|

Eight Thousand Poems Shining

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Eight Thousand Poems Shining

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 I went into a bookshop,
Enquired at the desk:
“Would I find any football poems
Somewhere upon your shelves?”

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 The owner drew his breath in sharp,
Shook head from side to side,
Assumed a snooty, stuck up tone,
And with a smirk replied:

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 “We’ve volumes by Will Shakespeare,
Donne, Larkin and McGough.
But poetry on football?
We do not stock such stuff.”

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 I trawled through my Anthologies,
In search of better fortune:
The Oxford Book of Modern Verse,
The Cambridge and the Norton.

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 No lack of work by Whitman,
Poe, Hardy and Thom Gunn.
But poems about football?
Alas, I found there none.

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 I logged onto a website
Called Footballpoets.org.
I scarcely could believe my luck,
I was quite overawed.

8 Leave a comment on verse 8 0 I swear my heart did miss a beat,
My eyes they lit up bright.
Eight thousand poems were shining.
Eight thousand poems were shining.
Were shining, shining, shining,
Like the moon and stars at night!

9 Leave a comment on verse 9 0 16/6/06
Denys E. W. Jones

Notes

Kevin Raymond, Jules Rimet, S B Ingle and Crispin Thomas have already written poetic responses to Roger McGough. Now here is my contribution.

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/eight-thousand-poems-shining/?shared=email&msg=fail