THE WORLD CUP
I did have an idea to celebrate 40 years since 1966. I wanted to get 11 poets to write 11 poems about the team of ’66. However, I couldn’t get a publisher or sponsor interested, so in the end I wrote a series of poems myself. They are everyman recollections that try and capture something of the men, the magnitude, the mood and the memories. You can click on the names on the image to see the poems.
NATURAL AND INSTINCTIVE
( For Roger Hunt )
To seek out and wait for the kill.
Deadly, you rarely missed your target
Instinctive and natural
Your predatory instincts so fitting
With a name like yours
And in that moment when the ball bounced …
Down from the crossbar
And confusion begat controversy
The arguments and doubts,
The ifs and buts and maybes …
All of these would rage on for years,
Decades even,
And still they may remain unsolved
But you had no doubt,
No doubt whatsoever.
As the ball bounced in that never-never land
You turned away jubilant,
Your goal celebration already in progress.
With a name like yours,
A reputation like yours
And an instinct like yours
Had there been any doubt in your mind
You would have surely pounced and made certain.
But there was no doubt in your mind
And because of that
We can rest assured
PAUL COOKSON