25 Jan 2019: " Football" by Louis Jenkins

I take the snap from the center, fake to the right, fade back...
I've got protection. I've got a receiver open downfield...
What the hell is this? This isn't a football, it's a shoe, a man's
brown leather oxford. A cousin to a football maybe, the same
skin, but not the same, a thing made for the earth, not the air.
I realize that this is a world where anything is possible and I
understand, also, that one often has to make do with what one
has. I have eaten pancakes, for instance, with that clear corn
syrup on them because there was no maple syrup and they
weren't very good. Well, anyway, this is different. (My man
downfield is waving his arms.) One has certain responsibilities,
one has to make choices. This isn't right and I'm not going
to throw it.


1 comment:

  1. This is just a really fun poem.

    After reading the Gita, this is like thw opppsite. A quarterbacks yoga of action is to throw the pass. Yet, our narrator decides non action. This should have been the super bowl poem. Maybe I'll switch it in the morning.

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