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LUFC 1987

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Tunnel, ticket, turnstile, throng
Roars, applause and tribal song
Programme, teamsheet, Bremner’s note
Steady Terry, sheepskin coat

2 Leave a comment on verse 2 0 Former fortress, sad demise
Solitary, strangled cries
Concrete, steel, austere, grim
White with blue and yellow trim

3 Leave a comment on verse 3 0 Terrace banter, truths and lies
Sweat and grease and peas and pies
Love and loathing, Leeds, Leeds, Leeds
Herd behaviour, primal needs

4 Leave a comment on verse 4 0 Cockneys, geordies, mancs despised
Midfield maestro eulogised
Gesticulate and gloat and goad
South stand, West stand, Lowfields Road

5 Leave a comment on verse 5 0 Burberry scarves and bloodshot eyes
Craggy, crooked, hard and wise
Service crew and Kippax whites
Horses, helmets, fences, fights

6 Leave a comment on verse 6 0 Beeston, brooding, bitter, grey
Chimneys, chippy, Mervyn Day
Scoreless scoreboard, injury-time
Kop-end, bulging net, sublime

7 Leave a comment on verse 7 0 Heaving, surging, fall and rise
Floodlit steam in raven skies
Gristle, visceral, victory fought
Windscreen wipers, Sports Report

Notes

The poem is inspired by David Peace’s Damned United. I was trying to evoke not just the grim nature of watching Leeds in the dark days, but also the tribal aspects and joy that could be felt. “Steady Terry” is a reference to my mate’s dad who used to take us to the games – he always wore the same Don Revie-esque sheepskin and smoked cigars on the kop. On the way home it always seemed to be raining and we would have the radio tuned into listen to the other results.


Editor’s note:
Great imagery and wordplay Jason…more please!

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Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/lufc-1987/