Cinquain about Soccer

Soccer,

beautiful game,

played without hands

thrill with no bounds,

Soccer.

I decided to write a Cinquain as my last poem. It seemed like the best way to finish this project, a simple poem about the beautiful game.

A cinquian poem has five lines, the first line has one word which is the title. The second line has two words which describe the title. The third line has three words which tell the action. The fourth line has four words which express the feeling. And the fifth line restates or recalls the title. While there are other types of Cinquains which are more rigid, defining what types of words to use, and/or how many sullables there should be, I decided to go for a simple and free cinquain.

SOCCER FEVER by Jacinta Mary Ramayah

The explication for this poem called, "Soccer Fever" by Jacinta Mary Ramayah, is below:

When God deigns to watch soccer

He sits on the fence

While you clasp your palms in prayer

He looks askance.

The referee mouths his whistle

He rules the verdict on the field

While the player, in despair, knows

To his card, he has to yield.

The spectators scream in frenzy

And the fans ape their heroes

While the arena is ablaze

With a kaleidoscope of painted faces.

Cries of 'goal' fill the air

It's a month of living soccer

While, at last, the winners hold the Cup high

The losers gasp in disbelief and horror.

Four years of waiting has to pass

For this season to come round again

While the players run and sweat

Both punters and rookies hope to make a gain.

This poem clearly shows the author's knowledge of the game especially the World Cup is about the international tournament.  This poem has one obvious quality, and it's that it exhibits the feeling of the one who wrote it. The rhyme scheme is a little strange, while at first it may seem like a basic abab... rhyme scheme, it actually varies, and ultimately doesn't rhyme that much. There fore it can be considered a free verse poem, with some random rhyming thrown in there. I actually like the fact that it doesn't rhyme, mainly because if the author had to try and force words into the poem, they might not feel right, and it would deteriorate the poem.

"El Phenomeno Ronaldo" A Parody of Phenomenal Woman by Maya Angelou

The explication of this parody of "Phenomenal Woman" by Maya Angelou is below the poem:

Other players wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not fast or built to suit the modern player's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies
I say,
It's in the reach of my legs
The power generated from my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm Ronaldo

El Phenomeno.

El Phenomeno Ronaldo,

That's me.

I run across the field
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The opponents stand or
fall in fear to their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of useless bees.
I play,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the power in my shot,
The feint of my body,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm Ronaldo
El Phenomeno
El Phenomeno Ronaldo,
That's me.

Player themselves have wondered
How they could stop me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
my speed and trickery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's the arch of my back,
My flair is wild,
My shooting precision,
The grace of my style.
I'm Ronaldo
El Phenomeno.
El Phenomeno Ronaldo,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to yell real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the speed of my feet,
The bend of my shot,
The balance of my body,
The need of my flair,
'Cause I'm Ronaldo
El Phenomeno.
El Phenomeno Ronaldo,
That's me.

El Phenomeno dribbling around players

I wrote this parody after reading a poem by Maya Angelou entitled, "Phenomenal Woman". While reading it I thought, "What if this woman were a player?" and the Brazilian, Ronaldo popped right into my head. A confident, talented, and amazing player who truly mesmerized entire stadiums. Ronaldo was nicknamed El Phenomeno, and then I realized that he was perfect for this poem, and so I created this parody.

This parody has repetition of the last four lines of each stanza, just to remind you who it is the poem is about. This repetition presses the greatness of the person in your mind, making you idolize and be in awe of them even more.

What was so perfect when writing this poem was the fact that Ronaldo wasn't especially strong or fast, he was just a complete player who could do just about anything. Defenders would surround him in a vain attempt to stop him, but every time he managed to dazzle his way through all of them. El Phenomeno is without a doubt a legend of the game, and this poem is almost like an ode to him. It reminds us of his trickery, ability, and confidence which are all rare gifts for players to possess.

Commercialized Game

An amazing picture, which is used in ads around the world

A haiku I wrote about soccer and it's commercialization. The competition between sportswear brands is humongous, and only the companies with the catchiest slogans manage to survive. Try and guess the three companies which use these three slogans, and the explication for the poem is below.

C'mon Just Do It,
Impossible is Nothing,
Football Equals Love,

The World Cup was a wonderful experience, uniting 32 nations to compete in South Africa. Yet so many times I get asked the question, "What were those orange shoes?", instead of something actually regarding the soccer which was played. Sadly, Nike managed to steal the scene again, releasing the silver/orange/purple soccer cleats right before the World Cup began, taking all the attention away from the tournament.

The three slogans which are in my haiku are catchy, motivational, and inspiring, exactly what a slogan needs to attract people. The first line has Nike's famous, "Just Do It" slogan, which was actually first used in a Nike business meeting, a chairman said it to his associates, and from that day on, it's been used over and over again. The second line is Adidas's "Impossible is Nothing", another motivational slogan which in my opinion doesn't have the same impact as Nike's. And the third line is Puma's, "Football Equals Love", and this line was always accompanied by smiling children playing soccer, associating Puma, with the love of the beautiful game.

All three are very good slogans, and my favorite has to be Nike's catchy, "Just Do It". But there's a bigger question that comes with these slogans, are companies using the sport, soccer, just to make money. The immediate answer would be yes, but if you dig deeper, there are plenty of programs set up by these companies to aid the less fortunate, and a great example of this would be Puma's Pink Project. The Pink Project fights against breast cancer, and has raised millions of dollars which go towards cancer research. What's your opinion? Are these companies good, or bad?

Messi and his Friend - Limerick

I wrote this limerick with the idea of a lighthearted poem. But, I eventually found a deeper meaning for which it stands for, and that's how idolized soccer players are, but sometimes they're not the best idols. The explication is below the poem.

A talented player called Messi
Who had a friend called Jessy
they were idolized,
but disorganized,
so the situation was quite messy!

I wrote this five-line limerick, trying to get a good rhythm and flow to the poem. To try and give it flow, I made sure that the third and fourth lines which rhyme, also have the same amount of syllables. While the story is partially fictional, I used slight wordplay with the word "messy", and the soccer player's name, "Messi".

This limerick has a deeper meaning regarding one of the many things which are wrong about soccer, and that's the way players behave. Soccer players are idolized by millions around the world, but they don't always act as proper role models. Too often are there stories of players not wanting to renew contracts, just so that they can get an extra million Euros when they join another team. And there's also plenty of players who commit moral injustices, like getting in fights at nightclubs, but not being punished because of their celebrity status.

This idea that soccer players are untouchable is wrong, because while they are talented, hardworking people, they shouldn't be given a free pass to do what they want.

Mood For A Day

When I read this poem by Kevin Raymond, I realized that I had felt many of the same feelings before. The explication of the poem is below.

Meandering out when the whistle had blown
Shaking our heads we're amazed
We couldn't believe we'd played so bad at home
We were awful, and a bleeding disgrace.

Throats sore and tight from the shouting
Of vocally trying to spur the team on
Our very souls full of serious self doubting
Reflected in those last shallow songs. 

We're aiming our angst at the waster up front
He couldn't score if their keeper lay static
Fans nearby me were a trifle more blunt
Referring to a birth cert not being valid.

Glistening streets reflecting our ire
We trudge toward a pub near the ground
With our luck of today the pub has caught fire
So our sorrows have no place to drown.

The chances we missed, and freak goal they scored 
Going joyously back to The North points in hand
Replayed so many times on pub's telly it's gauling
We're thinking of giving this boozer a blank.

Fans pore over programmes from cover to back
Searching for a glimmer of hope
To stop too much drinking, thus bringing on an attack
Of depression, where the whole weekend winds up morose.

Idols with trophys smile at us from pictures
On a wall adorned with heroes of the past
From the days when our club and it's mystery 
Inspired an interest in us kids sure to last. 

Staring in to the froth of a watered down beer
We dwell on the points total grossed
A funereal mood encumbers all gathered here
Where winning's a pleasurable ghost.

Just then James Alexander Gordon reads out the scores 
We hear our fierce local rivals are beat
The mood changes to singing and the crashing of doors 
As jubiliant fans race off home, down the street.

Eternal optism informs me and me mucker
Dire matchdays like this will soon pass
Right now, we're all lying down in the gutter
But there's some of us.... looking up at the stars!


This poem is a wonderful description of how fans feel after matches. Sometimes when my team loses, it can ruin my weekend, and it's understood in this poem the sheer amount of feeling which fans invest in their teams. The rhyme scheme is a pretty simple throughout, ababcdcdefef... and so on, but every once in a while it doesn't sound perfectly. That's mainly because of forced word choice which the author needs to comply with, or else the poem wouldn't be as good.


And the last two lines are taken from Oscar Wilde, although they've been changed around a little, it is evident that the framework was taken from the Irish poet. I really enjoyed this poem, and while I'm not a fan of very long poems, I feel like the length is needed, or else the message wouldn't be conveyed properly.

His Name Was Diego Armando Maradona

A wonderful poem by Jess Singh Gill about Diego Armando Maradona. The explication is below the poem.

A footballing genius was once born in South America,
the type a country longs for, for this we thank a country called Argentina,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Short, built, strong, masculine and left footed,
bullet proof knees and eyes always goalward routed.
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Played for Boca, Barcelona, Napoli and Seville,
out of those it was at Napoli we saw him at his most real.
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Desire was always to win, thats why he committed the handball sin,
said it was god, anything to piss the damn English off,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Authorities always after him, did'nt like him to play,
In Mexico '86 everyone was made to pay,
no-one could stop his quest for the title,
the World Cup was his in the envy of his rivals,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

The number 10 shirt thats what i remember most immense,
the way it used to turn and twist and tear apart any defence,
years full of exquisite goals and free kicks,
god! all that many teams took so many licks,
he would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,
What was this single footballing empire's name again ?

Maradona was his surname,
I remember, i remember, that was his name,
Diego Maradona forever the best in the game.

This poem is about Diego Armando Maradona, a man who many consider to have been the best soccer player in the world. This poem has repetition at the end of every stanza of these two lines,

"He would for years grace the blue and white shirt of number ten,

What was this single footballing empire's name again?"

And it's this repetition which constantly draws the reader in, waiting to hear the name of this man being praised to such heights.

Maradona in a bad moment of his life

As to whether Maradona was actually the greatest ever to have graced the game of soccer, it's still a very open debate. The Argentinean is a very controversial figure, while full of passion, he displays a rugged side often better left unseen. Whenever Maradona enters Italy, tax authorities track him down to collect over 30 million Euros of unpaid taxes, which he never gets around to paying. The legendary player even had a bad time in his life where he became a drug addict, and was unbelievably obese.

But after all this criticism, what pulled this man out of the gutter was his passion for soccer. His love, talent, and dedication of the game which is rarely seen in players today has guided him back on track in life. Probably what sums up Maradona best is a quote said by ex-player Michel Platini,

"What Zidane could do with a ball, Maradona could do with an orange"

Tanka Poem, "World Cup"

I wrote this Tanka poem remembering the World Cup which took place this past summer. The explication is below.

Once in a lifetime
A feeling of humble pride,
your country cheering
representing a nation,
the world united watching.

First, I should explain what a Tanka poem is: it's a Japanese poetry type of five lines, with the first and third composed of five syllables, while the other lines are composed of seven syllables. Tanka is the oldest type of poetry in Japan, and in my opinion, is able to express a huge amount of emotion.

My tanka, "World Cup" is inspired from the soccer match at the World Cup between Brazil and North Korea. As the North Korean national anthem was being played, Jong Tae-Se had tears streaming down his face as he sang the national anthem. His look of pride and humility towards the thousands of supporters which were watching him was awesome (literally awe-inspiring). I could tell that for him, representing his country in the World Cup was one of the greatest moments in his life. The once in a lifetime chance to be loved by your entire nation, as the entire world is waiting for you to weave your magic on the field. They're huge expectations, but no matter what, the feeling of pride and humility, representing an entire country must be magnificent.

Where Everyday Life Ends

A parody of "Where the Sidwalk Ends" by Shel Silverstein. The explication for my parody, "Where Everyday Life Ends" is below the poem.

There is a place where everyday life ends
And before the cheers begin,
And there the grass grows even in height,
And there the floodlights light up bright,
And there the referee whistles to start the fight
To play in the bracing wind.

Let us leave this place where the life becomes black
And the dark living overextends.
Past the days full of frost snow
We shall cheer with a cheer that is passionate and aglow,
And watch where the players go
To the place where everyday life ends.

Yes we'll cheer with a cheer that is passionate and aglow,
And watch where the players go,
For the crowd, an experience, and the crowd, they know
The place where everyday life ends.

I wrote this parody thinking from a soccer fan's perspective. And I tried to have the omnipresent feeling in the poem that going to watch your soccer team is like a vacation from everyday life which lasts 90 minutes.

Soccer fans started as lower-class people, especially in England where the sport originates from. And these working-class people, who were part of the industrial revolution, kept themselves alive through soccer. Every weekend, going to watch your favourite club, taking your children to sing the songs which your dad taught you as a child, and most importantly, feeling part of a group of people. Because no matter how alone someone was, they were welcomed into stadiums by fellow fans, all with the same thought of watching their favorite side play.

My favorite line is, "We shall cheer with a cheer that is passionate and aglow," and this is because every fan sang his heart out, supporting the 11 players on the field. The players out there were idols, even legends in the people's eyes, and the unison of the everyday man and the admired athlete is one which is seen throughout history in soccer. The sport has always been about including people, whether they be of different race, or religion, it didn't matter. The crowd which worked all week, got a day of entertainment, watching legends play soccer, while they supported them with their cheers.

Real Madrid - Hala Madrid!

After the poem I wrote about FC Barcelona, I had to write one about their rivals, Real Madrid. This poem is entitled, "Real Madrid - Hala Madrid!", and the explication is below.

Completely dressed in white,
they enter in the crowd's field of sight,
A roar resounds all around the stadium,
right into the captain's ear drums,
The cheers of the fans make his heart race,
and slowly, tears trickle down his face,

Real Madrid legend, Raul Gonzalez

as a boy it was his dream,
to captain his favourite team,
and now he's there,
with his supporter's chants in the air,
raising him to wild heights,
his heart ignites,
and he remembers as a kid,
singing, "Hala Madrid!"
in the very same stadium

I was inspired to write this poem when I heard Real Madrid fans chanting "Hala Madrid!" which translated means, "Hail Madrid!". Writing this poem I thought about the feelings that a player haas when entering a stadium full of loving fans, singing your name to the sky. And so I decided to put it in the perspective of the legendary Real Madrid captain, Raul Gonalez. I tried to write the entirety of the poem in an aabbccddeeffggh rhyme scheme, but there are a couple of times where maybe it doesn't sound as perfect as it could.

FC Barcelona - Mes Que Un Club

The club's motto in the stands at a match

A poem I wrote about Barcelona, it is entitled: FC Barcelona - Mes Que Un Club, the explication is below.

The stripes are red and blue,
of the wonderful Blaugrana,
playing beautiful football for you,
More than a club the supporters sing,
and as the opponents are quiet in awe,
and the coach is loved like a king,
Barca! Barca! Mes Que Un Club!
like a biblical plague they dominate matches,
and the other team's morale is reduced to a stub,
Barca! Barca! More than just a team!
with trophies galore and awards aplenty,
watching them play is better than a dream,
Catalunya is their region,
and the team is supported like a religion,
Barca! Barca! Mes Que Un Club!
Barca! Barca! Mes Que Un Club!

I wrote this poem thinking of the chants which the Barcelona fans sing, and it's almost like an ode to the historic club. The rhyme scheme is abacdcefeghg, but the for the final four lines, I decided to make them a pair of rhyming couplets to give the finale a bit of strength.

The Unicef logo on Barcelona's jersey

The poem is about FC Barcelona, and their motto which is "Mes Que Un Club", this translates to, "More than a team". What's meant by this is the religious way that the supporters support Barcelona, and everything the team stands for. While some teams decide that spending money is the best way to win, Barcelona has always held the idea of bringing up players from youth academies, and teaching them to play beautiful, attacking football.

The club respects these ideals so much, that they decide not to have a shirt sponsor, but to pay Unicef 2 million Euros a year so that the team can have the association's logo on their shirt. Barcelona are more than just a club; with a beautiful playing style, some of the best players in the world, and a team which decides that helping the less fortunate is more important than having extra revenue from shirt sponsors, the blaugrana are loved around the world.