It’s 7.40 PM and I haven’t posted anything today. Family around and football on the TV. Lots of work to do on my side business – I have a licence to sell UEFA final memorabilia on eBay , Amazon and my own website. It’s not as profitable as you’d think, but it does help with the general finances. A little.
So an opportunity to mention Daniel Gray’s prose books about football. Full of nostalgia and quirks of the game, I really enjoyed reading them when I got them for Christmas last year.
They are described as prose poetry. I don’t know. Truth be told, I’m confused by what is, and what isn’t prose poetry. Where does poetry end and prose begin? I have friends who say that poetry can’t exist without line breaks. That poetry and prose do not mix.
With the utmost respect I think they are talking bollocks. I’ll side with Ginsberg, Bly, Simic, Rilke and Rimbaud etc. myself.
As for Daniel Gray’s books, (I have three), whether prose poetry or prose with poetical flourishes, does it really matter? If you love football, you’ll find something to appreciate. The first three pieces in Saturday, 3 PM focus on such important issues as Seeing a ground from the train, watching an away end erupt and getting the fixture list. There are 47 similarly titled pieces in this book.
The review from When Saturday Comes states;
Each is a precision-tooled delight. even apparently obvious subjects are described with such lyricism that the everyday is routinely transformed into the sublime. here is a book that contains nothing but pure, unadulterated joy
and a BBC Radio review states that ‘Gray writes like Lowry paints. Superb.
This is a book of love-letters to the beautiful game, it’s quirks and obsessions, moments of humour, joy, family and community spirit. Gray has written others – Extra Time and Black Boots and Football Pinks, both of which I own, and have added to my poetry bookshelf
If you want to get hold of a copy from bookshop.org you can do so here: https://uk.bookshop.org/a/5319/9781472925114
Anyway, enough of this. The Netherlands are playing Ukraine at UEFA 2020. Time to go and sit in front of the TV!