Let's see, I just ought to end about now
but I'll read a couple more.
"Football With the Sound Turned Off."
[APPLAUSE]
While I was writing this poem I couldn't stop watching football
on television , as soon as I finish the poem I can't look
at it anymore.
"Football With the Sound Turned Off."
"As basketball players love leaping
and the sound of the ball swishing through the net,
football players love the ground crashing against each other
and falling into body piles.
Watched by millions on an immense field, the tackle,
reaches out for the runner pulling him down
in his embrace.
Then camera up close, the whole team
falls on top of them lying their body on body
until at a signal from the referee
they untangle in slow motion.
The ball they use can only be caught by hands like magnets
receiving the odd roundness of it,
a perfect fit just as they cannot resist patting each
other smoothly uniformed behinds.
With their bodies they batter their way
through a field of obstacles, flesh bruising flesh colliding
with electric shocks of feeling that they must fling aside
to strive for the victory of a lonely touchdown.
Playing by the rules with referee on field and coaches,
managers, and owners sitting on guard on the sidelines they
still snatch moments of the forbidden when after a score
the camera eye slides away from the players hugging
and the continual slapping of asses to the fans
milling in the bleachers.
Watching this silent ballet of body joy, long shots giving in
to close up views, I let the sharks pulse through me
as bodies meet in violent contact, my appetite judging
my life and world where we are deprived
of the real and affectionate touching
each other that we hunger for."