Blank verse, that is. I'm very pleased to have a
poem about Caroline Wozniacki in
The Barnstormer. (For some reason--though I often write formal poetry--I don't generally write in blank verse, so this is a nice change for me.) Following "The Lesson Of Caroline," you'll find a seasonal tennis poem.
"There is art in the slice, grace in the grind."
ReplyDeleteBeautiful. Congrats, Diane>
Loved the poem Diane! Sad to see that once again Caroline makes an early exit. Is there any hope she can battle her tendencies and get the big break through someday?
ReplyDelete"Watching Them Play on Clay" could be the narrative spoke over one of those beautifully-shot, close-up-of-the-footwork-on-clay, video montages that they'll sometime take the time to highlight on Roland Garros coverage on ESPN2. Lovely. ;)
ReplyDeleteI very much enjoyed these poems Diane. You put into words so much of what I feel when watching tennis play on clay.
ReplyDeleteThank you.
Now your poem about Wozniacki. Again it was insightful not just about Wozniacki but about life in general. It is funny that before I saw the poem I was writing in my Wozniacki file reviewing the past few tournaments:
ReplyDeleteAfter being a Finalist in Indian Wells, she went out as follows:
Miami-3rd rd
Charleston-quarters
Stuttgart-1st rd
Madrid-1st rd
Rome-1st rd
Not sure what is going on but unfortunately I haven't seen her play but in Stuttgart.
Thanks again for the poems. You are talented in many ways.
Bill, sabey, Todd, and Sunny: Thanks so much for your kind words.
ReplyDeletesabey, one thing Caroline has on her side is her physical strength. She is very strong and fit and can endure a lot. This should help her over time. Of course, none of us really knows what's gong on with her, but my tendency is to agree with the many who think that a separation (a real one) from her father/coach is probably in order.
Todd--I'm hearing Rennae or Darren C. in my head :)
Todd, thanks for the link.
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome, Diane. ;)
ReplyDeleteHmmm... maybe somebody like Tom Rinaldi, too. He does a lot of those.
Diane, I loved your poems so much that I tweeted them out today over Twitter. I hope you are cool with that. It was lovely and like the others, I actually heard the poet from Wimbledon who does the If reading your poem about playing on clay. Such beautiful writing.
ReplyDeleteI watched the Woz match today and all I could tweet afterwards was Oh Woz. Her serve stance has changed again. Her FH is back to being loopy and powerless. One thing I did notice is that she was making more UFEs off the BH side and that she was not as fleet of foot like in her heyday. Maybe she is not working as hard off the court as she used to or maybe everyone else has caught up with her.
In her defence though clay has never been her best surface, much in the same way it is not good for Vika and Aga. These women grew up on hard courts and they just don't have the clay legs. I noticed that ARad is again wearing cello tape on her shoulder and her serve stats today were pretty good but she was not winning many points behind it. Remains to be seen what happens at Roland Garros but not optimistic for either of these 3 women
As for Sabine/Petra - Sabine needs to get fitter. Petra needs to keep the brain with her for the whole match
Thanks, Karen--that's very nice. And I'm glad you enjoyed the poems so much.
ReplyDeleteI saw only a little of the Wozniacki match, but even in that short time, I noticed her backhand was off. That's her bread and butter, along with her movement.
I wonder if she's burned out. I still think there's a missing piece to the Wozniacki puzzle.