Watching my 10 year old grandson Conner’s football game I glimpsed what a physical and logistically involved (on and off the field) game American football is — and fear for what may await the youth of Empire.
1. On approaching the field in bright sunlight:
Summer sun turns AstroTurf
among sporting noise din
a gleaming silvery surf.
Staunch fans frantic for win.
Throaty roars, yells fierce
chilling whistles pierce.
2. Boys, suited up:
Kids pumped, padded.
Shoulders hefty, awed
armor added
chest thumpingly broad.
Facial visors like on biting dogs
on shiny helmets of enormity.
Tights fitted legs look like those of frogs
in somewhat comical deformity.
3. The Game:
No letting up, no relief
for running backs & guards
in explosive rushes brief
scoring rushed hard won yards.
Game choreographed tightly
with stoic players knightly.
Piling up, bit unsightly
quickly bouncing back sprightly.
4. Parental camps:
Dug in on opposite sidelines.
Their cheering, as it would seem
by most partisan of guidelines:
Never for the other team!
5. Moms:
Exhorting in voices shrill:
“Team, show’em your guts & kill!”
Shoulders bared, nostrils flared
big hair, glossy lips.
Decolletage unimpaired,
tight pants, heavy hips.
6. Dads:
Chiseled granite jaws jutting
with gaze, steely steady.
Firm comments curtly cutting:
“Bring it on, we’re ready!”
7. Game over, shipping home:
Boys in soiled gladiator dresses
whisked away soaked in wheeled fortresses.
To return another day
unleashing same cyclone.
To rejoin the sporting fray
pumping testosterone.
Let’s hope in Ellensburg or Elyria,
but I do fear in the hills of Syria.
(+)
-bring it on = to express confidence in meeting a challenge
-Ellensburg, WA or Elyria, OH = as examples of Anytown, USA
-wheeled fortress = here: (huge) SUV, van or truck
edited 03/21/18 1705
