It's been quite some time since I posted to my autobiography in verse. When last we left it I had just started secondary school.
At secondary school I was just about as useless at sports and games as it's humanly possible to be without actually being dead. And that, as you will see, is what this poem is all about.
Games Lessons
Part 1: Three Pitches
On the first pitch all the players
Were the ones who knew the game;
Could kick a ball about and show some skill.
On the second pitch the players
Still had little cause for shame.
Though lesser in ability, they had the heart and will.
On the small pitch in the corner,
Were the ones who thought it dumb;
Who'd rather eat a worm than kick a ball:
And hiding in the library
With a letter from my mum,
I sat and read a book, ignored it all.
Part 2: X-Country
The route had been explained.
He'd drawn it up in chalk.
We looked out through the doorway, at the rain.
"It should take about an hour,"
He'd told us in his talk,
"To get from here to there and back again."
"Why's it called cross-country,
When it's all through an estate?"
Asked Steven, as we set off down the street.
We jogged just past the houses
To the corner shop, to wait.
We couldn't see the use of wearing out our feet.
Part 3: Athletic Support
I was useless with a discus.
I was useless with a shot.
I was useless at the long jump and the high.
I was too slow for the track,
But worst of all the lot -
With a javelin I could kill the passers-by.
I couldn't throw them far,
The things I had to throw.
The direction that they'd go no one could guess.
I might just achieve a zero,
If I dropped them on my toe,
Or throw them behind my back and score much less.
Shuntaro Tanikawa.
5 hours ago
5 comments:
As a goalkeeper on the first pitch I derived much pleasure, in my quieter moments, from watching the antics of the "players" on the spazzers' - sorry, the third (it was a much more innocent and heartless time) pitch. I enjoyed the fact that the staff, such as it was, appeared to be only minimally concerned if somebody was lounging in the goal reading a book whilst the more physical of the spazz- sorry - participants - were inventing some new game that had very little to do with football, to the extent that, often, it appeared no ball at all was involved. If the weather was nice it seemed to me that it was really the third pitch where all the fun was to be had.
David
Thanks for verifying that I don't just make this all up.
On the few occasions that I was forced out of the library I used to sunbathe on the bank at the north end of the little pitch. What we all hated was when some clever dick from one of the other pitches came down to us and tried to make us play football.
And yes, there was one occasion when one of the few people worse than me at sports managed to throw a javelin backwards and get a negative score.
Is it contrary to the etiquette of blogdom to reveal the identity of the athlete concerned? I have my suspicions. I mean - what are the odds of him reading this?
David
I agree it's unlikely that Bhogul is reading this. But if he is I wouldn't want to offend him.
Oops.
Suspicions confirmed.
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