Sports Pages by Robert Demaree

1. The Unlikely Metaphors of Lacrosse

The face-off in a game where,
In theory at least,
One team never has to give up
Possession of the ball.
The goalkeepers, foolhardy if they
Come out to cut down the angle,
Surrounded by danger
On 360 degrees;
The excellent long-stick prep school boys,
Eager to emulate their fathers,
Attorneys from Long Island.

2. Scores of Other Games

At halftime the public address guy said,
I have the scores of other games:
14-7, 21-6,
10-all at the end of regulation.

Do you remember when there were just the
Four big games, all on New Year’s Day,
Bearing names of things you might have seen—
Roses, oranges—
And not of companies or towns.
At ten, I ran the family lottery,
Combinations of winners,
Only sixteen possibilities.

It does not matter to me now
Who, if anyone, is the national champion.
I’d watch the early rounds
Of the Division II playoffs
If they were on
And much prefer those
Small-time bowl games,
Played before sparse crowds
Of civic boosters,
Bankers, city council folk
Who felt they should attend,
Small knots of loyal fans
From five- or six-win schools
In conferences you may not know,
Happy to be invited somewhere,
Unlikely destinations,
Reasonable rates at modest hotels,
Visits to children’s hospitals.

I used to go to games like that,
Cold nights in the outback,
In years I have chosen
To count as good ones,
Though there is reason not to.
Sat next to a member of Congress,
Important because he did not think he was,
His overcoat pockets filled
With those tiny liquor bottles
They have on airplanes,
A word of kindness and support
When you needed it most.

I mute the sidekick’s commentary
On titanic struggles looming
Or who is on the bubble,
And I wait for the play-in games.



Robert Demaree is the author of four book-length collections of poems, including Other Ladders, published in June 2017 by Beech River Books. His poems received first place in competitions sponsored by the Poetry Society of New Hampshire and the Burlington Writers Club, and have appeared in over 150 periodicals. A retired educator, he resides in Wolfeboro, N.H. and Burlington, N.C.