Hi Matt. There is something universal and eternal about the game of cricket. A team game, of course, but so essentially about individual acts of bravery and determination that transcend skill, stubborn defiance, physical wills in contest, mano e mano, only the next ball, all these and that is understood to be the game's essence or it is not and , if not,then the whole magic of the game is missed. All life is mirrored in the game. I cannot apologise for my love of the game, a love that will have me standing on a train, leaning from a window to try and see the next ball bowled as I pass.
I have been last man and I have opened. To be last man is to be branded the worst batsman in the side and you have captured that dedication, that pig headedness that seeks to prove all wrong. A good poem for the cricketer to appreciate but universal in its scope. Arthur.
-----Original Message-----
From: The Pennine Poetry Works on behalf of Merritt, Matt - Leic. Mercury
Sent: Wed 21/07/2004 16:27
To: [log in to unmask]
Cc:
Subject: New sub: Last Man
Apologies to any of you who hate cricket, or just cricket poems.
Last Man
No chance now, not so much as a glimmer,
and no use relying on the English weather.
This is his summer - not the poets' spell
cast by white-clad ritual, but the long walk
from a dressing room thick with sweat, steam
and the slow afternoon's deep heat,
arriving at a crease cratered and scarred,
team-mates already drowning defeat,
lights showing bright from the Welfare's bar.
Then the urge to go down all guns blazing,
bat flailing through the frantic arc from
desperate to glorious, but each week instead
this same stonewall stand. The stained
Gunn and Moore snug in his hands, full face
flush against out-thrust pad. Batting back bored
looks from beneath the gathered baseball caps.
And walking off again unconquered, intact.
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