Poetry - April 2024

Race Walking Oddness

I must admit there's one thing
That is at every athletics championship
And I cannot work out how you judge it
When you see people swinging their hip
Competitive race walking is odd to me
As one foot should always be on the ground
How anyone can judge that at the pace
Makes me wonder what's actually allowed
There seems to be a technique to it all
And a sense of walking at speed
With a judge producing a yellow card
For a transgression that they did indeed
But it doesn't yet quite hit with me
You would be better off having a run
Yet it does always produce the crowds
Who want to see a long walk for fun.

(Not for me, but always a bit odd seeing how race walking works in major events.)

Friday Night Failures

I arrive at Euston station
With my train due out later tonight
But there seems to be something
That doesn't seem quite right
There are more people on the concourse
With them all packed inside
And then an announcement is made
That doesn't make me feel alright
So it seems like due to lack of drivers
There may be some long delays
I'm waiting to see if there's an option
To perhaps go from another way
Then it all seems as if someone is moving
As a train is announced on platform three
There's a massive scurrying of people
Heading to Glasgow Central quickly
But yet there is still some time
Before a train to Manchester is on the board
And I am ready and waiting by the ramp
So the platform can be reached and I board
It's another Friday night of delays
As I head up North to see my love
But I do wonder how many times I do this
Where Avanti just seem to stuff it up.

(It is sometimes so difficult to motivate on a Friday night where the trains are always seemingly having something go on - and usually down to Avanti Worst Coast being bobbins.)

Marathon Marvels

The elite runners may have covered the course
But it's all the everyday masses who interest me
As they attempt to beat their own best time
Raising millions of pounds for charity
There's a real sense of pride and achievement
As the race starts in Greenwich Park
The crowds cheer you on the first few miles
And build to a crescendo at Cutty Sark
There's a race along South East London
Before they all reach Tower Bridge
Knowing they're almost half way there
With the crowds cheering them every minute
The Isle of Dogs and Canary Wharf
Means more left and right turns to take
And with every mile under their belts
It's more pain and more potential to ache
But a run along the Thames means they are close
As the end then becomes very much in sight
And that final turn to the Mall
Means a sprint is on to the line alright
And a best is achieved by so many
But the best thing of all is their own goal
Of doing this for everyone they are about
And showing their running skills for all.

(The London Marathon really does bring out the good people to run and go for it.)

Where Did That Aeroplane Go?

The old days when ITV was a proper channel
It had a sports programme to match
With the wrestling always on at 4pm sharp
And DIckie Davies in the presenters' hotseat
The studio would be a chorus of old typewriters
Giving Dickie the stories as they happened
But best of all was the title sequence
With the big World of Sport S logo
Carried forward by a plane
And now as I look back to my childhood past
And listen to the theme tune on a CD
I can only wonder where that aeroplane went
Once it was decommissioned circa 1983.

(If anyone does know what happened to that plane, I am intrigued!)

Eyes On Cat Haiku

Brian's eyes are on
The bird outside in the trees
He won't move from there!

(Brian the cat always spots the birds in the trees near his window and he is transfixed, and won't move with a complete focus on the outside.)