There is no doubt. That second goal my best.

Something they could only chart and map

like a newly discovered sea. I was an eel sliding

past those who murdered our brothers like little birds –

one two three four

It was as easy as Moses splitting the sea. As if law

written on stone and run down by me. There is no doubt.

This has been witnessed, it is scripture.

But that first point, that was the bite of apple

I enjoyed most, the one that tasted sweetest.

My whole body was divine.

 

There is no doubt I would do it again, would dip

into the queen’s own purse, steal her watch easy as

one two three four

Still we face the blind. Still my uncle scratches

a ghost foot. Still my cousin buried with his lungs

full of black water. And my brothers, their sons,

and more have been called like foxes to the front.

There is no doubt God saw my theft and smiled.

My head twitched to the left, my team like a slow

school of fish caught up. Ordered to hug and huddle

round so the ref would not doubt, not see how they touched my hand.

 

First published on World Cup 2010 Poetry Site /Chapbook from Forest Publications.