Football Poets

Another West Ham Italian striker

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 At long last another
Claret and blue striker
West Ham strike gold
With another Italian stallion
Ladies and Gentlemen
Gianluca Scamacca
Now they say that
After a wholesome plate
Of pasta and spaghetti
The land which once gave
The world, the prolific
Paolo Rossi, by World
Cup assignment, a natural
Goal scorer with a ravenous
Appetite and a modern satnav
For the location of goals, goals
goals
But now in the simmering
And sweltering heat of a
British July summer
West Ham land
Their very own Italian job
Scamacca from Sassuolo
You’ll have to forgive
The geographical ignorance
But enlightenment required
Sassuolo? Somewhere on the
Heel of Italy but not its ankle
Unknown and unheralded
But 23, ready and prepared
Hungry for London Stadium
Approval, accepted by
Those with a homage to
Pie and mash, a reception to remember
Italian international but
Wet behind the ears
If he has any of Paolo
Di Canio’s endowments
But without the temperamental
Eruptions. It could be
An East End season to
Admire on any claret and blue
Mantelpiece
A fortnight before we kick off
Once again
And bodies are trickling into
The Hammers academy
Joining the club which
Next week, now 56 years
Ago so we are now painfully reminded
Provided the vertebrae
Of England’s only World Cup
Representation as outright winners
When Mooro, Sir Geoff and Sir Martin
Once gilded the lily, crowned
World champions with Trafalgar
Square fountains of praise and rapture
Flooding the nation’s streets and beaches
Seaside esplanades
How good to be patriotically English
Oh what a night that must have been
But now West Ham give us our first Italian
For a while, a saint and angel
We hope, goals from every hypotenuse,
Every compass point
Pythagoras Theorem
Inside frenetic penalty areas
From the half way line
As long as the new Italian East Ender
Makes his emphatic presence felt
Volleyed goals with violent vehemence
Bulging opposition’s nets with addictive
Frequency, Gianluca the stage is yours
We can hardly wait
Accompanied perhaps by Filip Kostic
From Frankfurt, overlapping wing back
Or excitingly, brilliantly what a scoop
Lozano, a Mexican from the land
Of melodious mariachi,
It all sounds like preposterous
Wishful thinking but
West Ham
Allow us this moment
Of picturesque Premier League
Landscapes where fortunes fly
And even Manchester City cry
While the Hammers dreamers
Continue to aspire

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