Photograph by Alex Rotas
Choose the poem you want to go with the photo and e-mail your votes to susan@poetryspace.co.uk Poems are posted here without names. If yours is here please don’t vote for your own. Everyone can vote.
Full details of the photo and poem challenge in the main article on the website.
———————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Poem 1
Running Jump
Making a painting is like jumping off a cliff.
my painting tutor used to say
Anything could happen.
Nothing’s broken yet.
Perhaps I haven’t been brave enough.
Pole vaulting’s another leap.
Up and over.
I might not make it.
On the other hand
I may fly.
Daphne Milne
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Poem 2
Veteran pole vaulter
They tell me
I should
know better
at my age
they didn’t
see me in ’68
at my peak
the height
of my powers
in the thin air
of Ciudad
de Mexico.
I flew
over the bar
twice
like this
like this
falling
like students
in the Plaza
de las Tres
Culturas
falling
now.
Diane Jackman
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Poem 3
The Pole Vault
Sinews taut before the run
distance judged
one step too near
one step too far
renders my training futile
The crowd are hushed
I smell the sweat on my shirt
slippery hands slide up the pole
mouth dry, I quake,
it’s fight or flight.
The tannoy sounds my name
adrenalin sparks my rythmn
I’m focused, alive, running
like an antelope I leap
clearing the bar, land exulted
on cushioned ground
Sheila R. Bracewell
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————
Poem 4
To Win
To stand strong
And run quicker
To sprint speed
And slam jolting
To rise climbing
To fly holding
And clear falling
To win relief
William Jones
————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Poem 5
Vaulting ambition
Run, plant, bend, fly,
Soaring
Feet-wards to the sky.
Twist, turn, skim, fall,
Kissing
That air
Which holds the bar.
Bump, bounce, smile, wave,
Relax
David C. Johnson
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Poem 6
Compete
I kneel now feeling the red asphalt beneath my knee,
With slightly nervous dry fingers I pull my white laces tight.
And then rise slowly brushing red grit from my pale leg
Seeing small indents where small stones have pressed
I stand and stretch, my back and my legs
My chalky palms heft the pole from one hand to the other
Then I fix my grip , hands set tight
I look at the ugly square electronic clock ticking away the seconds
And stepping first , then striding I begin my charge
And run and run ……….
Andy Scotson
————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Poem 7
Making the Leap
He tops the bar head down, steadied by the pole
grasped in his right hand creating lift and jump
to meet the tree tops gravity free, score gold.
That blasted body rockets on blades, spurning
a past he can’t access with every higher leap,
a future grows to foil a fate proscribed by hate.
Now an athlete lauded for his prowess
bearing his country’s colours as he flies
the battlefield is now a sandy track
the enemy bar, body, pole and time.
Carolyn O’Connell
———————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Poem 8
Never too aged
Icarus sailing the bar
wisdom fails the hurdle
Keith Wallis
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
Poem 9
OH VAAAAANDA!
Vanda’s always telling Vinnie
to keep his feet
on the ground.
But Vinnie has a bubbly nature.
Vanda calls him airy-fairy
but she can’t take the rise
out of Vinnie.
Her man is taking off again
by practising a leap
which will pierce
the gravity of earth.
His heart, his feet will pound
(the ground will feel
his feet alright)
as he runs to plant the pole
that knows this vaulter’s grip
and how he can lighten, lift
the atmosphere of anywhere.
Vinnie wants the moon, space
his beloved’s heart to jump
as he comes drifting down to earth
reflective as the nightstars pouring past.
Mary Maher
————————————————————————————————————————————————————-
Poem 10
The 1356 competitor
I’m still in!
I still stand with a chance!
The hip is doing well,
I won’t be distracted
Flock of birds in the sky?
My glasses stayed on!
I’m now looking down at the bar,
The knees have had a talking to
And the arms, still going strong,
I’m straight as a line.
The landing pad insight
Fly-away.
The local papers- headlines
‘Veteran Wins Gold!’
I remember jumping in
Cambridgeshire,
Lincolnshire
And Norfolk?
Johanna Boal
——————————————————————————————————————————————————————–
