Football Poets

Yet more football

¶ 1 Leave a comment on verse 1 0 Football now almost at
The heights of summer
When cricket blades
And tennis rackets
Shimmered through
The haze in a stunned daze
Last night Italy and England
Meet up in a revolving door
Haven’t they met before
This was familiarity
Breeding indifference
Who cares about this
Inconsequential non
Event, too many questions
About necessity and importance
UEFA Nations League
It sounds like a convenient excuse
For kick abouts on the beach
Between the nations of the world
On sand kissed Mediterranean shores
Flip flops and crocs padding leisurely
Along whispering waters where
The sea meets the ocean
And the players of the Premier League
Massage battered cruciates and the aching
Limbs of winter where once tackles flew
Like gulls swooping down from afar
But Italy and England were still playing
That old song, that August to May
Sonata where passes were like
More illustrations in our mind
Precise as maths equations
Could somebody please give
A synopsis or detailed explanation
Of the UEFA Nations League
The brainchild of somebody
With too much time on their hands
Hard and cruel, but quite possibly
True,
And an international at Molineux
Now that had to be a first,
Or the first since 1950s rock and roll
A fleeting meeting with famished
Wolves.
Foraging for scraps
Still scratching our June heads
Bemused, confused
A goal-less draw, just a mystery
Some indecipherable code
Enigmatic as football in June
Sheer madness
Gareth Southgate,
Faintly apologetic
For lack of English
Firepower but Gareth
It is summer and
England are in
The Elysian fields
Of Trent Bridge
And cricket rules
The roost
Make plans for
Exotic bars, sangria
Heavenly haciendas
Chirruping Spanish
Cicadas, warm nights
Among the hypnotic
Fans and flamencos
Rest tired bodies
Tammy Abraham, Phil
Foden, Raheem Sterling,
Declan Rice, Trent Alexander
Arnold, Kieran Trippier
And the immensely gifted
Jack Grealish
The football season
Had completed its exams
During the middle of last
Month. There are no more
Prizes, incentives, medals
Put your feet up for just a while
Nurse your groin strains, beleaguered
Ankles, joints, gigantic bank balances
Adjust the designer sun glasses
Preservation orders on pina coladas
Protect the luxuries of life
Watch the apricot sun sink over
Varnished bodies, like mahogany
Cabinets ready for another coat
Stop the football carousel
UEFA Nations League
Surely meaningless and
Possibly too profound
For words
August is our Premier
League story
Chapters galore

23