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We Weren’t Interested in Girls

1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 We just wanted to play football. While the rest of the boys in our year were out with girls (or at least claiming to be), we were on the hunt for makeshift goal posts. The bins round the back of the school. Two saplings planted up in the park. The garage doors at the top of Tirpenry Street. Jumpers didn’t cut it. Sometimes we’d break into the Astroturf, though security guards soon put a stop to that. Every night without fail, the five of us would be outside with a ball, scoring goals and making saves. Then, one summer, I went off with her. Soon after, they all got girlfriends too. We’d still meet up and play football sometimes, but it wasn’t the same. We’d let our defences down, and adulthood had crept in at the back post.

Notes

Poem first published in That Lone Ship (Parthian Books, 2018).

Source: http://footballpoets.org/poems/we-werent-interested-in-girls/