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Euro 2004 Diary : Day 05 Bloomsday

U Rowe

Wednesday, June 16th, 2004

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Bloomsday 2004

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Celebrating Ulysses
the tourists throng to Dublin
to experience, in situ
an authentic atmosphere

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 What a novel idea
a book with no punctuation marks
imagine :
no full stops, no commas, no semi-colons;

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 imagine again, if James Joyce had set the rules
for football –
no full backs, no corners, no semi-circles;
preposterous! perish the thought!

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 And yet, think again
to childhood glories
when come what may
never mind the month
never mind the weather
the matches that lasted forever
or until tea-time
or bed-time
or whichever came first

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 with just ganseys for goalposts *

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 games with no boundaries
save the edge of the field
or the kerb on the green
or the end of the road
or the garden gates
or the factory walls
or the prefects in the playground
or the limits of the mind

© Ulysses Rowe, June 2004

Notes

Just to remind ourselves, there is life outside of football!

* A Gansey is a distinctive woollen sweater, originally designed to provide protection for fishermen from wind and water but which is ideal for all outdoor activity.

Irish people usually use the term ‘gansey’ rather than ‘jumper’.

Day 5 results :
Greece 1 Spain 1
Russia 0 Portugal 2

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/euro-2004-diary-day-05-bloomsday/