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Best of Irish Poetry 2010
Editor: Matthew Sweeney

Songs of Earth and Light
Barbara Korun poems translated by Theo Dorgan

Done Dating DJs
by Jennifer Minniti-Shippey
Winner, 2008 Fool for Poetry Competition

Richesses: Francophone Songwriter Poets
Edited and translated by Aidan Hayes

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MICHAEL DINEEN

Michael Dineen was born in Cork. He has had poems published in The Shop. He has recently completed a Post-Graduate Diploma in Education in UCC.

The Pitch

The posts are twisted and crabbéd,

the pitch rusted beyond use.

Someone still tends the grass but

it has been an eternity since men played here.

You sit in the centre of the field and think of games

performed off-camera and undocumented in the history books.

You can still feel the thrill of a quick flick,

the pull and tug of space opening and closing,

the concentration on the ball,

and the rushing of bodies

that glide and clatter and crash.

Some of the faces are familiar while others just floated past

on a sunny day with a friend of a friend,

or chanced upon a game and asked:

'Can I play?'

©2010 Michael Dineen

Author Links

Dineen in THE SHOp