God, autocorrect! I meant, of course, snap, Billā¦
Doug
> On Aug 16, 2017, at 4:32 PM, Bill Wootton <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
>
> a snail?
>
> On Thu, 17 Aug 2017 at 5:01 AM, Douglas Barbour <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> More a short documentary than a snail, Bill. Lots of info on a past
>> unshared over here, but relatableā¦
>>
>> Doug
>>> On Aug 16, 2017, at 2:53 AM, Patrick McManus <
>> [log in to unmask]> wrote:
>>>
>>> cheers Bill exploring your schooldays be good to see the game on video
>> on the net
>>>
>>> where is Mark Boyce now?
>>>
>>>
>>> On 15/08/2017 23:20, Bill Wootton wrote:
>>>> Before school, at recess, lunchtime,
>>>> we line up parallel with the grey brick wall.
>>>> First boy looks back along the line,
>>>>
>>>> hits the tennis ball with his open palm,
>>>> underhand, down into the asphalt.
>>>> Up it bounces onto the wall
>>>>
>>>> just above the metal drip shield
>>>> about eighteen inches up
>>>> and back to ground somewhere else
>>>>
>>>> where the next boy continues,
>>>> perhaps winding up and smashing it,
>>>> forcing the third boy to run back to reach it
>>>>
>>>> or angling it severely,
>>>> causing lateral panic for the kid after him.
>>>> Best of all: the masked, subtle drop shot,
>>>>
>>>> from deep in the makeshift 'court'
>>>> which has no back line
>>>> or side line for that matter,
>>>>
>>>> the only arbiter required,
>>>> the ping of hitting that tin line
>>>> causing immediate elimination
>>>>
>>>> just as surely as not reaching your shot
>>>> or not getting ball to wall with one bounce.
>>>> The number of players keeps whittling down
>>>>
>>>> till you're down to the final two.
>>>> If Boycey's your opponent, watch out!
>>>> Mark Boyce, acid-tongued slow talker,
>>>>
>>>> shock of orange hair and fat freckles,
>>>> gangly as all get-out and a downball legend.
>>>> Never seems rushed but he gets there,
>>>>
>>>> wherever you put the ball,
>>>> then he'll thud it back over your head
>>>> or caress it so it grazes the wall
>>>>
>>>> and piddles out to nothing.
>>>> Self-regulating, all-seasons downball,
>>>> only fizzled with the coming of cigarettes.
>>>>
>>>> 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):
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Violence can only be concealed by a lie,
>> and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
>> Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method iss inevitably
>> forced to take the lie as his principle.
>>
>> Alexander Solzhenitzyn
>>
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):
Violence can only be concealed by a lie,
and the lie can only be maintained by violence.
Any man who has once proclaimed violence as his method iss inevitably forced to take the lie as his principle.
Alexander Solzhenitzyn
|