Well, Bill, I can’t say OI’m that interested, but then you tell the tale so neatly, I enjoyed it all. And there is a place for narrative poetry of many kinds, after all.
Doug
> On Feb 5, 2020, at 4:59 AM, Patrick McManus <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> ah the Tennis season round the world feathers flying it seems -but from which bird we may well ask -hopefully not singed !
>
> thanks P
>
> On 04/02/2020 20:56, Bill Wootton wrote:
>> Two sets down, groin injury treated mid-match, swearing,
>>
>> in what he hoped was an unknown language
>>
>> but didn’t end up being because a multilingual ball person
>>
>> picked it up and dobbed him in to the ref
>>
>> causing interrogation and further disgruntlement,
>>
>> Roger is about to serve again to his lower ranked opponent
>>
>> when suddenly he is stilled.
>>
>>
>>
>> A feather
>>
>> floats
>>
>> in his gaze
>>
>> almost as if he has willed it into being.
>>
>> First the hollow shaft, the calamus,
>>
>> dips,
>>
>> then pops up,
>>
>> allowing the top end of the rachis
>>
>> to take its playful downward turn
>>
>> and on
>>
>> and down
>>
>> like a tiny skiff in a dancing sea
>>
>> until it settles on the blue court.
>>
>>
>>
>> Roger’s eyes have followed it all the way
>>
>> to its soft, silent landing.
>>
>> Now he steps over the baseline,
>>
>> drops to one knee,
>>
>> picks up the feather between thumb and forefinger,
>>
>> and deposits it behind the playing area.
>>
>> The ref allows the delay.
>>
>> His opponent fumes.
>>
>>
>>
>> That’s all it takes.
>>
>> He wins his service game,
>>
>> calmly returns anything sent his way thereafter,
>>
>> and accepts the match,
>>
>> does Roger Featherer.
>>
>>
>>
>> bw
Douglas Barbour
[log in to unmask]
https://eclecticruckus.wordpress.com/
Recent publications: (With Sheila E Murphy) Continuations & Continuations 2 (UofAPress).
Recording Dates (Rubicon Press).
Listen. If (UofAPress):
Done in by creation itself.
I mean the gods. Not us. Well us too.
The gods moved into books. Who wrote the books?
We wrote the books. In whose dream, then are we dreaming?
Robert Kroetsch
########################################################################
To unsubscribe from the POETRYETC list, click the following link:
https://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/cgi-bin/webadmin?SUBED1=POETRYETC&A=1
|