Saturday, July 9, 2011

POETRY JAM = SPORTS

Being on vacation and too brain-dead chasing toddlers in swimming pools to write poetry, I thought I would miss this week but when I saw the theme for the Monday Jam was "sports" an old poem from 2008 came to mind.  I apologize for continuing to ransack my archives but I think I used to actually write poems back then and I'm discovering that I have a real insecurity about getting back in the game.

I sometimes wonder these days if I have anything left to say.  But I suppose I will surprise myself.  I think I used to wonder the same thing in 2008.  I guess it is always a surprise.  You look in the empty room of your brain and nothing is there -- but if you relax and keep looking things begin to appear.  Magic. 

Anyhow, here is my sports oriented poem --


     Fourth and Inches


Why is everything, now, fourth and inches,
from planning dinner on the phone
to sitting on the couch, our legs almost touching,
watching the evening news.

Whoever has the ball, predictably,
will take it up the middle
against a goal line stand of determined eyes
behind a face masked in steel,
legs churning mud that only grows deeper
with each collision, which might be sport
except we wear no pads
and bleed too much behind the scars. 

It might make sense
if either of us lined up near a goal
instead of the middle of the field,
or if a yard of mud had any worth,
or if we had not once
been on the same team.

11 comments:

  1. Great memories, nostalgic piece... I especially like the first stanza.

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  2. You have no reason to be insecure about your poety, my friend. You are a genius!

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  3. You've had the chance to edit your header now, I see :-)
    And archives are useless if you don't use them - therefore, in my opinion there is nothing at all wrong with recycling pictures and poems from your own archives.

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  4. Love is a battlefield - or at the least a competition? I guess it can be sometimes. My favorite line is "...or if a yard of mud had any worth" - isn't that how it feels with so many arguments? What in the world IS the point in the end? Well, for me, the point is that I'm right :)

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  5. I love the fact that we get treated to poetry you wrote in 2008! Your first stanza poses a relevant question ..... nicely done!

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  6. Ouch! This is touching and sad. And it is one of the best poems I've read all weekend.

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  7. whew...this is blistering man...great verse...intense and a sad state of afairs but...

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  8. and you only have nothing more to say, when you decide...

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  9. I really enjoyed reading this introspective take on the sports theme. It reminded me a bit of the film, Field of Dreams. Thank you!

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  10. Whether brand new or an oldie your poetry is great. Good to see you back in the picture again.
    QMM

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  11. This is beautiful. Thanks. I think any poem, old or new, should be able to be used....what difference is a few years?

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