{"id":2556,"date":"2013-04-18T15:16:29","date_gmt":"2013-04-18T15:16:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556"},"modified":"2013-05-15T10:39:57","modified_gmt":"2013-05-15T10:39:57","slug":"two-poems-9","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556","title":{"rendered":"Two Poems"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"the<\/a>
\n 
\nThe Caddy<\/strong><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not that he\u2019s too old, he just doesn\u2019t want it,
\nthe practice being enough and sometimes
\nmaking the cut. Top half of the leader-board
\nI see the hook before it happens, the certain
\nplunk in the water at the sixth. I unzip
\nanother Dunlop with his name on it, the name
\non my back these come back years that never come.
\nI\u2019ve learned to grin. 3 star for years, then 5 for a season,
\nnow I sleep in the van. That\u2019s how it is. I step on
\nthe other guy\u2019s ball in the rough. I play him out
\nof the woods when his back\u2019s turned, and I watch him
\nline up an impossible putt that can only go in,
\nand that slides by.
\n                                       Which is why, today,
\ntwo under and in the headlines all week, the swing
\nat the short twelfth gripped my heart, gripped
\nthe heart of the green, finding the pin. Bewildering.
\nThe fans like the old days, the old master\u2019s charge,
\nbirdying every one of the last five holes to stand
\nthree shots clear on the final tee. This is my life too.
\nI tell it like it is, play an iron to lay up short. But no,
\nhe takes the driver and gives it all he\u2019s got. Bewildering,
\nthe sweet spot, and how it goes, wherever it goes,
\nthat is a joy all of its own, and it\u2019s clear today is ours.
\nToday is ours. I lift his bag and he smiles that smile
\nand walks on with the crowd and the cameras.
\nI lift his bag and I carry him, and he flies.
\n 
\n<\/p>\n

Tennis in London<\/strong><\/p>\n

How rich they are, being young, being here,
\nthis Indian summer afternoon. One from the base-line
\nflips up sitters for the other to bring down
\nin a smash that the first is always there
\nto scoop back up and keep it going
\nin this tiny park in the middle of the city,
\nwith its tall history and its trapped traffic
\nonly yards away but a life away from these young men.<\/p>\n

Fluorescent green against the blue, the ball
\nis picked from the top branch of the game and sent
\nback to start a figure of eight again, to keep
\nthe boys, tanned, in their shorts and caps,
\nin the moment, on their toes, ten minutes at a time.
\nFlip, and up it goes, up into the arc of his
\noutsize racquet. Then, at no signal I can see, they swap;
\nthe one stepping back to set his friend up at the net.<\/p>\n

How beautiful this is, it occurs to me it\u2019s safe
\nto think, who couldn\u2019t stand here at my age
\nif they were girls, even called women.
\nBut they\u2019re boys, men. Students, I suppose,
\nteaching themselves, with nothing to learn
\nand so many years to learn it in. How rich they are,
\nand me too to see it, this Indian summer afternoon
\nof bat and ball, bat and ball, bat and ball.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s not that he\u2019s too old, he just doesn\u2019t want it,
\nthe practice being enough and sometimes
\nmaking the cut. Top half of the leader-board<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":63,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[294],"tags":[8],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nTwo Poems - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556\" \/>\n<link rel=\"next\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556&page=2\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Two Poems - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"It\u2019s not that he\u2019s too old, he just doesn\u2019t want it, the practice being enough and sometimes making the cut. Top half of the leader-board\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-04-18T15:16:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-05-15T10:39:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/04\/the-den.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter Sansom\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter Sansom\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556\",\"name\":\"Two Poems - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-04-18T15:16:29+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-05-15T10:39:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/4fa9be203070af6f55157d8923d71e75\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=2556\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/4fa9be203070af6f55157d8923d71e75\",\"name\":\"Peter Sansom\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"Peter Sansom\"},\"description\":\"Peter Sansom is a poet and tutor. 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