Thursday, 16 August 2012
Mediocre Race
I'm glad that when I
have just finished
a mediocre day at work
TV crews don't stick their
cameras and boom-mikes
in my face
and ask me how I feel about it.
Monday, 13 August 2012
Chad le Clos
This is the only way to take
victory:
choking back tears
like they are the dreams
you have finally caught up
with
trying to escape.
You have just beaten
Michael Phelps
The Best Swimmer
in recorded history.
You are the tiger who sobs
for the dove between his jaws.
You stand on the podium
higher than your hero
you can truly love him now
your arm touches him
now, and there is a new power
and a new smile
in the sopping globes
of your eyes.
We are humans
And we cannot help but rank.
We are humans
and we cannot help but
worship.
He is the swimmer
and you
are a mournful fish
Who swims joyously in his
wake.
Federa v. Del Potro
Two morose giants
battle it out.
Potro has slightly nervous
eyes
And a small serious mouth.
He plays like a cannon.
Federa looks like some
merchandise of himself
but he plays like a
genetically engineered
storm.
They fight calmly,
toing and froing
in an arduous geological
process
that somehow retains
equilibrium.
I must go out. I’ll just wait
for two more games, and
then I’ll go.
An hour later, and the bank
is going to close.
I leave.
I can remember,
I’ll say to my grand kids,
When this match began.
Nicola Adams
She is fighting for me
For everything that has
happened to me
for all the shitty days I’ve
had.
She even threw a few for the
mediocre days too.
That Cancan bitch represents
a whole army of shit that has
surrounded me
all those swampy tiring
feelings
all those terrible bureaucracies
the bullies
the rejections
the snubs.
And Nicola Adams
is a hero, made of light
she appears
in a moment
and darts into the ring
and pulverises
everything bad.
Cancan?
Cancan’t more like.
Bye bye Red.
Join a river of blood
Nicola is here.
In tremendous flurries
smash her
smash her
Nicola
release me.
Shin A-lam
You were robbed by a
technocrat.
“The Korean Team
cannot accept this situation.”
But they can accept
it far more than you can, for
in the end didn’t they
strictly respect Olympic procedure
with their official
complaints and their appeals?
You abandoned all
decorum
and all precedent
as you sat there
for 40 minutes.
Sitting, crying
and refusing to move
is the primordial
protest.
Children do it,
lovers do it.
Those responsible
are lost. They
stand there, holding
a tea-towel
trying to talk the
protest round
but finding only
more protest.
You see, frustration
reaches a point
where it simply cannot
abide a moment longer
and in an exothermic
reaction
must decompose
into anger
or sorrow.
For you it was
sorrow,
gentle sorrow.
You sat on the edge
of the stage
and cried.
Sunday, 12 August 2012
Serena Williams
She is so fierce
So solemn
So dignified
That she would make The Predator
feel like the spoilt, silly
little boy he is.
When she plays
it is like she is playing
because
someone has kidnapped her
parents.
She may respect her opponent
but she must crush her.
Serena Williams
is a real lady, a real person
a real competitor, a serious
presence in the court.
She is gravity itself, her
face
is an arrow headed for the
heart of victory, her belly
is decision, her limbs are
light
and heavy at once, like dark
clouds.
Her eyelashes are blades
and her eyes are dying stars
with just enough light left
to conquer her ancient
nemesis
in his million forms,
then dance.
Noble lady of the court, tell
me this:
what kind of villain would I
have to be
for you to take up a blade
pursue me to the brink of my
evil
then nod, just once, and
acknowledge me
before you run me through?
Serena
kill me.
Saturday, 11 August 2012
More Gymnastics
Yusuke Tanaka
Fucked up his landing
and the punishment was severe
because suddenly Japan
who had sat in a silver shadow
for the whole game
slid to 4th.
Tanaka watched the screen
knowing it was his fault.
He gave a heavy sigh
letting air out slowly from his cheeks
like his face was a balloon that had set out
to traverse the earth
but had deflated above some rainforest
and sunk gracelessly below the treeline.
Similarly,
John Orosco did a really, really bad jump
and ruined the United States chances
of winning anything.
He looked like a child
whose prank had gone badly wrong,
breaking his kid-sister’s arm.
The United States love winning so much
while Japan are not keen on displays of emotion.
It was because of these things, I think,
rather than any difference between Orosco and Tanaka
that one sighed
and the other cried.
Gymnastics
There is a man from China
hanging from a bar. He is revolving
and spinning
and turning and swapping
hands and swapping
direction, flying up in the
air. The momentum
could easily carry him deep
into the crowd
or over the threshold of some
kind of record.
If it was a CGI sequence, you
would think
it was unrealistic. You
wouldn’t believe it.
The commentators, as well as
saying
stuff such as "Ah yes, the
double double"
are saying that this is a
scrappy performance.
He has made some arcane
mistake
with his hands. I didn’t
notice
but the commentators noticed
and the judges noticed
and he noticed.
Everyone is surprised as his
performance becomes
ever more frenetic
ever more ambitious.
He knows now he has nothing
to lose
and is uping the game.
I am terrified as
this is not a game
that can be safely
uped. He wheels
almost out of control,
then lands
perfectly
proud
arms
out.
Taekwondo
Watch the Taekwondo
and just have a look at the
referee.
Take the away the two
armour-plated women
jiggling and trying to kick
each other in the head
and you have yourself a
contemporary dance piece
of awkward beauty, strange
grace, and androgynous
sexiness.
She bends, she stoops, she
does a darting half turn, and her tie is still straight.
Occasionally she emits a
dangerous but controlled syllable.
If I were ever to be married
I would want a Taekwondo
referee to officiate.
Andy Murry
Andy Murry
Birdman of Dumblane
you are not perfect
you are flawed.
We do not worship you as a
hero
we love you like a brother
who steals bread to feed us.
These nations are almost too
heavy for you
the weight of our eyes
looking to you hungrily
is almost too much to bear.
But somehow
you are flying.
Judo
Judo
I’m not sure what they are
doing,
but it is a mighty struggle.
Eva Csernoviczki
has lost a fight
and now she wrestles a small
kindly looking woman.
The loser will be out for good.
Eva gets her head bashed,
hard.
But she has won.
She smiles
like mother who has won a
raffle
(except that she has hero’s
blood
all over her teeth).
Thursday, 9 August 2012
Imagine
Imagine
I met an old fella today
and he recons
that Federa let Murray win.
Do you?
Would he?
Could he?
It certainly looked like he did.
I didn’t say it at the time
because
was worried like I would
sound
like an amateurish
sport-watcher.
Imagine if he did though…
what a LOVELY guy.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)