FOOTBALL WIRE, FINAL

by Indran Amirthanayagam 

Lionel Messi kisses the trophy.

We are exhausted and delirious throughout

the continent, rising and falling as our team

controlled the play and was facing an apparently

easy and merited victory with less than fifteen

minutes left and then we lost a penalty, and

two minutes later a shot from Mbappe

so powerful no goalkeeper could have

stopped it; and our players are tired

yet they must limp into injury time

 

not letting any more goals, so the mini-

match over thirty minutes can decide,

and again we go ahead and then a loose

Argentine hand touches the ball in the area,

an accident, but that of course is irrelevant

to destiny, and we are back in the penalty box

and Mbappe does not miss. Tied now

at three, we try and try but our last shots

do not hit the net, and we are left to finish

 

the match in the penalty box. Then

our goalkeeper, Martinez, our final fortress, 

stops a French penalty, then another goes 

wide, and all the Argentines score 

with precision. The game is won, 

the World Cup won. We are tired 

and barely typing on the wire, the keyboard. 

But as eyewitnesses, poets, journalists, 

we have to write our impressions out. 

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.

GOING HOME

by Anne Harding Woodworth

Portrait of Grant Wahl by Dan Leydon. “Grant arrived home Monday, December 12, and this transition was handled with the utmost care and sensitivity… An autopsy was performed by the New York City Medical Examiner’s Office. Grant died from the rupture of a slowly growing, undetected ascending aortic aneurysm with hemopericardium. The chest pressure he experienced shortly before his death may have represented the initial symptoms. No amount of CPR or shocks would have saved him. His death was unrelated to COVID. His death was unrelated to vaccination status. There was nothing nefarious about his death. While the world knew Grant as a great journalist, we knew him as a man who approached the world with openness and love.” —Céline Gounder, Grant’s Wife, at Substack.

      In memory of Grant Wahl

The shoot-out wasn’t over

when you left.

But you know by now

that Argentina sent

The Netherlands packing,

a fitting end to a soccer game,

to any game, really,

which is all it is we’re playing.

You, one of the lucky ones—

you turned yours into a living.

Living. You lived to the max,

free to write of parties,

beautiful vistas, catastrophes,

trivia, friends, fears, premonitions.

Your wrote down your observations

of injustice as fluidly as those

of offside or of a shoot-out.

You left early, Grant, probably

just hours before you’d posted

your “Three Thoughts” on the game.

And the Netherlands went home.

Anne Harding Woodworth’s eighth book of poetry, Gender: Two Novellas in Verse, is a Literary Titan Silver Award Winner. Her book Trouble received the 2022 William Meredith Award for Poetry.

DIASPORA FOOTBALL

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.

SOME MEMORIES OF THE QATAR GAMES

by Sister Lou Ella Hickman, I.W.B.S.

A woman holds up sign reading Woman Life Freedom, prior to the World Cup group B soccer match between England and Iran at the Khalifa International Stadium in in Doha, Qatar, Nov. 21, 2022. (AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino)

armbands 
hands covering mouths 
wales a flag 
a falling star 
silent voices for a national song 
(did you know the team and their families were threatened) 
silence for a dead lady 
signs for “Women, Life, Freedom”  
“no politics in sports” the cry
yet politiká in greece where sports also ruled 
a word for a network and affairs of the cities 
a small world if you will 
our world now 
in a game 
where the boundaries of freedom’s speech 
end and begin 
now  
who will speak for those who died building 

Sister Lou Ella has a master’s in theology from St. Mary’s University in San Antonio and is a former teacher and librarian. She is a certified spiritual director as well as a poet and writer.  Her poems have appeared in numerous magazines such as America, First Things, Emmanuel, Third Wednesday, and The New Verse News as well as in four anthologies: The Night’s Magician: Poems about the Moon, edited by Philip Kolin and Sue Brannan Walker, Down to the Dark River edited by Philip Kolin, Secrets edited by Sue Brannan Walker and After Shocks: The Poetry of Recovery for Life-Shattering Events edited by Tom Lombardo. She was nominated for the Pushcart Prize in 2017 and in 2020. Her first book of poetry entitled she: robed and wordless was published in 2015 (Press 53.) On May 11, 2021, five poems from her book which had been set to music by James Lee III were performed by the opera star Susanna Phillips, star clarinetist Anthony McGill, pianist Mayra Huang at the 92nd Street Y in New York City. The group of songs is entitled “Chavah’s Daughters Speak.”

BALL OF MIRTH

by Dick Altman

As if the fate of nations

hung in the balance,

World Cup enters its final laps.

Though it would bring a smile,

if my hometown America

took home the gold,

I neither hold my breath

nor torture myself

over the outcome.

 

Because, in my eyes, soccer

is less about winning,

than the friendships

that encircle the ball,

whatever color of foot,

language or nationality.

 

I motorcycle—

between grad school

and college—

across Europe.

On my luggage rack,

tied in a net,

a soccer ball.

On every beach,

every campsite,

the ball serves as the key

to a kingdom of friendships.

 

The night I visit Greece’s Delphi,

mythical home of the Oracle,

I doubt even she could

have predicted what would

happen as I slept.

Someone likely too poor

to own a ball of their own

burns—likely with a cigarette—

a hole in the net

and steals the ball.

 

This—after five-thousand

kilometers starting in Amsterdam.

I could only smile.

What they really stole

was the fun—and I,

kid of twenty-two,

on a fantasy trip

most my age

could only dream about,

could afford to share

a ball that would,

in days, months,

even years to come,

produce,

in every dribble and kick,

unyielding rounds of mirth.

Dick Altman writes in the high, thin, magical air of Santa Fe, NM, where, at 7,000 feet, reality and imagination often blur. He is published in Santa Fe Literary Review, American Journal of Poetry, riverSedge, Fredericksburg Literary Review, Foliate Oak, Blue Line, THE Magazine, Humana obscura, The Offbeat, Haunted Waters Press, Split Rock Review, The RavensPerch, Beyond Words, The New Verse News, Sky Island Journal, and others here and abroad. A poetry winner of Santa Fe New Mexican’s annual literary competition, he has in progress two collections of some 100 published poems. His work has been selected for the forthcoming first volume of The New Mexico Anthology of Poetry to be published by the New Mexico Museum Press.

EQUAL WORK / EQUAL PAY

by Tricia Knoll

They won the applause. And the little trophy.
And the Nike swooshes on their uniforms.
They took it hot and humid, running.
Heart and soul. Heads and heels.
We waved our flags.
We painted our faces.
They won the games:
one after another won.
New York throws a ticker tape
down the Canyon of Heroes
and confetti rains down
on their ponytails and bobs.
(Who’d want to go
to the White House?)

Now the big question
is not skill, commitment,
drive, energy, or strength:
will they get equal pay?
The golden question.

Tricia Knoll has held feminist ideals aloft for many decades, rejoices in the strength and athletic prowess of all the womens' teams who competed in the World Cup, and celebrates the success of the U. S. Women's Team and their friendships.

WORLD CUP ABECEDARIAN

by Judith Terzi

Argentina, don't cry for Messi yet, he's razzmatazz.

Belgium's a mess, Stella Artois all flat, all teary.

Clear the slate; let's send referees for a prism fix.

Dear Landon, we know what you are saying now:

"Eat your veggies, Schatzi, you screwed up, Luv."

France, oh Vive la France fancy pants, you

gorged on chagrin. Cancel the brie, the escargot,

hold the boeuf bourguignon, chocolate soufflés.

Ich möchte some Spätzle, some Braunschweiger.

Ja, pour some Reisling, Gewürztraminer pdq.

Kiss me Karim Benzema though you didn't top

leger-de-pied Zizou. So sexy with a beard. Who

melts your heart Karim? A French model queen!

Neymar, Zúñiga has your back, your samba dream,

oneiric bossa nova Jobim. You're out for a spell––

punch of knee from hell. We felt the crunch, crack,

quick as Dutchman goalie Krul, as Juan-the-raj.

Rats, Costa Rica, tou-can not drink from the Cup, I

say. We'll visit your rain forests, your three-toed sloth.

Time to say chill, Chile. Alexis couldn't sew the snag

under your cleats. But the poet pardons: Brazil off   

victorious. Pablo tips his sombrero from the grave,

waits: Will it be the Americas or the E.U? The bard

x's out a tercet about dribblers and voodoo magic

you know who is praying will work. Meanwhile, grab

zee zapper and a seat and blow that vuvuzela.

Judith Terzi holds an M.A. in French Literature. Recent poetry has appeared or is forthcoming in journals and anthologies including The Centrifugal Eye, Myrrh, Mothwing, Smoke: Erotic Poems (Tupelo), Wide Awake: The Poets of Los Angeles and Beyond (Beyond Baroque), The Raintown Review, and elsewhere. Ghazal for a Chambermaid (Finishing Line, 2013) is her third chapbook. 

MEMO: IN MEXICO'S DEFENSE

by Margaret Rozga

Mexico Finds Itself Knee-Deep in Victory -- NY Times, June 23, 2014

The ball touches his fingertips
ricochets left of the goal.

The ball against his body
for another save, and in the 69th minute
he saves again with the upper part
of his left thigh.

“There are nights” he says
“when the ball seems to hit you even
If you close your eyes.”

Mexico’s Coach Miguel Herrera
chose at the last minute to go with the calm
of goalie Guillermo Ochoa.

The ball is in his hands,
his calm and saving hands.


Margaret Rozga has published two books: Two Hundred Nights and One Day and Though I Haven’t Been to Baghdad.  Her new book  Justice   Freedom   Herbs   is scheduled for January 2015 publication.

MESSI'S DANCE

by Lori Desrosiers

Lionel Messi runs, legs leading,
dances the ball down the field
hops over other players’ feet,
perfect kick makes a goooooal!

Lanky bodies in yellow sneakers
leap into air almost in flight
trying to head the ball, the Spanish
announcer shouts y la cabeza!

These lovely young men with
their lovely bodies remind me
of the young woman I was

my body lithe and strong
I leapt after my children
climbed hills with them
and rolled down together

barely thinking of the future
only hoping to get them there
to help them discover their dreams
dance like Messi towards their goals.


Lori Desrosiers’ first book of poems, The Philosopher’s Daughter is from Salmon Poetry. A second book is due out in 2016. Her poems have appeared in New Millenium Review, Contemporary American Voices, BigCityLit, Concise Delights, Blue Fifth Review, Pirene's Fountain, The New Verse News, The Mom Egg and many more. She publishes Naugatuck River Review, a journal of narrative poetry.

HOLY MACARENA MAJOR WORLD RELIGION

by Saknarin Chinayote & Charles Frederickson

Only sport played in every
Country around rotating spherical globe
Defeatist loser mentality thinking squad
Shoulda coulda woulda might’ve didn’t

Team sport sense of togetherness
Combining experience balanced with youth
Requiring gritty perseverance sacrifice dedication
Practice practice more committed practice

It’s not the will to
Win but willful positive mindset
Being ever-prepared to win finding
Different insights to achieve goals

Best teams often are eliminated
Not believing they can hard
Enough regretfully upsetting compromised expectations
Deflating swelled ego nationalistic pride

Anything can happen probably will
Nothing simulated playing for real
Uniting uneven odds enthusiastic motivation
Catching fever pass it on

Passion evolves in 4-year cycles
2018 Olympics World Cup bids
The future isn’t something we
Enter it’s something we create

No Holds Bard Dr. Charles Frederickson and Mr. Saknarin Chinayote proudly present YouTube mini-movies @ YouTube – CharlesThai1 .