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CURRENTLY RESIDING

Andrew Detheridge

Tuesday, July 11th, 2006

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 In desperate need of consolation,
I delve into the hanger-dark
of the bottom of the wardrobe,
looking for the pile of programmes
chronicling the memories of happier summers.

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Snapshot moments vie for supreme- golden- glimpse:
victories over Man U and the Gunners,
(on days when we were actually expected to win!)
Heady European nights
and cup runs now the folklore of pub talk.

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 But, as I leaf through the stats
and count up the goals; the substitute appearances;
names stare back at me
like forgotten nightmares-
the strikers we’d all like to forget:

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Gerry Armstrong-
a decade past his sell-by-date
before we’d signed him;
having dined out for all those years
on one goal in Spain ’82.

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 George Reilly-
more studs in one boot
than teeth in his mouth;
more teeth in his mouth
than goals for the club.
(Ewan Roberts’ ugly older brother!)

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 John (oo-er missus) Thomas-
Memorable only for his name.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Paul Williams-
Six foot seven and still
couldn’t seem to spot the goal.
Couldn’t score in an all-girls’ dorm;
all the racehorse pedigree of dogfood.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 Stewart ‘Frizzy Perm’ Evans-
haircut of Kevin Keegan,
but none of the skill;
couldn’t find the back of the net
with a compass.

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 Somehow, the ineptitudes of the past
serve to temper the brief wilderness
of the present,
and, at last, I feel optimism
in Gera and Davies and Ellington,
thanks to the names
currently residing
in the where-are-they-now file.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/currently-residing/