We’ll play it safe and get there for sunrise.
Driving to Croydon, any day,
is like being at Exeter Services on a Saturday
in August, single file by West Cornwall Pasty.
So when should we leave? When will we depart?
Let’s play it safe, say 3 a.m. Get there for sunrise.
Is there anything to do at Thornton Heath
other than mull over shared memories
over insipid pints, surprisingly priced?
What time should we leave for Palace?
Will we be rattling the locked door
of Camberwell Library, delving in –
not far – through glass to local history?
And what time can I get to Crystal Palace Park?
4 a.m. is too early for parkrun
but is still well planned for kick off.
There’s a faint lifting in the sky now
from black to eggplant, eggplant
to iron fog, iron fog to a dull reflective coin
minted in nineteen eighty three
obscuring a view of Happy Valley
and skyscrapers from south London heights.
What time shall we leave for Palace?
We arrived for this inferred sunrise.
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joe morris
24th September 2023
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23rd September 2023
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Crispin’s Corner
In Memoriam
Kick It Out & Christmas Truce
Latest Comments
24th September 2023 at 5:14 pm
Very accurate indeed!
Palace home for me is always a tough journey as well. From the wilds of west London to Selhurst is a random journey into the unknown.
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20th September 2023 at 1:37 pm
Lovely stuff for one of the best.
We love him to death down at the Palace.
I’ll post my Roy poem a bit later. You’ve inspired me to finish it.
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19th September 2023 at 5:06 pm
I’d like to think some of my scarves might get passed down the generations, but can’t see some of the “quality merchandise” I have making much past my son’s generation. They’ll fall apart before he even has kids, I reckon!
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7th September 2023 at 2:43 pm
Very true Crispin. Thanks!
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3rd September 2023 at 6:55 pm
Play Up Pompey indeed Richard .
My first ever proper game when i was 10 was Chelsea 7-4 Pompey on Xmas morning 1959, Greavesie got 4.
First visited Fratton Park with Chelsea (2-2) and stood among loads of sailors back in the old Second Dvision early 60s . That’s when I first heard the Pompey Chimes..
Last visited in the mid 2000s to run a football poetry workshop on racism with local young students in the Study Centre you had then at the time.
Had a great chat with some of your fans when you came here to Forest Green last season…
best wishes
Crispin
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1st September 2023 at 7:17 pm
Cliché heaven or hell..we get it all
Welcome to Football Poets John
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28th August 2023 at 10:54 am
Thanks Crispin – noted re the boxer! Never know, perhaps we’ll get Forest Green in the cup… or Chelsea!
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27th August 2023 at 4:47 pm
Hey Rowan
Tough line up of opening fixtures but werlcome to the National League and to Football Poets.
I’ve often passed your ground but never actually been.
Had to remove the boxert poem , sorry ….only poems about football, though i did read your tenuous link!
best wishes
Crispin -Editor
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6th August 2023 at 3:46 pm
Don’t worry Apollo, I have examined the evidence on YouTube – he looks great, the real deal!
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7th July 2023 at 5:26 pm
Let’s Hope for your sake Denys, that he doesn’t turn out to be from La-la-Land!
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