I am extremely proud of my latest venture – “Welcome to the Goonerverse”. It is available to order now, and I certainly hope many Arsenal fans will invest some hard-earned pennies to obtain a copy. However, I wanted to use this platform to explain why I am so pleased with this book.
Origins
The journey of this poetry anthology began in 2020. I had lost my Arsenal-mad son tragically the year before. For a year I submerged myself in work, kidding myself I was coping, and then came the pandemic and lockdown. Far too much time of my hands, to think, overthink and in essence, grieve. My wife suggested that I read about grief, or at the very least begin to write down how I felt. And boy did I! Probably because I enjoy writing and have a degree of creativity, these thoughts and musings became open letters and more often poems. Because of the passion for football and Arsenal I shared with my son, a few of these poems were about that subject. Would my relationship with Arsenal ever be quite the same?
The answer of course was “no”. I still love my team, I still go to most home matches, but my reaction to a defeat, previously shared angrily with my son, is not the same. The intensity of my temporary football grief was but a stone thrown into the ocean, compared to real grief. This change was reflected in my original poems and is also the inspiration for a new one in Welcome to the Goonerverse. Here is a sneak preview ….
The joy of football is…
Football, the most important of the unimportant
things in life?
Not more important than life or death, though,
for some, at times, it might seem so
My own love of Arsenal now firmly in context,
a passion undimmed but refocused
Accepting that others are different;
my own love of Arsenal now firmly in context,
a passion undimmed but altered
But what will never change is eternal optimism, a prerequisite of support.
The joy of football is knowing
there is always the next Arsenal match…
Football, the most important of the unimportant
things in life?
Not more important than life or death, though,
for some, at times, it might seem so
My own love of Arsenal now firmly in context,
a passion undimmed but refocused
Accepting that others are different;
my own love of Arsenal now firmly in context,
a passion undimmed but altered
But what will never change is eternal optimism, a prerequisite of support.
The joy of football is knowing
there is always the next Arsenal match…
The word passion is synonymous with football and is present in every supporter. What my poetry journey taught me – and I accept this may not be the same for professional poets – is that I can only write poetry on a subject for which I have a strong passion. This is why, sometimes, we supporters – who have unlimited passion for our team – cannot comprehend a perceived lack of effort or commitment from our players. For us it is a passion, a love, but for them it is a job.
Positive Passionate Arsenal Poetry
A few years have passed, and having realised (you be the judge!) that I could write poetry with passion, I decided to come back to it, but with Arsenal as a more positive inspiration. The Gooner subject matter is unlimited but every fan’s journey with the Arsenal is different. It was this obvious fact, combined with a recognition of a limit to my own talent and creativity, that I began to seek input from friends in the Arsenal writing community and then the wider fanbase, at home and abroad.
The result is a richly diverse anthology with around 70 poems from 30 or so Arsenal supporters. Some have written about their team for years – me, Dan Betts, Tim Stillman, Chris Howard, Paul Hepker and my amazing creative adviser and editor, Anushree Nande. Others have found their niche in podcasting – such as Paul ‘Poz’ Cassidy and Boyd Hilton. There are several contributions from professional poets. I even, somehow, managed to convince the great Michael Rosen to author a new poem. However, what is wonderful is the incredible contributions from Gooners who had never even attempted poetry, or at least not since they were enforced at school. The newbies are so fabulous that I hope I have opened a new creative outlet for them. You even have the bonus of a lovely 1970s Highbury reminiscence from Paul Kay – yes! Dennis Pennis as was.
Mapping the Goonerverse
The variety of the Arsenal subject matter was delightful and led me to divide the content into 6 sections, although in truth some poems straddled my categories. The 6 sections are:
My Arsenal – poems that encapsulate individual journeys and support
Matchday – rituals, routines and superstitions
Legends – tributes to great players and coaches
My Arsenal – the family and the global nature our fanbase
Stadium – Highbury and the Emirates
Comic and Curious – a miscellany of haiku, limerick and humour.
@susana_rf shot for Arsenal FC
Visualising the Goonerverse
The final consideration to complete our anthology was the art and photos which accompany the marvellous poems. I approached Susanna Ferreira, (@susana_rf) whose photos so beautifully capture the essence of our fans in the stadium. Susanna shoots for Arsenal and, gratifyingly, the club allowed me to use her brilliant work. The poems are by fans, for fans, so it was only right that the images which complement them should be of our fans supporting our team. There are also original photos from @theretrogooner, @lowernorthbank, @j_bella_s and copyrighted art from @realnorthbanksy.
Copyright @therealbanksy
Giving Back
The final decision, which I mentioned when approaching potential contributors, was to link the book to the Arsenal Foundation. This seemed appropriate, given the support Arsenal have shown me and my family since losing Liam. A way to give something back to the club by supporting the fabulous work the Foundation does, both in the Islington community, and in the wider UK and global arenas. Consequently £1.50 from every book we sell – in the lead up to Christmas 2024 and beyond – will be donated, by me, to the Arsenal Foundation.
Final Thought
A last thought, which in a way is a plea to Arsenal supporters. Please do not think that because “Welcome to the Goonerverse” is a poetry anthology it is not for you. I accept that most supporters may not read poetry every day or think they will not enjoy it. But then what are song lyrics if not poetry, which you do listen to daily? As the Highbury Librarian, who admittedly has a poem in the book, suggested in this super review, every poem in the book is really just a fan story. The review suggests that I am brave to even try this, but I firmly believe that any Gooner will love the rich blend of passion, memories, stories, tributes and in truth, love for the Arsenal, that fill this first ever Arsenal poetry anthology.
Thanks for reading this far!
Passionate 50+ ST holder who has been making the journey to N5 regularly since the early 1980s – although his first game was in 1976. Always passionate when talking about The Arsenal, Dave decided to send a guest blog to Gunnersphere in the summer of 2011 and has not stopped writing about the Gunners since. He set up up his own site 1 Nil Down 2 One Up which he has now sold and since the summer of 2013 with a friend he launched a new project to offer new and aspiring Arsenal writers a home. Gunners Town is that platform and Dave writes here too. He is also the author of 2 Arsenal related books.
!function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0];if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=”//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js”;fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document,”script”,”twitter-wjs”);
No comments yet.