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Standing Room Only

Andy Lockett

Tuesday, November 11th, 2008

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Filling slowly, early birds soaking up the atmosphere as it
Grows. From just a few hundred up to thousands packed in,
Shoulder to shoulder. Lining the barriers, spilling into the
Gangways and the constant sway – like a rolling sea. The
Kids, the Dads, the old timers, the eccentrics…A mass of
Humanity on that steep bank, rising up under the deep, dark
Roof. Pinpoint lights spark the shadows. A mystical, magical
Entity on days when the passion mattered, a partisan thunder;
Emotions invested in a town, a team. And when goals came,
You lost your place in the ecstatic release; down, down, side
To side off your feet. And back again. Dangerous, surely was,
But it meant so much back then. Now, your seat might as well
Be in a theatre, or a cinema. Controlled, corralled, conditioned,
Passive – paying obscenely for the sake of twenty two poverty
Stricken players. So bring it back, in the mind’s eye. Terraced
Heights and excitement, absolute camaraderie in rain or shine.

© Andy Lockett 2008

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/standing-room-only-2/