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Black Country Mince Pies (and Other Fragments of Future Lost Films)

Alex Saynor

Sunday, May 4th, 2025

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 When you think back, games are framing devices
for otherwise lost days’ part-salvaged films
such as the one in late December ‘93 –
I’ll call it Black Country Mince Pies –
in a Sierra Sapphire up the M6
for an unlikely 3-2 and Sean Farrell hat-trick.
That afternoon would have gone for ever
in fluid general congregation
or whiled away on an 8 bit games system

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Away at the Seasiders, remember the song
describing Blackpool from the Malin Head
as light disappeared over the Irish Sea,
a hint of bitterness in the late spring air
waiting out the time for a remote win
though you can’t imagine the weather change
so the journey back is only of faith
in following springs and summer consolation
in survival, another day to live,
more fragments of future long-lost films:

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 a drive around Port Sunlight,
stroll by the cathedral in Peterborough,
A4 map book out for Penny Lane
and roads around Hackney Wick for Orient
in strangely oppressive atmospheres,
all the walks the length and breadth of Fulham,
Five Guys in Kings Cross, Pizza on Euston Road,
the Wetherspoon’s in Central Birmingham,
a sheep transporter at a petrol station
en route to Carlisle, an empty morning in Preston,
York High Street, Burton brewery taps.
The game is in brackets and means not much
without the overall structure of the sentence
somehow stopping time drifting into touch.

Notes

This is about how football preserves associated memories whereas you might struggle to remember a random day at home. if you are able to travel away, it can feel special to have been with the same people in so many different places.

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/black-country-mince-pies-and-other-fragments-of-future-lost-films/

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