corruption is a learned value,
orientation starting in the young, by those who
abuse their purview, cull the weak, promote
able bodies, of athletic build & skilled, disregarding rules wrote
god forbid they mix & make a bastard team,
applaud---THESE the heroes for which we dream
whose parents pretend to have no clue who
chose it to be this way, coach too,
boisterously decrying any foul play, let the
boys play, it's just a game, he re-
plies, his veteran third graders of twice
size as the first year six & seven year-olds, mice
to the cat, round the bases, they laugh, 'oh look how small
you are,' taunting and all
the league office say is it's chance, nothing but chance
we have no foul intentions, they---tap dance
around truth in hopes of a district
crown for the fleece 'they lie' out, hand picked
places in the American pastime, it's the American
way, my son, so whatever hand
you're dealt, nor how well stacked, be
sure to swing away Saturday & give a little hell to the bourgeoisie
Over at dVerse Poets, Gay is having us write framed couplets, where the first syllable of each line must rhyme, just like the last--oh boy, that was fun. Smiles. Of course there is supposed to be meter as well but I have to rebel just a bit.
This is dedicated to our wonderful little league, who unintentionally (cough, cough) put all the older and experienced players with the two experienced coaches on one team and all the first graders and kindergartners on the other. We scrimmaged the uber-team last Saturday and they were less than pleasant in many ways. Opening day is this Saturday and we play them again. Joy. Smiles.
Thanks to BRYA Sports for inspiring this poem.
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56 comments:
Your with such ease and emotions. that it would be and wild view of the inner workings of your mind. to just throw verses like that. again your awesome.
http://leah-jamielynn.typepad.com/blog/2012/04/regardless-i-believe-in-love.html
Boy this is tough and a terrible thing to teach them so young. Our soccer league was strickly by age so we avoided just this monster. Great write.
It is just a game; and i think children should be able to just enjoy the game. I hate it that thins become SO competitive at such an early age.
I hate to think the American pastime is so dog eat dog...or this case puppy eat puppy. You can feel the tension between the little league parents on way to soccer practice. Good luck to your boys!
give a little hell to the bourgeoisie-this would be great embroidered on a pillow. :)
Random draft, my...well you know. Can't they just let kids play and have fun. I get that the world isn't like that, but they're still kids. Let them enjoy while they can.
How is that fair? Oh well, it's definitely good practice when you're facing off against a formidable foe.
Well done, but then again your poems are always so well done. :)
Get them young. In such cases the parents are the ones most excited. Wishing the team well, Brian!
Hank
ugh..this is tough and sad when sport (or the trainers or parents) become so overambitious at such an early stage...maybe you should print them t-shirts for the game on saturday with...give a little hell to the bourgeoisie...and cheer them on with a little speech before they get out on the lawn..smiles
When did pressure to be the best you can become pressure to be the best of everyone? Not everyone can be top - but everyone can be their own best.
Values are definitely out of kilter.
I love how you use language. The rhythm in this is wonderful. (I'm jealous!)
As someone who just recently started to experiment with form (I always did free verse and I use the word 'form' very loosely to mean - any rules).
I'm loving these framed couplets, Brian. You make it seem easy (I'm sure it's not). What was that about meter?
Frustration, anger and amazement at the utter meanness of the uber athletes. You captured it well. And that you have to go through it all again!!! I feel your pain.
Hugs
SueAnn
this is a beauty...so many lines in this i love...
god forbid they mix & make a bastard team,
applaud---THESE the heroes for which we dream
I hate the whole competative 'sports' culture, not only that but the media pressure to be a certain size, shape, strength in order to compete..its just sad...and to have this instilled in our children...just makes me despair...great piece- again- true to the form but your own style still shines through completely- which is not easily acheived! big high fives
I think competitiveness is important but not so much that it spoils the game ... or the person.
Brilliant! So ingeniously crafted, most impressive.
Gay really knows how to raise the bar there. But you outdo yourself every time. Sigh. Love the underlying emotions.. As always.
I liked the pacing and, yes, the meter in this one. Good job with the technical side. I also appreciated the rant!
I wonder if it be worth the experience? Fighting in an arena where you know that you are nothing but cannon fodder to train the entitled thinking is bullshit.
Of course all the fathers of the oppressed as one could force a change in the line up and the way the pitches are thrown.
Living is more than trophy's titles and sacrifice for the bigger picture...that is regimentation. Do this now so that in the future YOU MIGHT get a shot to play on the A team. Naw I never could do that. It is one of the reasons I started to write in the first place.
Hey just give those little ones some steroids, Brian and even up the odds!It's the American way!
I love the idea of putting baseball to couplets. I thought fairplay was the American way, I guess not anymore! Good luck in your next game, keep the dad's from each other's throats!
Competition learned on the mound and in the field.
Reading this just gets me frustrated all over again. ;) I really hope they look at the way they divide teams for the next season and make adjustments that are fair and not stacked. This year they've just squashed the confidence of these new players rather than building them up with older teammates (mentors). I know they'll have some fun on Saturday and hope they'll still want to play next year. Go BlueJays!!
So not fair! There should be even distrubtion. how are the litte ones supposed to learn fair play? Good luck on Saturday.
"to the cat, round the bases, they laugh, 'oh look how small
you are,' taunting and all
the league office say is it's chance, nothing but chance
we have no foul intentions, they---tap dance
around truth in hopes of a district
crown for the fleece 'they lie' out, hand picked..."
Good-morning! Brian, to you and your readers...
Nice use Of the [poetic] form called "framed couplets" in your poetic words...[Even with your rebellion (s) thrown in for good measure]
...as you address a situation on the playing field that should be balance!
Tks, for sharing the image and have a nice week-end too!
deedee ;-D
Crazy! So terrible. My older daughter (not the one you met) was on all kinds of teams and the dramas are immense. Actually the little one too a bit. But I think the intensity and the competition is much more so pushed on male side--
Wonderful poem--I'm not so sure about the bourgeoisie! There you go wider afield-(Not against it, but took me by surprise)--but the corruption and the culling and all the rest of it--very vivid! k.
i hear you k...i went with the def of the term as 'a social class "characterized by their ownership of capital, and their related culture'...being as most here are middle class there is still a division i would say but more on the side of influence...
I'm coming to your blog late. I don't have to talk to you about where you took your own path off the stated form. It's enough that you kept the frame - as in dance, as in baseball - you stayed in the box, you were your own man with your unique voice inside of it.
The subject matter we've discussed. A fine poem exploring the skewed mentality of those who want to weed out players and hone only champions. It does nothing to promote fun, healthy play, life-time enjoyment of the game, and good childhood memories!
The bastards. Sure...sure--random chance. yeah. Nice job with the form bri--I know how much it hurts! Good luck this weekend--sometimes size really doesn't matter, though usually not in baseball. ;_)
Ha! That even happens in adult softball leagues. I guess all those bullies learned pretty well when they were in Little League.
I hate when they do that. Try and stack the teams to annoy the cat. Such a pain in the rump making on a grump, all because parents have to put their views on the kids and flip their lids, not letting them have fun as around they run.
I had to smile at this b/c I know how much you hate form. You did it and it gets easier!
As far as kid's sports go, I see the same thing over here. It's not about the kids at all, more for the parents... especially once they reach kid-pitch. That's why my boys don't play baseball anymore. It became a negative thing for them. It's a shame.
Brian, excellent. Like a few others, you threw off the yoke of iambic pentameter while staying true to the form.
The bullying implicit in little league sports is rampant. Riley was a pitcher... her own CATCHER wanted her best friend to pitch, so she launched balls back at Riley she was shaken and lost confidence. I had words with the coach and later became an asst. coach. Those girls learned something about sportsmanship from the only woman who bothered to come to practice.
Have you seen "Bully"? We're going. That's how this poem spoke to me. And not just the kids. Amy
http://sharplittlepencil.com/2012/04/20/free-spirit-speaks-couplets-for-dverse/
I would expect nothing less than a bit of rebellion from you, Brian. I love to see how your work with kids (and your own) bleeds into your poetry. And that's how it should be, heh?
There are a LOT of learned "values" that are the root of much ugliness.
Oh, I like this. The situation reminds me of the Monty Python sketch about the rugby match with the boy's team vs. the masters. You capture the scene and deliver the critique with humor and compassion.
I love the way you handled that form, Brian. You made it your own.
It's just a game. haha. Youth sports and parents and kids, oh my. Don't be scared. It doesn't last forever. I like the couplets. :)
I felt the same way about my whole public school experience :P
It's the same with ice hockey. To me there is absolutely no need for brutal physical contact at all. Accidentally hurts enough but, deliberate and then beating up on a player is disgusting and shouldn't be allowed. Sydney Crosby suffered a dreadful concussion that he is still having problems with over a year later. There's no sport in this type of behaviour at all, the pleasure of the game is forgotten in the deperate need to win at all costs. Oh joy indeed.
Nicely written Brian.
But I'd still like to read the Unabomber's diary. At times I struggle to retain optimism, & at times I say --ck it.~Mary
Wow that didn't seem quite fair. Glad to see sportsmanship and the value of play is being taught at such an early age. lol I saw the title and the moron I can be from time to time, thought, ooh, Brian's going to do an alien poem, based of the TV show, either version, but I guess, in a way, sport has gotten to be alien to many. But yeah, that stacking of a team is the kind of things they write books about when the other team beats them. Great write and love how you used the form. Thanks
what a disappointing experience that must have been. how easily those coaches could have led the way and displayed sportsmanship and character, which their players would have picked up on. but then again, if they took the time to separate the big kids from the smaller ones, the mentality was set. that can't be easy for the coaches and parents of the smaller team to have to watch either. wishing you and the kids good things!
Brian, some Peeps play on violins, inside which is inscribed "Made by Sears--Harmony House". Others (many) play on instruments Chinese. YOU, Sir, Play on one of the six hundred Stradivari, one of the GOOD ones (Yes, there IS Bad Strad, lad--grin!)
Better the tools, better the creation. You have the finest assemblage of word-tools anywhere,
a true $8-Million masterpiece!
LOVE and PEACE to you, and all your Peeps!
Nice form Brian :-)
I allow my daughter freedom to play whatever sports she like for fun and to keep her busy. It's terrible when other people (and that includes parents too) have a different agenda for their children. Let them have fun ~
As the only little girl who wanted to run the bases, I had to do so with a team of icky boys...tell me MY complexes didn't start young! Round these parts however, it's all about hockey...and since they've disallowed most of the roughness...the parents in the stands fill in pretty good. Really...do you want to start me on this? ;) Seriously Brian...you stepped to the plate and delivered...in intent, in message, and in form. Lead by example Poet...you do it well!
"whatever hand
you're dealt, nor how well stacked, be
sure to swing away"
yes! that's the call of life i think ;-)
and the beauty is, the swinging is each person's choice of how and what, how else could it be?
like faking a swing for the fences and tapping that bunt ;-)
nice piece brian, thanks!
you did a great job with this and oh boy, been there, done that. it is amazing how serious people take kids' sports, my husband was a coach for years, oh, the stories...
Great write and good description/ reflection of sport(?) in schools/leagues.
I am quite impressed with Brian. You did a fantastic job with this prompt.
Pamela
How did the "game" go?
Wander
Well, you did it, framed couplets, and I am suitably impressed (I have failed, so far), but never fear, will keep on trying! And you were able to work in your twists too; I enjoyed that way-out-of-meter, way-over-length thumb-your-nose of a last line! A great read!
Ah yes, I remember youth sports well...
;)
PS. That sounds like a fun form to try. I've never rhymed first syllables before. Nice challenge!
LOL. I enjoyed the "joy" and "smiles" comment. And I agree with what Mary said too. Let the kids have fun and learn!
Hope you're having a great weekend as well.
My sons adamantly refused to take part in team sports, and I was secretly thankful. I wasn't sure I would be able to deal with the coaches and parents who behaved badly.
Sounds like a stacked deck. Little League with all the pushing of the parents must be a bit of a trial to deal with.
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