himself
Like a missile
Or perhaps a graceful
Swallow diving his
Header heroically
Past an Arsenal keeper
Named Barnett
Not a million miles
Away from Highbury
But today the Premier
League stares out of
Forlorn windows, crying
And whimpering at
The desolation of the day
Terraces bereft of
Humanity, none of the
Consolations of highlights
Or repeats on
Match of the Day
Just pain and longing
To be among the community
Of scarves and outlandish
Banners, programmes
Like holiday brochures
Liteary goldmines
But we’ll miss
Mo Salah, Raheem
Sterling, Lukaku
Pulisic and even
Citizen Kane
Spurs without
Orson Wells
Perhaps fifteen
Times removed
American cousin
Distant, but
Fondly remembered
These are the cogs
And spark plugs
Of the Premier League
The lightning conductors
Goal scorers of breeding
From the grammar schools
Of football’s seat of learning
Today though they
Will huddle around the tinsel
And baubles of their family
Christmas glitter fest
Reflecting on what might
Have been but then
Resigned to their fate
Because the race for the title
Is on, could be closer than
Ever, a pulsating throb
Of the pulmonary glands
Excitement yet to be born
But today a stillness and quiet
Hangs like a grey blanket
Over St Mary’s, the Etihad,
Anfield, Goodison, vast
Edifices of passionate
Attachment to the cause
Never failing in their support
Kindred spirits
Through thick and thin
No football today
But plenty of vocal
Contributions
Yet to be made.
How we love life
And football

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On Matters of Life and Death and the Euros

Carol Stewart

Monday, July 5th, 2021

Who says
…………………………….. we can’t have a party
………………………………tuck into the strawberries
………………………………crack open the Pimm’s

during
the football
………………………………it’s wrong
………………………………and so unfair
………………………………him missing Wimbledon
………………………………and almost every match

got to work
you know……………. cleaning touch-points at Job Centre Plus

either that
or………………………….helping his mates change the wheels on their cars,
……………………………..he’s such an outgoing chap, so confident

hope …………………… he hasn’t caught the virus

to check……………….he’s taken a test

the result …………….negative, he says

it’s not that …………I don’t believe him

important ……………as it is

it’s just…………………..he’s kept things from me before

………………………………..he plays

a game …………………..with me
…………………………………he tells me
…………………………………………..here, top up your glass,
……………………………………………………..have a strawberry
like it
doesn’t matter ………………………… cough, cough…

Sure…
……………………………..he’s late tonight, but hey
……………………………..just look at those crowds, just listen,
…………………………….. they say England’s winning

……………………………. and football’s coming home,
……………………………..yes, football’s coming home
……………………………..even if he isn’t.

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Back For One Day

Crispin Thomas

Tuesday, September 22nd, 2020

back for one day
to the ground on the hill
careful and wary
with Covid here still
temp’rature testing
out here on the street
we stand in a line
in our masks in the heat

we’re grateful to be here
this late Summer day
we keep to a distance
just like ev”ry day
it could be a one-off
the way things are going
and when we’ll be back
we have no way of knowing

the grass is so green
and the sky is so blue
there’s barely a cloud
but a breeze billows through
and for ninety odd minutes
of real live football
we don’t think about
what’s surrounding us all

the game is a flurry
of chances and goals
a blurry distraction
but safely controlled
we even discover
that crowds can still cheer
in spite of these masks
that we all have to wear

and here at the end
we all follow the rules
and are led out in rows
like we did back in school
the streets are all quiet
as we wind down the hill
now we’re back in the world
that’s surrounding us still

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/news/poem-tags/covid/