Nanny State
¶ 1
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When your plans are stationary
like a boat tied up at the dock
inexorably, you just can’t get going
without buttering up the ref’
¶ 2
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by learning about his name, his family,
his route convoluted by temporary traffic-
lights shifting around the b-roads
¶ 3
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by the viaduct. ‘Blending the Truth’
was such a strange choice of car sticker
but let it ride. He’s in charge of the time,
¶ 4
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marginal offsides, atmospheres at sea level
he wants to see in the ball’s approximation
of ‘official size and weight.’ Two cans
¶ 5
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of Nanny State at the end of the game
you’ll present to him to combine
for an ABV of one percent.
¶ 6
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‘You all support Mansfield’
chanted at Chesterfield fans at Saltergate
was all we could muster that day
on the fullest of full away terraces,
losing one-nil.
¶ 7
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‘It’s just like watching Mansfield’
they shot back after some friendly laughs
and we couldn’t disagree.
¶ 8
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No buttering up
of the ref’ in utility rooms
with a raspberry tart or Nanny State would work.
¶ 9
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He didn’t mind if you knew or didn’t know
his name at Saltergate, if you cared about his
‘Truth Blender’ car advert or not,
¶ 10
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if all your plans were tied up at the dock
or like fruit tarts in asbestos.
¶ 11
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‘You all support Mansfield’ wouldn’t sway him
to respond to humour and every mistake
¶ 12 Leave a comment on verse 12 0 was ultimately minor or well meant
¶ 13
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so we’d have to forget psychological games
and submit to the laws of the game,
¶ 14
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the first and second phase
of marginal offsides and other restrictions
to a field of play we wouldn’t change.
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