Poetry Archives
This archive contains every poem that has been published on Football Poets. They are listed ten-per-page in reverse chronological order so the most recent poems appear first. Click or tap the arrows in the corners of the page to navigate between pages. It's easier to use the search form below to find a specific poem.
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The Soul of Forest Green
I went searching for the soul of Forest Green,
Wandering intuitively, ad hoc
Inferentially, without any
A priori knowledge or insight:
It was a tabula rasa wander.
Northfields Road smacked of enclosed fields
(‘Its only bondage was the circling sky’),
And Eighteenth century food riots,
With Captain Swing riding over in Horsley,
While dark satanic mills in the valleys
Stood where weavers once combined for justice.
I crossed the threshold of a century,
Past chapel, school, and blacksmith’s workshop,
Through labyrinths of handloom weavers’ paths,
Along a valley far below the flood threat
Of countless springs and teeming brooks and streams,
Along The Rollers, Chestnut Hill, Star Hill,
And so to the Jovial Foresters,
Where the players used to change for the match,
(Victorian post box in its roadside wall),
Past a blue plaque to Private Charles Marmont,
Died of wounds 21st May 1918,
Aged 20,
Buried Forest Green Chapel Graveyard,
And so to where Joseph Weight used to work
(A Nailsworth Conscientious Objector),
Before he faced the tribunal’s judgement
On whether he really had a conscience.
And this is how I found the soul of Nailsworth –
In Newmarket, Shortwood, Horsley, Forest Green,
Wandering up and down through space and time –
And even though this felt a world away
From Stroud, let alone a new stadium
By the motorway at Eastington,
We can magnify small differences:
My DNA takes me back to Bronze Age migrations,
From the western fringes of India,
Thence to Anglo-Saxon invasions
Of what we now call England.
We’re all migrants, aren’t we?
It doesn’t have to be a vampiric
Trope of metempsychosis:
Soul might be in the imagination,
Not a landscape or topography.
We’re all migrants, aren’t we?
Melwood
A plot of land that served them well.
But now LFC have decided to sell.
A training ground for many a year.
But an Academy move now is near.
The Melwood walls got a lot higher.
With added twists of barbed wire.
With holes filled in, kept eyes away.
Innocent photographers kept at bay.
No sitting on walls, or on Dads back.
To get a glimpse of defence or attack.
Now prison like security, no real need.
Just ‘them and us’ another dirty deed.
And when the reds are Kirby bound.
What’ll become of this old ground?
Donate it to the locals, an LFC treat!
For once let money take a back seat.
Give the kids a park, a football theme.
But that idea was just my pipe dream.
As the club aren’t short of a bob or two.
But they sold the land for houses new.
The Accumulator
THE ACCUMULATOR
Arsenal first Friday, always start well
New signings too, will give Leicester hell
Arsenal easy, next,
Liverpool in the early game, a win at a canter
Watford offer up more presents than Santa
Arsenal easy, Liverpool a canter, next,
Chelsea at the Bridge a cert to crush Burnley
Untouchable last season, this is money for free
Arsenal easy, Liverpool a canter, Chelsea a cert, next,
Man City away win, there’s simply no reason
Why Brighton won’t be relegation fodder this season
Arsenal easy, Liverpool a canter, Chelsea a cert, Man City away, next,
Spurs to cane Newcastle, big gap in class
Don’t think the magpies Premiership stay will last
Arsenal easy, Liverpool a canter, Chelsea a cert, Man City away, Spurs pure class, last,
Man United on fire, all glitz and glamour
Scoring for fun, gonna stuff the hammers
Arsenal easy, Liverpool a canter, Chelsea a cert, Man City away, Spurs pure class, United on fire,
Fifty quid on a six-fold, what could possibly go wrong
.
.
Arsenal Nil Leicester 1
.
.
Damn
Canned Sardines
Watching the gulls all swooping around
Brought back the memories of some very strange words
That made us all think
Trying to find the real meaning
And connecting the link
To the sardines and trawler
That just kept on steaming
What was he thinking, was he just dreaming
When he uttered those words that flew round the world
Like the gulls and the fish and the boats in the water
Inviting responses from every quarter.
Cantona at his best with a hint of a smile
Just looked on from a distance
As the trawler kept trawling
Mile after mile after mile.
Ianthe Exall July 2017.
The Prodigal Son
The Prodigal Son he upped and left
For many a long, long year.
Leaving a void that could not be filled
Except by a flood of tears.
Maybe once every Season the Son came back,
But not in a shirt of blue.
No, the jersey he wore on his back such times
Was more of a reddish hue.
Now the Prodigal Son is returning,
And we’re asked to forgive and forget.
Well, we may, in the fullness of time,
But aren’t ready to do so yet.
It is he who must first come up with the goods,
Give his all, heart and soul, and sweat blood,
Prove he’s a Blue, a true Blue through and through,
Who’s not simply come back for a laugh.
Then, only then, we just might turn our thoughts
To slaught’ring a fatted calf.
13/7/17
Denys E. W. Jones
How To Write A Football Poem
First, you need a pen. But in order to get one
you’ll have to go down in the box
that you keep them in.
Next, you’ll need paper.
Not the back of that fag packet
that you scribbled next Saturday’s team on, no―
throw it away! In fact, throw away all those mucky
scraps you scrawl on, but keep a clean sheet
in front of you.
Next you need to get practical, get tactical
and sort out your formation –
Put yourself in goal so you can save all your drafts.
You’ll need a defensive quatrain,
a midfield triolet,
a couplet of wide-men
and someone with iambic feet up front.
To fill up your poem you’ll need to attract―
-a kid to sit on a stanchion and tap out
a rhythm for your scansion,
-a bloke with a Coke, a guy with a pie
and a girl to twirl a football rattle
(if she’s poetic herself that’s half the battle)
-a quatraining sessions
in front of the new stanza
and don’t forget to sort your feet out.
A Feather To Drift
If you see a white feather floating by.
Coming from nowhere out of the sky.
Down from Heaven a feather to drift.
An Angel is near by, a loved ones gift.
Into the face of a child a feather blew.
Down from above, from an Angel new.
A sign to show he will always be there.
A sign from Bradley he’s in Gods care.
As tributes adorn the Stadium of Light.
Bradley sent comfort in a feather white.
It flew in front of cousins Jorja’s face.
A gesture from Heaven, a definite case.
The Belfast Boy
The Belfast Boy, a player complete.
Had the football world at both feet.
Art like gift, born to dazzle, to win.
Never again to see the likes of him.
In United Red, in native Irish Green.
The greatest player I’ve ever seen.
Look at the numerous YouTube clips.
Stand amazed at the swivelling hips!
Desperate defenders left in his wake.
Goals of all types to score and make.
On mud bath pitches, still could glide.
Kicked to bits, but never one to hide.
I saw him at Anfield, he left us dazed!
The Kop as one where left amazed.
Memorised by outlandish flair and skill.
Decades on, surely the greatest still.
Justice For The 95?
‘Justice for the 96′ we know the chant well.
All the flags have the same message to tell.
The headline news always reads the same.
’96 innocent victims’ we recall every name.
When candles are lit or when the bells ring.
’96’ counts we hear, just like when we sing.
Now finally we’ve reached the justice stage.
And ‘victory’ headlines make the front page.
But read the small print in Tony Bland’s case.
No questions or prosecution will anyone face.
Because it was 4 years after that fateful day.
When 22 year old Tony Bland passed away.
‘Too much time had elapsed’ a ‘cut off rule’
The Law of the Land, for Tony’s family cruel.
But when justice is achieved, you can be sure.
It’ll be in Tony’s name too, that’s scouse law!
Snared Rats
And so the day has finally come.
When justice may at last be done.
I had my doubts, hopes been low.
Dashed by many a liar in full flow.
6 people will have charges to face.
6 snared rats no longer to chase.
The CPS are looking at another 2.
Though a total of 8 is still too few.
Many have escaped court and trial.
The culprits we know despite denial.
Now the courts must see it through.
Guilty verdicts a must, well overdue.
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!
My Account
Latest Poems
Stuart Butler
25th July 2017
Mike Bartram
25th July 2017
Paul Chapman
24th July 2017
Ianthe Exall
21st July 2017
Denys E. W. Jones
13th July 2017
Eddie Gibbons
10th July 2017
Mike Bartram
8th July 2017
Mike Bartram
5th July 2017
Mike Bartram
29th June 2017
Mike Bartram
28th June 2017
Crispin’s Corner
Butler’s Bench
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Latest Comments
21st July 2017 at 12:57 pm
Nicely done.
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19th May 2017 at 6:02 pm
Great poem on a wonderful achievement for FGR.
Now let’s hope my team and Forest Green battle it out for top spot next season. If the Sky Blues top the division the vegan pies are on me ! ☺
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19th May 2017 at 5:48 pm
Wonderful, touching poem. You have done them proud expressing your feelings about their achievement.
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5th May 2017 at 1:19 pm
Good luck! Hope to see you on Sunday if I can make it.
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3rd May 2017 at 5:40 pm
Great use of wordplay on names Ianthe. Especially liked Lingard…as in a classic Cranberries song’Let It Lingar!’
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9th April 2017 at 9:21 pm
Hi Graham – I’m really pleased to see that you’re annotating your poems verse-by-verse. Did you know you can also highlight a bit of text in a verse and comment on that? Hover over this comment to see what I highlighted.
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9th April 2017 at 9:10 pm
Not forgetting folk hero Robin Friday who started a now commonplace trend by kissing a policeman after scoring against Rochdale in 1975
“The policeman looked so cold and fed up standing there that I decided to cheer him up a bit,” he explained.
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7th April 2017 at 1:29 pm
Yes. We played footy in the street, and Peter Lorimer (not me) broke the window-pane at number twenty-eight. Kenneth Wolstenholme was particularly impressed, and Leeds meet Chelsea in the semi-final.
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6th April 2017 at 12:03 pm
Great imagery Alex…
Playing in the street….grumpy neighbours..I go back to my old fifties Wharfdale Street , just off the Ifield Road sometimes Alex.
It’s barely a bright tennis ball’s throw from Stamford Bridge.We’d play for hours across that little street , stopping only for Remo’s ice cream van. So few car back then. I remember mad scores like 53-41 .
We’d often play til it was so dark, we couldn’t see that little yellow ball anymore sometimes..
The marking on the old brick wall in streets now lined with cars 24 x 7 are faint… but still there.
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4th April 2017 at 3:10 pm
A touching tribute to a quaint old ground, with its compact pitch and small white gable.
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