Almanac poetry: Season’s over

Season’s over
Vin Maskell

 

Peel away the goal post padding
Roll up the white flags
The white coats too
Let the footballs go flat
69 KPI down to zero

Empty all the water bottles
Stand them upside down
Let ‘em drain, let ‘em dry
Season’s over

Unplug the siren
Switch off the scoreboard
Mop out the showers
Sweep out the social rooms
Clean up the canteen
Empty the bins
Of winter’s litter:
Injuries, dud games
Disappointments
Season’s over

Wash the jumpers one last time
Hang them one by one
On that long line
Of numbered memories
Let the spring winds dry them
Fold them up one by one
Never as neat as when
Season’s over

Loosen the laces of your boots
Let them breathe
Your toes too
Sit on a back step
Knock those boots together
The dirt and the dreams
Falling back to earth

Wipe clear the white board
Pack away the magnets
No need for plans and theories
For arrows and circles and set plays
The days are yours now
For the taking

Stack away the cones and witches’ hats
No need for drills and skills and laps
Your whistle too
You don’t need that

Put away your scarf, your membership ticket, your hoodie
Take a rest from barracking and cheering and swearing and
Cursing and hoping and praying and giving up and hoping again
Stop thinking about hamstrings and corkies and knee reconstructions
They’re not yours anyway
Stop thinking about players who seem larger than life
But are just people kicking a footy higher, longer, straighter than others
Season’s over

Let the oval’s white lines fade
The boundary that border
Between reason and fever
Let the goal square loose
Let the 50 metre ark disappear
No players two-by-two in there now
No lions, no tigers, no dogs, no cats
No flood of football’s emotions

Let the painted centre circle
Fade into the cricket pitch
Soon to be rolled by Smokie and Johnno and Bear
Season’s over

 

This piece was first published last week on Les Everett’s site, australianrules.com.au, with photos by Les.