'The Ghost Narrates' was inspired by my reading extracts from former New Zealand cricketer, Martin Crowe's autobiography 'RAW' - as well as some of his online writings. The great foundation text of Western civilisation, The Iliad, immediately came to mind and thus in the tension between sport and old-style warrior culture was birthed the idea for the poem.
Image above: 'Author Batting' copyright Ev Charalambous, 2012, all rights reserved.
The poem is dedicated to the many New Zealand, Australian and Worcestershire cricketers I played alongside (or hero worshipped) in the early 1980s - some went on to build illustrious careers, others, like myself, left the sport early for various reasons.
I much enjoyed this Ian. Masking the recollections of your youth in the heroics of myth adds an interesting depth to the whole thing. Most of us don't think heoically like that, but we are all different in our approaches. As usual your work is first rate. Bob
I find the parallels in your analogy of the journey of the Cricketeers to the Odyssey quite interesting. I often think of major sports these days as a substitute for battle, although the Olympics began in those days as a way of young men letting off steam from all that testosterone and allowing battles to take place on the playing field rather than the battleground. To think that little New Zealand had a heroic cricket team in those days, reminds me of that film I saw, Chariots of Fire, about the rivalry between two British runners in the 1924 Olympics. Your poem is a fine tribute to the lasting heroics of that generation of Cricketeers in New Zealand.
This book tells the story of the 1999 Providence College Friars baseball team, the last season that the sport was played at the institution. Baseball was set to be eliminated after that season in order for the school to comply with Title IX regulatio
"HOMEGROWN: The Making of the 1972-73 Providence College Friars" is a retrospective of that remarkable season as well as a history of the school's basketball program, which was responsible for drawing the local talent that propelled that team to succ
This book tells the story of the 1999 Providence College Friars baseball team, the last season that the sport was played at the institution. Baseball was set to be eliminated after that season in order for the school to comply with Title IX regulatio
Ron
interesting read!!