soccer – poems 2 die for

FIELD OF PLAY

yet another humongous
rock approaching

coming at toxic velocity
to slap the dinosaur out of me

see if
    I can bounce back
school
     of hard knocks

take
it on the chin

but
did underestimate me
and my technical prowess
a devotee
sensei

of the
beautiful game

as I rose like a missile
to meet aforementioned comet
with the meat
of my forehead
clear my lines head
it away having
a neck of steel

sent that interstellar off
course trollop back
where
it came from

teach it to steer well
clear of this our
beloved Terra
this bright blue
ball that
we care so much for

never never
ever again
love itself so
shamelessly aimlessly
into our field of play

SOUPER

it is the souper
souped-up cup

supermen ubermensch
teams of eleven Messis
eleven Cristiano Ronaldos
each managed
by eleven Pep
Guardiolas

no offside law, infinite
omniscient VAR

four quarters, half-
time penalty shoot-outs
everyone wins but
survival of the fittest
massive
      reigns supreme
most gladiatorial of
all festivals of galactico

those about to do
do salute
             load of their shoulders
now no stupid
qualifying
     the algorithm determines
and (above all) relegation free

giving the people
the fans

exactly what
they have been told to want
(who says you can’t get
exactly what
we want?)

no boring overthink
of structures, formations,
systems, tactics

in fact no such thing
as tactics at all

the numbers
determine