A ghost came into my dreams ‘Someone’s gonna go and you’re gonna miss them’ is what it said and went off again.
See how being the life and soul of the party can leave you in the dark shadows buried with the roots of a tree. ‘Someone’s gonna go and you’re gonna miss them’ is what it said and went off again.
The joy of living a charmed life. The psychedelic colours of daytime. The sleep of the dead deeper than the living out for the night from their tomb. ‘Someone’s gonna go and you’re gonna miss them’ is what it said and went off again.
You have a first, middle and surname but none of them stay the same. Some get shortened being a mouthful or get punned right from school.
You lend yourself to nicknames that you get known by. Some know you as this, some as that. Some just get your name wrong and you let it lie.
You even changed it and took on new identities. So crafty, you can’t even track yourself down. You become a runaway at large. Hand yourself in as a missing person.
Years later it all comes back to haunt you as you call yourself names in the mirror. And just to think it all started with your birth certificate which couldn’t have been clearer.
She walks down that street looking like a star I’m gonna meet. My jaw dropping heart stopping. Seen it all before but I was blind.
Regrets I’ve had a few, Frank. Strangers in the night, Frank. Love your songs, Frank, and you were always way ahead, Frank. So how come you kept me behind, Frank?
When you watch a gritty mother saying she’s told the kids their house has burned down. When you watch a Borg -McEnroe doc on their struggles, rivalry and friendship. When you see how much sacrifice a women’s England football player made to get to the top. When you see a friend struggling with bureaucracy diagnosed with cancer.
When you look back. When nostalgia brings a lump to your throat. When a song comes on that gets you going cos you suddenly got older. When there’s a moment you could have changed.
When you watch a soppy film about pets. When someone dies. When your team wins. When someone says something that isn’t even upsetting. When something triggers something, or teary little bullets in you.
When you get good news out the blue. Not often bad news cos you hold it back And not always when you should. It usually comes when least expected
But that’s when you get like the poem title says. Probably on your own, the best way. Sometimes with others. When you think to yourself something they won’t say.
When you surprise yourself ‘Well yeah, I can get emotional.’
In football, not everyone wants it. Not everyone gets it (even if they want it). There’s the chance to win, the chance to lose with those looming penalties as a brilliant bonus or shitty cruels!
In life, you’d normally want it, wouldn’t you? Unless, for some reason, penalties would take you to all-time lows. But, in life, I’d say everyone wants it but not everyone gets it as the final whistle blows.
Extra time – I wish you’d had it. 90 minutes didn’t quite do you justice on the whole. Extra time – I’d have loved you to score a golden goal. Extra time – are you playing for it?
A Pretty Kettle of Poetry 