AN injury break in a rugby match is the unlikely subject for this poem from an engagingly disparate collection of poems and translations (of the Greek poet Cavafy) by Alasdair Gordon.
The paperback, complete with illustrations by a variety of hands, is called Eight Seasons (Meltemi Book, £9.50).
PLAY TO THE WHISTLE
The others, frankly grateful for the break, wait
in a variety of postures; stretching,
eyes closed, mouths open. A blue bottle is passed
with a spout for squirting. Near the injury
are gathered opponents seemingly concerned,
colleagues thinking what to do if he goes off.
Two front-row forwards in low voices exchange
a joke about something they got away with,
hands on knees, their red-faced bulks steaming like stirks
in the rain, at once childish and terrible.
One fellow, a three-quarter, has his head back
in an attitude of deep concentration
as though his problem was mathematical.
From time to time they look across at the coach
for any hints on how to win and red-eyed,
breathing slower now, search the crowd for talent.
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