The spirituality of hockey coach

Based on St John of the Cross

Bob Commin


The way forward is the way back
       and the way back
       is the way left
      and the way right
which is the same as saying
the way up
      is the way down
the way along the edges
      is the way to the centre
you must go by a way
where there are no set paths
you must go alone
though others are always with you
and the obstacles that you encounter
are not obstacles,
but the way through your centre.
the way of possession
is the way of dispossession
to receive, you must give
to possess your goal
you must deny your goal
and surrender your will
to the will of a greater spirit
then, and only then
will the goal that you desire
become the goal not of the one
but the many
and what you set out to possess
will ultimately have you in possession.

From: McGregor Poetry Anthology 2013

Published by African Sun Press in association with the McGregor Poetry Festival
ISBN number 978-0-620-62302-5

The Poet:

Bob Commin is a poet and storyteller. He grew up in Woodstock, Cape Town and has taught in schools in Scotland and England. Latterly he runs workshops on creativity, storytelling and poetry. His most recent publication is Under the Ilex Tree. Leon de Kock is a poet, translator, essayist, writer of fiction, literary translator and professional literary practitioner. He has published three volumes of poetry: Bloodsong (1997); gone to the edges (2006); and Bodyhood (2010). He was awarded the Pringle Prize for Poetry and the FNB Vita/English Academy Prize for Poetry Translation. His translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s major Afrikaans novel Triomf won the South African Translators Institute’s Award for Outstanding Translation in 2000. He is Professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch, having formerly served as an English professor at both the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was Head of the School of Literature and Language Studies, and the University of South Africa.

Previously published:

Bob Commin: Wandering minstrel from the June 2013 edition of Good Hope

Wandering minstrel

A tribute to John Oliver priest of St Mark’s District Six,
written for his retirement at the end of March.
John visited the McGregor Poetry Festival in June and
died in his sleep, two weeks later on 4 July 2013
Bob Commin

Wandering minstrel in the streets of District Six
guitar-guiding your Anglican followers
through Palm Sunday and the Passion of the Seven Steps
to place our cross above the University and the Bay
the cross of all our displacements and longings.
Our history of forgotten homes and vacant streets.
You have fathered us through the winters and summers
of our future,
your gentle voice of reason
like the Christ on the Emmaus road
interpreting our doubts
from Mandela’s freedom walk
through the Marikana strike
the front pages of corruption
opening the scriptures to us
to ignite the heart within.
Faithful in our grieving
through all our rain-drenched, mud-filled days

the roof howling above our heads.

Priest to all faiths and nations

you call us beyond a fledgling allegiance

to a deep honouring of all people

to the image of God seeding in them.

We find you in places of pain and celebration

the Christ at Jericho, the Christ at Cana

often behind a camera, to catch a story.

These sandstones rise up to tell of a vibrant people

who sing and dance the liturgy of life.

From the carved-out undercroft of our gatherings

to the wind-wracked bell tower

that rings our presence

your prayer-dreams have sustained us like music

and have become the rock on which we build

From: McGregor Poetry Anthology 2013

Published by African Sun Press in association with the McGregor Poetry Festival
ISBN number 978-0-620-62302-5

The Poet:

Bob Commin is a poet and storyteller. He grew up in Woodstock, Cape Town and has taught in schools in Scotland and England. Latterly he runs workshops on creativity, storytelling and poetry. His most recent publication is Under the Ilex Tree. Leon de Kock is a poet, translator, essayist, writer of fiction, literary translator and professional literary practitioner. He has published three volumes of poetry: Bloodsong (1997); gone to the edges (2006); and Bodyhood (2010). He was awarded the Pringle Prize for Poetry and the FNB Vita/English Academy Prize for Poetry Translation. His translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s major Afrikaans novel Triomf won the South African Translators Institute’s Award for Outstanding Translation in 2000. He is Professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch, having formerly served as an English professor at both the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was Head of the School of Literature and Language Studies, and the University of South Africa.

Previously published:

Bob Commin: Wandering minstrel from the June 2013 edition of Good Hope

Hockey Masters in March

Bob Commin

It’s a hot March afternoon
our Masters hockey players are at work
on an expansive green unwet astroturf field
the field licks its tongue in the dryness
and the white ball refuses to befriend our players
we are the over 65s, as fit as our longevity
breaking all the records that our parents set
we are living the life of eternal youthfulness
the invitation team we play against is really as old as we
but they have won a match!
the sun explodes in red spots
and reaches the fulcrum of our earth field
reducing energy levels and drying up our water
in the turmoil of heat and lethargy
the game lingers a little beyond stationary

Now I’m furious with the left wing
whenever I look up, he’s busy unscrewing his prosthesis
we advised him not to play but after Oscar Pistorius
he has a vision of becoming famous

Our backs are a little precarious
the hubs of their wheelchairs haven’t been oiled for months
the squeal of their wheels creates panic in the back line
to pass the ball back is like laying tiles on a weekend

The two inside forwards both suffer with arthritis

so that when one expects a strong pass

one gets this feather-weight lean-to that never really almost reaches you

Now our centre-half has irritable bowel syndrome

he’s a nice chap really but he plays hockey with such heaves and sighs

that it always appears as if he is rushing for the loo.

Our left wing is totally deaf

he plays and smiles

all attempts to exchange him for another player fails

in fact we have to slap him with a hockey stick

to injure him in order to bring on a fresh player

even then he only smiles, while someone clears the blood

Our link players are on Zimmer frames

they are all on the board of an old age home

they move in a wonderful rhythm to the tune of “We are the Champions”

which is quite misplaced as none of them

can keep a tune or move in sync

I look back and see that our backs are swivelling around in wheel chairs

our coach who controls the movement of their chairs

has lost control of the joystick and sneezes with hay fever

Our right wing who has an aura of shiftiness

has an alarm attached to his hockey stick

he’s paranoid about his stick being stolen mid-game

every time the ball touches it the alarm goes off

once the police arrived and took his stick off for examinations

they reported that they couldn’t find his fingerprints on it

But the most frightening feature of our play

is the nature and aspect of our shadows

they do not follow us as one would expect

it is as though they are more aware of what we are capable of

than we ourselves, for often

when we rush into a dribble

which is more than what happens along the line of our mouths

they seem to just stand and wait, almost with hopelessness

until we return to them

The centre-forward had to run fifty yards

against the run of play, to catch up with his shadow

his shadow didn’t half give him a drubbing down for being so ambitious

I look forward to having a few pints tonight at our local pub

The Old Goose, an event about which

our warden knows nothing.

From: McGregor Poetry Anthology 2013

Published by African Sun Press in association with the McGregor Poetry Festival
ISBN number 978-0-620-62302-5

The Poet:

Bob Commin is a poet and storyteller. He grew up in Woodstock, Cape Town and has taught in schools in Scotland and England. Latterly he runs workshops on creativity, storytelling and poetry. His most recent publication is Under the Ilex Tree. Leon de Kock is a poet, translator, essayist, writer of fiction, literary translator and professional literary practitioner. He has published three volumes of poetry: Bloodsong (1997); gone to the edges (2006); and Bodyhood (2010). He was awarded the Pringle Prize for Poetry and the FNB Vita/English Academy Prize for Poetry Translation. His translation of Marlene van Niekerk’s major Afrikaans novel Triomf won the South African Translators Institute’s Award for Outstanding Translation in 2000. He is Professor of English at the University of Stellenbosch, having formerly served as an English professor at both the University of the Witwatersrand, where he was Head of the School of Literature and Language Studies, and the University of South Africa.

Previously published:

Bob Commin: Wandering minstrel from the June 2013 edition of Good Hope