Almanac Poetry: The Night of the Premiership

The Night of the Premiership
(Geelong Football Club wins the 2007 AFL Flag after a forty-four-year drought)

It was strange.
No-one was sure what to do.
Many got drunk.
Pubs spilled onto footpaths.
People spilled onto footpaths.
Beer spilled onto footpaths.
So many were happy,
but couldn’t quite believe it:
after forty-four years
—Sweet Victory!
At midnight in the town centre,
groups walked the streets,
yahooed,
stopped traffic. (But the drivers were patient,
and understood.)
Isolated enthusiasts
ran naked in the suburbs.
But there were no major crimes,
less trouble
than on a typical Saturday night.
The community was too dazed by joy,
light-headed from the lifting
of a lifetime of sporting heartbreak.
We’d survived a vale of tears
and found the Holy Grail.

About

Kevin Densley is a poet and writer-in-general. His work has appeared in print in Australia, the UK and the USA, as well as on many online venues. His fourth book-length poetry collection, Sacredly Profane, has just been published (late 2020) by Ginninderra Press. He is also the co-author of ten play collections for young people, as well as a multi Green Room Award nominated play, Last Chance Gas, which was published by Currency Press. Recent other writing includes screenplays for films with a tertiary education purpose.

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