Sport 41: 2013
Stepping Stones
Stepping Stones
1 FOOTBALL CHANT
The referee whistles infringement—
a red card, and I die.
I’ll hoof that bloody football
high beyond the sky.
2 QUESTION
How to tell those lovely kids that Daddy-O is on the skids
to nowhere?
3 BIOPSY
They slice and dice
my slice of life—
poker with the Joker.
4 TIME ADDED ON
Predictably—in light of the offence—the card is red.
And somebody’s pinched the football.
Bastard!
page 80 5 LEGEND
Oh my darling, oh my darling, oh my darling Christine-mine!
How to believe that I must leave you?
The Legend, in my Time.
6 VOMIT
If you listen to Nike, just do it!
A mess on floor outside my back door,
waiting for someone to view it.
And spew it.
7 TREATMENT
A model is masked for this pretty task,
cradling the head in a basket.
In puffs of hot breath, life peers at death.
An interior view of the casket.
8 THE LAST BUS
runs no timetable.
But I must catch it, while I’m able.
page 81
9 NO RELIGION, BUT
To Zoe and David
(Davy and Zo, there is no proper way round),
a sanction granting permission
to play on my shallowed ground.