Come to the Sports Hall

Cherry

By Jane Hyphen

Mon, 23 Oct 2023
  • 945 reads
12 comments
 

 

Words fired like quills 

and hair pulled sore at the root.

Shins blackened in brute blows.

Flesh hung out to dry

in frigid shows of shame.

Unchosen on the low bench.

A roar fills the ceiling space.

Sweat scents from the embers

of soft ligaments spent.

Names rung in sore throats.

The decades hung in echoes.

All faded paint and faces lost.

Limbs burning up the force of youth.

Pain unfelt on parquet squeaks.

Shining dreams of glory, 

for some, their only hope.

 

Stay behind and watch..

High windows to the treetops

with nets agape, hungry

for the ones who grew tall enough

to throw far - fall farthest.

Perched low, the watchers,

round backed in their support role.

Longing locked inside an ache,

to the heroes in the ring.

Names that glow as brands.

Taunts enough to burst the banks

of lost boys, washed away.

Wring the spirits of young girls

who hide and fall through gaps.

Charge enough to blow the roof.

Sharp as the whistle blows,

they fall apart and scatter far.

Glory raw or some injustice, 

Settled on the bus. 

New scores await another day.

 

Certificate U
Poem

Comments

Submitted by Ewan on

 Not for some, even now, I would venture to suggest.

Good poem.

Author Page at the 'Zon
 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Thanks for reading Ewan. I remember that place being obnoxiously loud, vicious and humiliating and I was neither sporty not unsporty. Thank you for the cherries.

 

Submitted by celticman on

watchers and waiters have their story. you tell it here. what you fear. or worse, made to play ball. 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Made to play ball, you're correct, that's the worst. Thanks for reading x

 

Submitted by Turlough on

An enjoyable poem, even though it does remind me of the maths lessons at my school.

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Ha ha, you must have gone to a mixed mega comprehensive like me then. Those poor teachers, the ones who tried that is. Thank you for reading.

 

Submitted by Turlough on

Yep... the biggest in the land, we were told. Foxwood School in the middle of Seacroft estate in Leeds. It was a comprehensive school purpose built in the 1950s and at the time (way before my time) advocates of the comprehensive system sent their kids there from all over Yorkshire. It was past its best when I was there in the 1970s and eventually it got so bad that it was demolished around twenty years ago.

The television adaptation of Alan Plater's 'The Beiderbecke Affair' was filmed there in the 1980s. Watching that on Sunday evenings always generated a frenzy of me saying 'ooh, that's where I used to... etc' much to the annoyance of people in my company who weren't from Leeds.  

I'm sort of proud of it... though probably more proud of the fact that I survived it than I am of the school itself. 

Sorry, I've gone on a bit about this dear old hell hole. I bet you're sorry you mentioned it.

laugh

Turlough

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

But you got to meet every type of person who exists and at such a young age. That's definitely a priceless education of sorts and goes far deeper than anything they could teach you at Eton....

 

Submitted by Insertponceyfre... on

It's such a shame to hear so many of us didn't enjoy those years - some teachers shine out in my memory but they were few and far between. Why are we so rubbish at education?

 

Submitted by Turlough on

A few of our teachers were good and I enjoyed geography lessons. Apart from that I wonder what I was doing there at all. I don't see much of what they taught me being of any use to me in adult life.

But ask me about an ox bow lake and you'll struggle to shut me up.

Turlough

Submitted by skinner_jennifer on

Hi Jane, a profound observation of school sports activitities, it was all supposed to be energetic fun, but I hated every moment.

Though after leaving school I came into my own and was more into ice skating, dancing and Yoga...then much later on dance aerobics. I wish during the sixties school life, we'd had more of a varied choice and been allowed to choose, but all we had in my eyes was boring netball, hockey, tennis and rounders.

But I know things have changed now, so it's just a personal feeling. I'm sure the teachers are far more in touch with youngsters now, than they were in my day.

You definitely evoke the atmosphere in this poem.

Jenny.

 

 

 

Submitted by Jane Hyphen on

Hi Jenny, I agree with you. I hated PE at secondary school and I have to say, our female teachers were absolutely awful, more interested in checking you had the right colour pants on and trying to shame you than encourage you. I remember we had to where some sort of grey, what can only be described as hot pants, so traumatic when you're going through puberty.

Like you, I found my own way into sport and I love being active thesedays, no thanks to school. Like you say, things are much better for kids now.

Thank you for reading and your insightful comment.