sometimes the satnav doesn’t seem to work
the car ahead indicates right and turns left
each supermarket trolley has a wonkey wheel
mobile phones go out of signal
and the rain stair-rods in escalators
everywhich way except up
bar staff mishear or you misorder
turning another turns too
drinks collide, profuse apologies
and curses under breath
soggy burgers fall apart
too hurried to wait
umpires gloom at [...]
1.55pm sarnies eaten, supa-sopas supa-soping, umpires inspecting, arms folded, doesn’t look too good for early start of play. We’re in the upper press box stand, which is twinned with the SCG’s Doug Walters Ashtray, both being old-fashioned exposed slighty crumbly concrete edifices – ‘bit like you, dad’ says my daughter, Laurel, freezing next to me. [...]
Deus Ex Machina
“All-rounder Flintoff uses Nasa technology to aid recovery while asleep”
…..whirr, whirr, crutch, clutch, whirr, grunch, clunch, wunch, wunderkind, swoosh, swoosh, slosh, gosh, glug-glug-glug-glug-whirr-clung-cling-clong-helmet-clang, bing, bong, bing, yorker, yorker, rip-snorter, tapocatapocata-tapocatapocata, whirr, whirr, whoosh- whash, jigger-jagger-jigger-jagger ramming speed, Mr Zulu, the knee can take it, Cap’n, warp-factor ninety-five miles per hour, outer, outer,outer, inner’s [...]
On www.ashespoetry.net you’ll see an photo of the Adelaide Scoreboard, adapted to take tweets from http://twitter.com/ashespoetry to both indicate how the test’s going and also poetic ideas, notes towards drafting a poem for the day. All done in real time, a bit like leaning over the poet’s shoulder while they’re at their craft.
The idea was James [...]
3rd Test Australia v England Sydney Cricket Ground 7,8,10,11 January 1966 (5-day match)
G Boycott b Philpott 84
R W Barber b Hawke 185
Fall of wickets 1:234 (Boycott) …. England won by an innings and 93 runs
Watching Bob
‘Crikey, were fantastic,
they went everywhere,
smashed all around ground.
I said you can’t play like that,
this is a test match, of course [...]
“Set up nicely for Edgbaston. English and Australian fanatics calculate chances.”
At least half-a-million people were at Edgbaston to see the three run nail-biter of an English win in 2005. And at least half those half-a-million watched the 1966 World Cup victory, not to mention Roger Bannister’s four minute mile, Sir Len regain the Ashes in [...]
No two ways about, if you’re an Australian Fanatic, Lord’s was a dreadful result, nearly as bad, perhaps worse than drawing at Cardiff. Never mind the seventy-four year old Lord’s voodoo going down the clacker – historical records for Australian test teams are only there to be beaten. What’ll hurt is the failure to nail a dead-cert win at [...]
The Gun-shear’s crook, gone in the shank.
Jigg’d his achilles; Achilles is knack’d.
You other blokes, better step-up a rank,
The Gun-shear’s crook, fleece their attack.
Swine flu fever jumps cross paddocks,
Through town and country things seem black.
But your NHS’ll shepherd the stock,
Less known heroes shall stall its attack.
This is written in the style of Bush Ballads, composed by 19th century [...]
From capital to capital, Cardiff to London. The difference could hardly be greater. It was the first test ever in Wales as well as the series, whereas although any test at Lord’s is significant, especially against Australia, it was when all is said and done, just another test. There were no signs directing people to [...]
till the game’s bones break. All brave teams eat
at the same table. Their contest sated,
there will be more, if not more to meet
before time’s great door bequeaths the departed.
