by Indran Amirthanayagam
It was a difficult day at the Qatar World Cup. Our American ambassadors,
Argentina and Brazil, both with attacking teams who strike as lightning
and sit back as well controlling the ball, dribbling it back and forth,
wearing the patience down of their European opponents—had leads
vanish with minutes to go, the European powers striking back,
and in the case of Croatia pulling off the upset, mighty Brazil losing
on penalties. But Argentina survived. Shot its penalties with clinical
power, and their goalkeeper used his brain to anticipate the directions
of the Dutch kicks. I am writing this to remember a Friday in December
when honor lay on the field, and glory, and also bitter defeat. This is
the field of battle, the football field, the field of dreams, the field of
identities, how if our country loses we shift then to its natural neighbor,
overcoming regional rivalries in the name of a greater continental unity.
Imagine how Moroccans feel now as they represent their country and all
of Africa and all migrants too, as many have grown up away from
their kingdom, in exile, when they strap on their boots to play Portugal
in the next quarterfinal? My documenting pen will dress with them.
The diaspora team, my friend calls not only Morocco but France,
England and many others. Football is the identity card,
the passport. Borders are fluid, 2022 composed of a motley crew
of border crossers, migrant wonders, football envoys.
Indran Amirthanayagam is the translator of Origami: Selected Poems of Manuel Ulacia (Dialogos Books). Ten Thousand Steps Against the Tyrant (BroadstoneBooks) is the newest collection of Indran's own poems. Recently published is Blue Window (Ventana Azul), translated by Jennifer Rathbun.(Dialogos Books). In 2020, Indran produced a “world" record by publishing three new poetry books written in three languages: The Migrant States (Hanging Loose Press, New York), Sur l'île nostalgique (L’Harmattan, Paris) and Lírica a tiempo (Mesa Redonda, Lima). He writes in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Haitian Creole and has twenty poetry books as well as a music album Rankont Dout. He edits The Beltway Poetry Quarterly and helps curate Ablucionistas. He won the Paterson Prize and received fellowships from The Foundation for the Contemporary Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, US/Mexico Fund For Culture, and the MacDowell Colony. He hosts the Poetry Channel on YouTube and publishes poetry books with Sara Cahill Marron at Beltway Editions.