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Poems tagged ‘West Ham be prepared’

Business as usual

joe morris

Friday, September 15th, 2023

After the international break
It’s business as usual
Domestic drudgery
Toil and trouble
Pleasure and pain
The Premier League
In all its matchless splendour
Again and again
Saturday lunchtime, Sunday tea time
No objections from the modern age
Because they can only identify
With recent presentations
New interpretations of Super
Sunday on Sky TV
Rather than those old, grainy
Images of Ken Wolstenholme
Live from Beatleville
Black and white heaven
From Anfield
When Match of the Day
Was but a child of nature
Tomorrow though
Shock, horror, and
That rarest of species
The Hammers rock up to
The first instalment of
The Premier League
Showtime extravaganza
West Ham against Manchester City
At three o’clock in the
Afternoon. You have to
Be joking
And yet jest we not
Roll up. Roll up.
Get your tickets now
Ladies and Gentleman
They will enchant you
With remarkable skill
And athleticism
City undoubtedly ready
For dance and theatre
Heavenly histrionics
But in a pleasing way
Tantalising terpsichorean
Feats, passing
Made to measure
By the finest of tailors
Feathery touches with the ball
Spun with silk
Perhaps far too good
For the East Enders
From the London Stadium
But who knows
Miracles were often known
To happen on
Jewish Rosh Hashanahs
How blessed we are on this day
Of days
Maybe the team in the top four
At the moment
Can aspire to the soaring
Stratosphere in Stratford
Happy days for the Hammers
Almost too good to be true
Altitude sickness
For those in claret and blue
But tomorrow reality must
Intrude on delusions of grandeur
City will once again announce
Themselves as they invariably do
Pep will be back in his hot seat
And City will win
Or maybe not
We shall see

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West Ham- early doors

joe morris

Thursday, August 24th, 2023

The Premier League season
A fortnight old
And yet claret and blue flags
Are flying high
Almost a perfect complement
Of points but not quite
A point by the South Coast promenades
Cherries ripe for the picking
But Dominic Solanke denied
The rich harvest of all three
Then last Sunday the Kensington elite
Were toppled briefly from their perch
But Chelsea are still
Full of classical verse
Pochettino’s peacocks
Still within reach
Of Champions League contention
Never written off lightly
And yet West Ham
Dealt with the Blues domination
In every quarter and blade
Of the lush green August domain
First Nayef Aguerd
The marauder from Morocco
Sent the bullet header
From JWP’s corner
For the East Enders opener
Late Sunday afternoon parishioners
Drink from the cup of vintage
Victory
Chelsea, after a million passes
In neat squares, triangles and
Intricate embroidery
Equalise shortly afterwards
Honours even
For a while at least
But then the Blues turn
A whiter shade of pale
Now where have we heard that
Before?
Scout encampments around the fire
Of the Hammers besieged penalty area
But nothing to declare
Only a passing thought
But nothing there
Then Antonio sees
The chink of light
Amid Chelsea’s
Brazen exhibition
Of quick, quick,
Slow, slow staccato
Another passing carnival
Of fleet feet
Tapping out the code
Goals surely like buses
Three in a row
And hundreds more
Michal Antonio drives
Home the second
From a footloose
Movement from the half way line
West Ham just dazed and incredulous
Two goals in a game
That should have been
Chelsea’s in a gentle canter
But hark this is a London derby
Feisty, niggly, one red card
And the Blues miss from the
Penalty spot
Game now hanging by a thread
Hearts pounding like
Big bass drums
Still finely balanced
Then armed combat leads
To dramatic conclusions
West Ham burst into
Life again
Resurrected from
Surrounding gangs
Of humiliation
Claret and blue invasion
And then the final,
Conclusive trip
Penalty impudently rolled
Into the net
By Paqueta’s alleged gamble
The Brazilian bets the right way
But our Lucas can do no wrong
Not him governor
36 games to go
Shortly the Carabao Cup
Followed by the TV lottery
Of the Europa League
Hold tight Hammers
Advancing towards
Wherever the crows fly
Seize the season
To misquote comic genius

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Days to go

joe morris

Wednesday, August 9th, 2023

Days to go before
The arrival of
A marathon
On our doorstep
Claret and blue
Beads of anxiety
Pour from beleaguered
Brows of sweat
Summer dwindling
And the hopes
Of West Ham
In dizzying confusion
A European trophy
In June. Now shuddering
Anti climax
Rice now consigned
To a historical document
And the Arsenal cannonade
Await the Declan delicacy
Meanwhile rumours swirl
About your claret and blue
Warriors
Ward Prowse, Gallagher,
Fofana, Pele’s grandson
Chaotic haggling and bartering
In the modern transfer market
When will it ever end?
Now we discover that our Lucas
That delicious aura of Brazilian
Blend made from the finest
Coffee beans, touch, finesse,
Vision, hereditary skill
Now wanted by City’s Treble
Winners
£75 million
Now that’s an insult
Pacqueta leaving palpitations
In his silky stride
This has West Ham written
All over it
It’s time to sell another diamond
We should have known
But the unimaginable becomes
A sad resignation to what will be
By the end of this week
Pacqueta joins City for yet
More astronomical millions
While Southampton dilly and dally
Procrastination for breakfast,
Lunch and tea
James Ward Prowse there
Has to be a signature
For at this rate
Saturday will dawn
And the London Stadium
Loyalists will be shedding
Monsoons of tears
Dropping heavily over East End
Dreams and visions
West Ham now troubled with
Bleak forecasts
But then we knew
The trajectory this would
Lead us to nowhere in particular
Bournemouth Cherries first up
Sweetness always on the opening day
Of the season
For the hapless Hammers
Or are we hyperventilating
Seized by paroxysms of panic?
Then Scamacca leaves his Italian
Job incomplete
And heads back home
Hammers once again
Crying for finishing power
A striker to savour
And the David Moyes
Dilemma. Do they stick or twist
Poker or the roulette?
Spin that wheel
And hope for the best
The rumour maybe the exit door
Hopefully not
Must pin stability to the ground
For David Moyes
Perseverance might
Be the operative word
For a while perhaps
But once again forebodings
Of doom
Whispering voices of
Unrest, among the best
At the London Stadium
Nervous jitters
Room for gloom
This weekend in August
We start with a clean slate
But wait
Bruised and battered
Stratford masonry
Broken behind the scenes
Will repair overnight
The sooner the better
But hopefully
The seaside air
By the South Coast
Will galvanise our gut
Feelings
Oh West Ham
How they must dread
Opening days of new seasons
Let’s piece that mosaic
Back together
Carefully but surely
Mend those rifts
Stop the gossip
Kick on from June
And banners of European
Triumph
To the green billiard
Tables of the
Premier League season
August dawns
And there’s business
To attend to urgently
Before the rot sets in
And we’re back where
We were before
Languishing in dungeons
Of relegation fears
Where the Irons and Hammers
With endemic woes and cares
Always find themselves
In perennial years
Seasons without reasons
Please avoid the struggles
Permanently again and again

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/news/poem-tags/west-ham-be-prepared/