Strange, but True, Football Stories

That was my favorite book,
as a kid. Strange, but True

Football Stories.
If I read it once

I read it 100 times.
Did you know

Georgia Tech once
beat Cumberland

222 to zip, or that
some guy named Dickie,

from Alabama, once got
a little too into it

and came off the sideline
to make a hit?

No, you didn’t,
and I doubt it matters to you.

I guess you have to be
from the South

to really appreciate it.
The South is a strange,

but true, place
to grow up.

You live for Saturday mornings,
the frost on the field

and seeing your own breath
blowing through

your facemask.
Old enough to understand

the glory involved
but, too young, still

for injury.

–December 1, 2017