Thursday, May 13, 2010

David Beckham as Achilles

How could I have missed this? The marvellous Carol Ann Duffy - Britain's prolific poet laureate - has been moved by David Beckham's snapped achilles tendon to write a poem.


Achilles

Myth’s river – where his mother
dipped him, fished him, a
slippery golden boy flowed on,
his name on its lips.
Without him, it was prophesied,
they would not take Troy.
Women hid him, concealed him
in girls’ sarongs; days of
sweetmeats, spices, silver songs …
But when Odysseus came, with an
athlete’s build, a sword and a shield,
he followed him to the battlefield,
the crowd’s roar,
And it was sport, not war,
his charmed foot on the ball …
But then his heel, his heel, his heel …

                                         Carol Ann Duffy

4 comments:

Claire Beynon said...

She covers it all, does Carol Ann Duffy - valiantly, tenderly, inimitably.
Thanks for this, Mary! (How on earth did it find you?)
L, C x

wv. spingb

Anonymous said...

delicious Mary, Carol Ann Duffy is brilliant
love her poem about the pearls..

Anonymous said...

There's also an interview with Carol Ann Duffy on the Telegraph's website:
www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/7692436/Carol-Ann-Duffy-interview.html

- Claire

Rachel Fenton said...

I love it - no one else collides cultural spheres quite like Duffy!