pallas_athena (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
pallas_athena) wrote2010-06-16 12:58 am
pallas_athena) wrote2010-06-16 12:58 am
Football for poets
It was all the quidnunc kid's fault.
It was he who, in this MetaFilter thread, proposed a bet on the England/USA World Cup game: loser to write a sonnet in praise of the winner's nation.
Personally, I think he must have been inspired by Insomnia, Muse Of Amazing Ideas That Come To You At Around 4 In The Morning When All You Want To Do Is Sleeeeeep. That's the level of genius we're talking here. This scheme makes football interesting to poets. It also meant the Universe got to behold the beautiful spectacle of Quid grinding out a fourteen-line encomium to the nation that beat his birthplace 4-0.
For the full sonnet duel, including two by me, I refer you to the MetaFilter thread. In the meantime, I'll shamelessly steal Quid's idea and run with it. Who'll bet? Name your match, name the winner, and you're on. Fixtures here.
(Even if you don't usually write poetry, feel free to join in... nobody said it had to be a good sonnet, right?)
It was he who, in this MetaFilter thread, proposed a bet on the England/USA World Cup game: loser to write a sonnet in praise of the winner's nation.
Personally, I think he must have been inspired by Insomnia, Muse Of Amazing Ideas That Come To You At Around 4 In The Morning When All You Want To Do Is Sleeeeeep. That's the level of genius we're talking here. This scheme makes football interesting to poets. It also meant the Universe got to behold the beautiful spectacle of Quid grinding out a fourteen-line encomium to the nation that beat his birthplace 4-0.
For the full sonnet duel, including two by me, I refer you to the MetaFilter thread. In the meantime, I'll shamelessly steal Quid's idea and run with it. Who'll bet? Name your match, name the winner, and you're on. Fixtures here.
(Even if you don't usually write poetry, feel free to join in... nobody said it had to be a good sonnet, right?)
no subject
* You're a Cyrano groupie, so loser's encomium in Alexandrines / Rostand style, English or French, rather than a sonnet :-)
Oui ou non?
no subject
no subject
I was right that Brazil would beat Cote d'Ivoire, so that's your sonnet of admiration for Brazil, but France have failed, so that's me praising South Africa. I shall have to start thinking . . .
South Africa
Let vuvuzelas bray, blaring their joy en masse
(performing quite by chance a work by Philip Glass)
The rainbow nation wins. Ok, success too late,
But better late than never; winning still feels great.
Scoring not once but twice against the mighty Bleus
(and last sixteen, if only Mexico would lose).
With players but little known, South Africa pressed on
Against a French team stars in Europe every one
But stars whose fires were dim, indifferent to their fate,
The home fans roar them on, the nation can but wait
As ninety minutes tick by, their tournament then done
But praise and joy abound ‘cos at the last: they won!
Having the extra two syllables does help, with vuvuzela ;->
ça suffit?
Re: South Africa
Sonnet (totally not from the Portuguese)
The young and lovely grow up tan and tall
On custard tarts and feijoada stew,
Becoming mighty footers of the ball.
On that sun-warmed greensward where nations meet,
The sons of high Brazil none may withstand;
The chequered leather dances at their feet,
And from the net is stayed by outstretch'd hand.
All other nations quail when they do hear
The samba sound, and hold their manhoods cheap:
Their forwards fall; defenders die for fear;
The goal's great gate the keeper cannot keep.
O leave the field! In vain is all your skill,
For only gods could ever beat Brazil.
Re: Sonnet (totally not from the Portuguese)
Re: Sonnet (totally not from the Portuguese)